when in rome :)

where do i even begin.

rome is incredible. this was the first trip that i was really really super duper thrilled about and it did not disappoint. 5 of the 6 girls in our group didn't have class on thursday so we left that morning on an earlyish train and got there around noon. once we got there we met the landlord and he took us straight to lunch at one of his favorite places. rome is known for their carbonara so half the table got it at lunch but i enjoyed another pasta dish that was very simple but one of the best ones i've had while in italy. noodles, cheese, and pepper. how can they make a basic dish so delicious?! WOWZA! we finished off the plate of pastries they had in their front case (yes the whole thing) and bounced on outta there to go to his friend's gelato place just a few shops away. so began the weekend of sweets and carbs. thursday afternoon was fun, lots of walking and taking fun pictures and enjoying being together. man i love my friends. we didn't make a whole lot of plans except for reservations to get into the vatican first thing Friday morning so we had the day free to walk around and enjoy being there and we found some fun little places and stumbled across places we were intending to go anyway!

love these precious people.

piazza navona

that night we bought some fresh proscuitto, cheese, and bread and ate at home while we got ready to go out. chi's new italian friends took us out to an italian club where their friend was playing with his band and it was such a fun time! it was away from the touristy areas and we stuck out even more than we normally do because we were the only americans in the place but the music was outstanding. we found out the hard way on the way to meet the friends that transportation in rome is way different than rome and it took twice the time we thought it would using the bus. on the way home, we found out the hard way again that after midnight the buses run every hour on the hour so we got to hang out on the curb in a random part of rome waiting for the bus. which was fun :)

we got up early the next morning and went to the vatican museum and sistine chapel. i will spare everyone a million and a half pictures and just post a couple but it was beautiful, of course. i do regret not taking an art history course while i'm here so i could know more about what i'm seeing but luckily we were with two art majors and one art history major who educated us on a lot of what we were seeing. the last stop of the tour was the sistine chapel and it was so overwhelming and beautiful. they said no pictures, i may have snuck one of the ceiling to get a picture of the creation of adam :) maybe not though…

room of the signature by raphael: hello mr. euclid.

st. peter's square

after a nap, we walked around some more and once nighttime hit, we went to the pantheon, which, if you don't know much about architecture like me, you should just google what it is because it's quite incredible. the dome is a perfect sphere and has a circle in the top that was used as a sun dial and all sorts of things. perrrrrty cool. we had dinner at a place called miscellanea which was right next to it, known for their 15 euro fixed menu that came with unlimited sexy wine. we had to check it out. then we went to the trevi fountain which is MAGICAL. i could have stayed there for hours, seriously. it was around midnight at that point, which i think was a great time because there wasn't a big crowd, and we threw coins into the fountain. we found out later that we did it wrong so we went by the next night and tried again :) once we left the fountain, we set out to find the spanish steps which was quite a challenge. after taking lots of twists and turns and getting lost a few times, we finally found it and raced up the steps as best we could.

pantheon

that sexy wine ain't no joke!

you know a restaurant is touristy when they have pictures of all the american presidents...

the trevi fountain :)

the next morning, everyone but me and katie got up to go see the sunrise at st. peter's square and man did we miss a beautiful sunrise. maybe i can snag a picture from one of my friend's and post it on here so you can see. so gorgeous. once we got up, we walked around for a long time and found the open air market and got some fabulous pizza at baffetos (as suggested by my sweet friend and co, julia!) and set out to find THE BEST GELATO ON THE PLANET!!!! the pope himself goes to get his gelato from giolitti and man did it live up to the hype. we may or may not have gotten it twice that day. we spent about an hour on the steps of piazza venezia people watching and getting pooped on by birds (not joking) and did some more walking (Katie calculated it and one day we walked for 18 hours!!). we went to an irish pub that we had our eye on had a drink before the soccer crazies got there and we went and ate outside of another cafe by the pantheon. we went back by the trevi fountain to make a wish the correct way, saw the spanish steps again on the way to dropping a friend off at the metro station, then called it a night. we were beat.

open air markets are legit

roman graffiti is also legit.

the spanish steps

bright and early, it was my turn to see the sunrise in st. peter's square but this time it was cloudy which i was slightly bummed about. i gave myself a tour of the basilica which was amazing and went to the colosseum, palatine hill, and the roman forum. it got me in the mood to watch gladiator for sure….if only i had thought to bring it! our last stop was hiking to the top of piazza del popolo and seeing the gardens that overlooked rome. my feet were practically bleeding at this point so i took the time to sit and enjoy the view rather than walk all through the park but it was a gorgeous view indeed. we made our way back down to the piazza and ran into our friend theresa. literally ran into her as she was leaving mass (what are the odds??) so we hopped on the metro and went to a bakery that is UNDERGROUND and had the best pastries i've ever had. if you are going to rome you HAVE to go there. almost everything is 30 cents so go crazy and get one of everything. seriously. you won't regret it.

st. peter's basilica

the Colosseum in all its glory.

roman forum

the view in the gardens above piazza del popolo

overall the trip was incredible and i would love to go back sometime. everyone always says the romans are mean compared to people in florence but we had a great experience with everyone except for the last lady i had the pleasure of coming in contact with on the train. old grouchy italian grandma hops on a packed out train and told me to get out of my seat and let her sit down because she deserves it. i was shocked at first but could laugh about it 5 seconds later. maybe it was because i'm american, maybe it was because i was the first seat she saw, maybe it was because she was 100 years old and felt entitled who knows, but it definitely didn't put a damper on an awesome weekend. too many memories and pictures to put in here or on Facebook and i know you don't care THAT much so enjoy the select few(ish) that i post.

up next… london :)