Day 4
We checked out of the hotel around 10 and left our bags there, then had the day to just wander and be on vacation. We strolled around Venice and basked in the sun. For lunch, I got this huge calzone which was awesome- the bread was so good! We decided to head over to the airport (destination: Rome) a little bit early, so got our huge backpacks and walked back to the bus station. We went over no less than 8 bridges (I counted them to take my mind off the enormous weight I was lugging around). We arrived at the airport, along with about 10 more Regent's students who had the same flight, and this time there were no problems checking my bag. The problem occurred when our flight was delayed for 2 hours... I read up on Rome and watched the shenanigans of the other bored people. Finally, we got on the plane and an hour later we landed in ROMA. We had to take another bus into the city and we got dropped off by the train station. The hotel was two streets away. It was the scariest hotel ever. We eventually found the sign (it wasn't lit up) then went into the lobby (it was pretty dark and creepy). Now, to the left and right were these two Tower of Terror elevators - they only fit 2 people, they had cobwebs all over them and you had to manually shut the doors. I decided to skip the elevator and climb up the 5 flights of stairs to the room. The room was not bad, though there was no view at all. And the "shower" was a curtain around a shower head next to the toilet...Day 5
What's the first thing you do when in Rome? Visit the Colosseum, of course! We got up at 9AM and hit the streets with our complimentary tourist map of the city. It ended up being a short walk and once there, Rachel, Sarah and I decided to skip the 21 euro tour everyone else did and just go right in. It ended up being a good choice because the line wasn't bad at all and we were our own tour guides. Rachel read aloud the little info signs (no doubt made for tour groups like us) and we had a grand old time adding to the history of the Colosseum and Rome as well as posing as ancient statues on the many pedestals that lay about (that is what we decided they were there for).
After the Colosseum, we mosied on over to the Pantheon/ Forum. We found this little field absolutely covered with wildflowers and decided it was a great place for a nap. We ended up meeting more Regent's kids in the field and after a while, headed back to the meeting spot with the rest of the group. From the Colosseum, we decided to visit the Trevi Fountain. There were so many people there; I was not expecting such a huge crowd! We got some gelato (I got black cherry, cookies and cream and chocolate- SO GOOD) then headed over to see the Spanish Steps. I think we were all disappointed when we got there and all it was was a lot of people on a lot of steps. We climbed to the top anyway and watched the sunset.the field
the fountain
the sunset
It was Megan's birthday, so we took her out to dinner! We found some tiny restaurant and they put us in a tiny room (it had cool color changing lights) and then we had a really great meal. (Italian food is always so good!) After dinner, we walked back by the Trevi Fountain to see it at night, then it was back to our hotel.
Day 6
I saw the Pope! As you might be able to guess, our travels on day 6 took us to the Vatican. We got up nice and early, had breakfast in the hotel (they had pre-packaged toast, surprisingly tasty) then hopped on the Metro. The Metro is an experience- they are not afraid of jamming on the breaks and don't care if people get thrown to the ground in the process! It was also very crowded and a little smelly. (I prefer the tube in London.) We emerged from the Metro all in one piece, then made our way to the Vatican which has huge, huge walls around it. We got thru the metal detectors and into St Peter's square joining about a million other people! Pope Benedict finally drove out in this little golf cart thing (he didn't drive it, he stood in the back and waved). Some priests read from the Bible (in 6 different languages) then the Pope spoke for a LONG time.Next we got some lunch at a little restaurant that was recommended to us and was right around the corner from the Vatican. The dessert was strawberries- but they must have added sugar or even magic to them, because they were the best strawberries any of us had ever tasted!
After, we traveled to a castle, but since it cost money to go in, Rachel and I were tour guides again and told everyone else the story of the castle. Then we headed over to the Pantheon, took some pictures then rested for a while in by the fountain. Once we were all set with resting, we went back to the hotel, stopping for dinner. We bought train tickets to Florence then went to bed.
