Rome, Italy - Incredible City & Culture

Ahh Roma, how great you were to me! Last week I hopped on a plane at Gothenburg Landvetter airport and made my way to Rome. I had a layover in Brussels, Belgium along the way so I fulfilled a bucket list item by eating Belgian chocolate in Belgium. :) I bought an entire kilogram of chocolate so I am still eating it! Anyways, Rome was bound to be incredible with all the historic sites and all the delicious food to eat.

Upon arrival, I met up with Tyler, one of my friends from Platteville, since he ended up being in Rome the same time I was. It was great to catch up and hear his stories of studying in Scotland. We checked out all the sites that he wanted to see for the last time since he was leaving on the next day. We ended up walking around and seeing everything from the Trevi Fountain to the Vatican City to the Colosseum. I visited all of these sites several times while in Rome. All of the sites are just breath taking when you finally see them in real life instead of seeing photos or videos.

My next three full days in Rome were going to be very busy with all the sites I wanted to cram into a small period. In order to see it all, I did a lot of walking but it was worth it. In Rome, you can get lost and stumble upon a beautiful fountain or a cute family restaurant. That is the wonder of this beautiful city. My first day I made the long walk from my hostel over to the Vatican. It was about an hour walk, but like I said Rome is beautiful. After seeing the long line for St. Peter's Basilica, I decided to check out the line for the Vatican Museums since I had heard horror stories about 2-4 hour long lines. After waiting just a half an hour I was in to one of the best museums in the world. I had only planned to be there for a couple of hours but there was so much to see that I ended up being there for 4 hours! I even decided that my favorite painting in the world is Raphael's last painting. The Sistine Chapel was breath taking as well. The rest of the museum was very cool and you could spend days looking at everything. Later in the afternoon I had a surprise when I walked into St. Peter's Basilica. I saw Pope Francis!! There was the celebrazione della penitenza which was essentially a mass that involved confession on the sides. It was interesting since I did not understand a single word that was said. It was amazing to see him and hear him speak. So many people in the world dream of that opportunity. When he left I was within a few feet of him! Afterwards I found a restaurant to eat some delicious pasta and rest my feet and then called it a day after a stop at the beautiful Trevi Fountain.

 

Day two was very exciting as well. I saw all the big historic sites. The Roman Forum was really sweet and it was easy to imagine what Rome was like all of those years ago. Palatine hill was interesting also. But it was the Colosseum that really wowed me. It it so incredible that they were able to build such a huge structure almost 2000 years ago. I cannot even imagine how many people visited the site in the past couple thousand years. A few other stops on my way were Circus Maximus (where the chariot races were), the church where the Mouth of Truth is, Vatican City (again), and a nice walk up the Tiber river. You can see all my adventures in the photos below.

Day three was spent filling in the gaps that I missed and relaxing after all the miles that I walked the previous days. I went and saw the Villa Borghese which is a beautiful park, the Pantheon, Piazza del Popolo, and The Vatican (again, I really wanted to get to the top of St. Peters Basilica but it was either too late or closed by the time I got there. I still didn't get to see it on this last day.) I also spent some time just wandering around watching street performers and walking into random beautiful churches. Rome is just really beautiful everywhere and you can just wander around and enjoy your time.

I really could write an entire novel about my time in Rome but then nobody would want to read it. While in Rome I ate a ton of delicious food and wine including spaghetti carbonara, pasta with swordfish, pizza margarita, pizza napoli, abbacchio (a roman lamb dish), and vino della casa (wine of the house). I also started off every morning with a cappuccino and a croissant. I can't forget about the delicious gelato that I ate every day too! Yum! I really felt like an Italian there since I ate all of their delicious food! For me, traveling is just as much about the food as it is about the sites.

To anyone debating whether they should go to Rome or not. I will tell you GO! Rome is amazing and one of those places you always here about in school or in the movies and when you are finally there it feels so unreal. Thanks Rome for the incredible time! Hopefully I can return some day!