Roma, Italia

Cute little cafe in Rome

As my mom, brother and I continued on our merry way across the Italian countryside, we ended up in Rome! Finally! I swear I have been thinking about going to Rome ever since I saw the Lizzie McGuire movie, and now that I finally was able to come, it is even better than on the TV screen. We hopped in a taxi and the guy took us to the other side of town where we were staying.

When we got out of the car, not going to lie, I was thinking "what the hell, we are not even in Rome anymore. We are staying where all the locals are, we are totally far away from everything, this sucks." But, as you could figure, my thoughts were wrong. There were plenty of tourists around the area we were staying at, and I think personally it was best that we stayed where we did.

Rome - The first place in Europe to have donuts!!

Villa della Scalla. That's the name of the street we stayed on, at a cute little apartment. When we arrived, it was like we were the locals living there too! Here we were, doing laundry and cooking dinner in the cute apartment. But no time for that because we had to explore!

On Monday we arrived, and the rest of the day was spent just walking around the surrounding area, getting a bite to eat, and enjoying our first day in Rome. The lady who was in charge of the apartment gave us a map of the city. This map saved us let me say that. I used that map like no tomorrow. So, Monday night I sat down and researched all the things to do and places to see in Rome.

Area Sacra

On Tuesday morning, I had it all planned out of what we were going to do, so in the morning when we all got up out of bed, we made way for coffee! Very essential for every morning. After we got our tiny cup of coffee, we started to walk to our first destination, Area Sacra. When we got there, it was a big piazza and in the middle of it was these ruins! It was the first set of ruins we saw, so it was totally cool. We took pictures, walked around a bit, and then continued on our way to the Pantheon.

Pantheon 

When we got to it, it was so amazing how beautiful and big it was! To think that it was built hundreds and hundreds of years ago was too crazy; and the inside was just as gorgeous! Luckily it was still the morning so there weren't too many tourists. After that I got out my handy-dandy map and led us to Tempio Adriano. It was pretty neat but all it was, was the frame of the front of the building, and the rest of it was new. So, we went to the next landmark, the Trevi Fountain.

Man, talk about a disappointment! It sucked because the city was doing restoration to the fountain when we got there, so taking pictures was a bust, and don't even think about throwing in a coin because there was no water, and the fountain was surrounded by a giant wall.

After seeing the dry fountain, we walked over to the Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele I, which was huge! We walked up the steps and around the building. That is where we were able to see the beautiful view of Rome. It was so peaceful just to look out to see all the tops of the buildings and churches.

Right next to that is the Ara Coeli, a church that looks like an old Spanish building from the outside, but on the inside it was breathtaking. It was quite busy walking around the church because it was right in the midst of everything touristy, but it was okay because it was quiet, and cool inside.

Ara Coeli 

Arco di Tito

From there, we walked down and around the Arco di Tito, which is a huge area of Roman ruins. I don't really know the history behind any of it, but what I do know is that it was crazy cool. From that point, you were able to see the Colosseum off in the near distance; and that is where we were headed next!

Since it was soooo terribly hot outside, we kept on filling up our water bottles up at the random fountains all around the city, and on the walk to the Colosseum, there were stands where people were selling fruit! I tell you what, it sounds like a silly idea, but the fruit really helps on the hot summer day.

So we finally made it to the Colosseum! We actually bought our tickets down the road by the ruins, where there wasn't a three hour line. So after purchasing out €12 tickets, we continued walking. When we got there, I almost didn't believe that I was really there! It was massive and so old looking, oh what a sight to see. We got in line to go inside, and before we knew it, we were walking around the Colosseum!

I can tell you that when you do go to Rome, don't just look at the Colosseum, you have to go inside. There is so much history to it, and it really is a piece of work.

Panoramic view of inside the Colosseum

After exiting, you see part of the Arco di Tito ruins and the Arco di Costantino right in front of you! By that time we were so burnt out from walking around and being in the sun, that we called it a day.

The next day we spent at the Vatican City. It was pretty neat because we joined a tour group that met up at 9:30am and walked around the city. We were given these slips so we could see the Pope! How cool, right? So we went into the main square in the city and were standing with all the other 80,000 people waiting to see the Pope as he drove around in his car, shaking hands, kissing babies, and waving to everyone. Turns out, all the slips did was let us sit close to where the Pope was sitting. Still pretty neat, and definitely once in a lifetime experience!

Walking to the Sistine Chapel

Inside the Vatican City as the Pope drives around

After the Pope gave his speech and we sat through what turned into a mass, we went to the museum. All we really wanted to see at the museum (and what seemed to be everyone else) was the Sistine Chapel. Of course, it was at the very end of looking at everything else. Despite leaving the tour group (long story), and trying to cut through so many people crammed in the museum, we made it to the chapel! It was so beautiful, and being able to see the Michaelangelo paintings on the ceiling were incredible. Sorry, wasn't aloud to take pictures inside the chapel, but I was able to take plenty others form the rest of the museum.

Being in the Vatican City literally takes all day. Being there form early in the morning to mid-day wears you out!

Now, by this time, I was supposed to go home back to the Netherlands to practice for a school presentation...thanks to the Rome airport, my flight was canceled, so I was stuck in Rome for one extra day. Poor me.

On that extra day, we walked around the city as our mission was to find where the shopping was. Well on our journey I led us to the Spanish Steps because that was one thing my mom really wanted to see. Turns out that all the shopping was right there! For the next three or four hours, we spent out time walking around all of the shops, looking at all the different Italian fashion, and eventually, leaving with bags in our hands.

To say the least, Rome was a blast. It was more than that, it was magical and beautiful and even more than I thought it would be! Out of all my travels since I have been abroad, I would have to say that Rome is on the list of top 3 favorite cities in Europe I have been to.

My brother, mom and I in Italy