Day 4 - on the train to and then Rome
We woke up at 9AM after a pretty decent night's sleep, and at 9:30 (our supposed arrival time) we were only in Florence! We didn't really mind since we had our own compartment, so we just chilled out until we finally got to Rome around noon. Once off the train, we headed straight to the hostel I picked from my 5 options (one of my smart moves was instead of booking a hostel in each place, just printing out a few options in each city, just in case we decided to spend more or less time there). There were 2 Chinese ladies who checked us in and one of them led us over to the actual hostel building, which was about 5 blocks away. We were given a set of three keys (reminds me of Venice...) and once we finally got into our room, we dumped our stuff and changed into cooler clothes.
We decided to dive right in, so our first destination of the day was the Colosseum! We got a slice of pizza on the way and sat by a fountain with a lot of other people (including a horde of gypsies!). We actually met a guy from California who was around our age and just wandering thru Italy for a few months! He was pretty nice and pretty chatty and he talked to us until we were done eating. Then, we wished each other luck and Sarah and I kept going. We popped into a souvenir shop...
before
after
after
... and I got myself some rad Euro-goggles! (Also known as sunglasses). Now, more suitably attired for sunny Italy, we went towards the Palatine, since California-guy recommended we buy our Palatine and Colosseum combo-tickets from a place other than the Colosseum (to avoid big lines). We either walked right by the building or he circled the wrong one on the map, because we didn't buy a ticket. There was a tour going into the Palatine at the same time as us... and we just joined them. We pretty thoroughly checked out the Palatine and soaked up some rays, then decided to check out the Colosseum. And then we had to buy our combo tickets (so Mom, we were forced to be honest) so I guess it all worked out for them. The line was not long at all, and we got right in. 
Next stop was the Trevi Fountain. I threw in my money this time and some old guy took our picture and gave us both more change to throw in. He insisted- because apparently it was really lame to just pretend to throw money in, even if we were just posing for a picture. In the end, we were a little too quick with our throwing-the-money-over-our-shoulders because he had to take another one... of us pretending to throw in money!We found our way to the Spanish Steps, climbed to the top, looked
around for a minute, then headed back to the hostel. We got dinner on the way and I purchased a very expensive bottle of Fanta-- 4 euros!!! (Obviously I would never have even dreamt of getting a soda that was more expensive than my actual dinner... but there were no prices for drinks, unfortunately for me.)
around for a minute, then headed back to the hostel. We got dinner on the way and I purchased a very expensive bottle of Fanta-- 4 euros!!! (Obviously I would never have even dreamt of getting a soda that was more expensive than my actual dinner... but there were no prices for drinks, unfortunately for me.)Since it was still kind of early, when we saw a clothing store that looked pretty inexpensive, we decided to pop in. We actually spent a little while in there, trying on all manner of crazy European clothes! Everything was a little too crazy, so after laughing a lot in the changing rooms, we kept on going. Eventually we got back to the train station and then asked an info guy about getting to Pompeii. He printed out a sheet for us, then we went to an internet cafe for about 30 min.
