When in Rome...
Trip Start
Jan 11, 2006
1
37
51
Trip End
May 21, 2006
Rome,
Italy
Friday, March 24, 2006
I just waited for the bar to open up, and I got myself breakfast, brioche and orange juice. The boys made it just in time (almost missed the train once again), but I just care that they made it. When we got on the train we actually ended up sitting by three of the other students on our trip, Ali, Jos, and Ian, who were also going to Rome.
Well I took out my book and prepared for a 4.5 hour train ride. Not a half hour into the trip did I fall asleep, so much for figuring out the Theory of Relativity, oh well
4 Fountains - Number 1
. I think I slept in half hour increments. I think I officially woke up when we had an hour and a half left. Mike was awake, so we decided to find the food car, and get a snack. I got a slice cake...I needed sugar! It was really good, expensive, but good. We finally arrive to a beautiful landscape in northern Lazio (the region that Rome is in). It was just rolling hills, everyone's image of the Italian countryside. Not short after we arrived in Rome at 11:30. We walked four blocks to our hostel and checked in. We couldn't get into our rooms until 2:00, so we left our bags and searched for a place to eat. Around the corner was a little Trattoria, so we decided to eat there. I got spaghetti with tomato and basil sauce. It was perfect. Cooked al dente, and with an actual red sauce, which I've only had once before since I've been in Italy. After lunch, we explored our area for a little bit before heading back to the hostel. We saw Porta Pia, which is a history museum, and some other Roman ruins.
When we got back to the hostel, we found out we were on the 2nd floor, in a four person mixed dorm, so, Rick, Mike, me, and maybe someone else. We got to our room, and it looked like a jail cell. Two sets of bunk beds, which two tiles of space between them. We had a big window and a desk. It was fine for sleeping; we'd only be there for what 8 hours at the most out of the day? For me, I had to just see if the bathroom is nice, which it was
A Church
. It was actually much nicer than the one in Florence. It looked like a mini locker room, but very clean. There were three nice sized showers, each in their own little room, two bathrooms, and six sinks each with it's own hair dryer. We also had a lounge, with vending machines, internet, and TV. We could also watch movies from a list for free.Okay, enough about the hostel, after settling in, we headed back out to explore more of our area. We started by going to Piazza della Republica, which was mainly a circle that cars have to go around, with a church, Basilica Santa Maria degli Angeli. We then walked to Quirninale, La Fontana de Triton, La Quattro Fontane, and the Trevi Fountain. Trevi Fountain was my favorite. I watched the Lizzy McGuire movie, when she went to Rome, and couldn't wait to see the fountain, although there was no Italian pop star there, it was still a good time. There was a guy selling roses, and he handed me three and told me to stand in front of the fountain while Rick and Mike take my pictures. Then when we were done, he asked them for money...tourist trap!! I gave him back the roses, and we headed out. Before we headed out though, we each threw coins in the fountain for good luck.
We finished touring around just in time, because it started to rain. The hostel offered a discount at a local restaurant, so we headed over there for dinner. I got lasagna and then cheesecake. I found the lasagna to be a mixture of Northern Italian, and Southern Italian styles, it was very good. When we got back to the hostel, we found out that got a roommate. A 28 year old Japanese girl, Aka, she came to Italy for four days, she went to Florence for two and is in Rome for two. We called it an early night because we wanted get an early start Saturday morning. Buona Notte!
