This past Sunday I got back into town from my trip to Italy! 6 of us girls went together. We flew in Wednesday night, got a hostel in Rome for 4 nights, and took a day trip one day to Florence. There is so, so much that I want to write about, but I will try to keep it to a minimum, so that I don't ramble on.
Wednesday, we flew out of Santander at 3:35 in the afternoon, and got into the center of rome around 7:30ish, we made it to our hostel by luck- literally just stumbled across it. So we got our things settled in, and found out that the new pope had been named about 30 minutes before we got into Rome! I feel like thats an interesting little fact I can share with everyone when I go back home. So after getting our things settled in at the hostel, we were starving; we asked the receptionist at the hostel for some recommendations on places to eat, and decided to walk around our side of town and find some delicious, authentic italian food. My first italian meal was nothing short of delicious, I started the meal with some pesto bread, and although I regretfully don't remember the name of the main dish, it was a type of penne with tomato sauce that had little pieces of bacon (ham) in it. Afterward, we had our mouths watered up for some gelato, and happened to stumble across a place that had homemade gelato (we later found out from some girls from the hostel, who study in Florence, that the "real" homemade gelato is the kind that is "flat," if it is large, and fluffy looking, it's not homemade). I got strawberry and chocolate mixed. After our delicious gelato, we headed back to the hostel and passed out.
After walking around the Foro, finally went to see the colosseum! Like I said before, the view from the outside was breathtaking, so naturally, walking inside was just the same. There were people EVERYWHERE, and taking a decent picture without someone in the foreground was a challenge.
Afterward, we visited the Palatino, right up the street from the colosseum, which is more roman ruins. It felt so crazy being in the presence of some of the oldest buildings/structures in the world.
My favorite part about Rome was that we basically walked everywhere. Rome is such a large city, but the only way to learn the surroundings is to get out and walk the city. On that note, after viewing the colosseum, we walked toward the center of the city to see the Trevi Fountain. Before making it there we happened to stumble across a pizzeria- the smell of the freshly baked pizza was pouring out of the restaurant, and tempted us to try a slice. I order a slice with ham and mushrooms, and a creamy sauce instead of the usual tomato sauce. This pizza was baked on a cookie sheet, and was basically a large square pizza (like school pizza), and when we got it the cashier folded it in two where the crust was on the outside of the "slice." We got our pizza, walked around the corner and there it was- the Trevi Fountain. It is on the back of this building, in the intersection of 3 streets. Also, we learned that the Trevi Fountain is the most famous in Italy because it is the largest baroque style fountain in Rome (possibly Italy).
We just sat around the fountain and ate our pizza, and enjoyed the beautiful weather that we were given. Of course, we made our wishes in the fountain before we left. You're supposed to throw 2 coins into the fountain, one is your wish and the other is so that you will return to Rome another time. After making our wishes, we stumbled across the Panteon, which was breathtaking, and then walked toward Piazza Navona, where we went into one of the most beautiful cathedrals I've ever seen. Pictures weren't allowed, but I had to sneak one because it was so gorgeous!
The rest of the afternoon was spent walking to Piazza di Spagna and the Spanish steps, and then getting lost finding our way back to the hostel. Once we finally got back we walked to a restaurant basically next door to the hostel and had dinner. I ate a delicious plate of gnocchi and clams.
Friday we had a very early morning. Our train to Florence left Termini (the main station in Rome) at 7:05! The train was running a little behind, so we didn't make it into Florence until around 9:15ish. Once we got into Florence we stumbled upon the Duomo, which was absolutely breathtaking; one of the most unique buildings that I've ever seen. One of the highlights of my day in Florence was going to the Gucci Museum. It was so refreshing to learn about something different than the history of a city, and fashion is something that will always interest me. The best part of the museum was being able to stand next to (and touch...) the gowns designed for some famous celebrities, from Blake Lively to Selma Hayek to Cameron Diaz. Another highlight, and very important part of our day was our lunch. We were standing on Ponte Vecchio taking pictures and enjoying the scenery when I saw a lady who was eating the most amazing sandwich I had ever seen, so I said to my friends, in English,"I wonder where she got her sandwich." And as soon as I said that the lady immediately turned around, and said, in the most American accent, "you wanna know where I got my sandwich?!" Long story short- this lady is from South Dakota, moved to Florence 4 years ago and now runs a bed & breakfast in Florence. After our initial meeting on the bridge, she took us to this famous sandwich shop where we stood in line for about 10/15 minutes, and then got the best sandwich I've ever eaten. For only 5 euro I had a sandwich with turkey, sweet pepper sauce, fresh mozzarella, arugula, zucchini, eggplant, tomato, and hot oil...all on freshly baked focaccia bread! The last great thing we did in Florence was visit the Piazza Michelangelo. It's a plaza at the very top of the city, with a view that is indescribable. We went at the perfect time too, because the sun was setting and the sky was orange and purple- it was gorgeous. We ate McDonald's and then caught the 10:05 train back to Rome.
Saturday was spent exploring the rest of Rome that we had not seen. We made our way over to the Vatican, and went through the museum where we saw things from mummies from egyptian times, to old roman tombs. Unfortunately, the Sistine Chapel was not open on Saturday so we weren't able to go in and see that. The weather was absolutely beautiful so we walked around the side of town that we hadn't been to. We listened to some great live music for a little while, and then left to go find food. We stumbled across this famous pizza place in the back of this narrow street. It was called La Montecarlo, and it was so delicious. We got 3 pizzas and a calzone for lunch- best calzone I've ever eaten in my life! For our last supper in Rome we ate at this family owned restaurant called La Capitele. I had lasagna for my dinner, and the noodles actually were melting in my mouth. Also had the best tiramisu ever for desert. Needless to say it was a great meal, and a great way to end our amazing adventure to Italy.
I had been wanting to go to Italy since I was a little girl, and actually being there was very surreal. Honestly I liked Florence better than Rome, mainly because the people were much more laid back and there were less people getting in your face to buy this or that. When I got back to Santander on Sunday afternoon, a peaceful feeling came over me- like "ahh, finally! I'm home!" I'm surprised by how quickly Santander has become more like a home to me. I'm going to be so extremely sad when it's time to go back to the US. Spain has become home to me.
Our group is currently in Barcelona for an excursion, so I will post updates about how fabulous Barcelona is very soon.
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