6/4-6/6
Our train arrived in Rome around 5 pm. With our packs on, we made a 40 min journey to the Airbnb during the hottest part of the day. But we were in Roma! After checking into our Airbnb and cleaning up, we took the metro to the center part of the city for dinner. We went to Ristorante Alessio and had delicious tagliata steak (thanks @Maddie for the rec)!! From dinner, we walking to the Trevi Fountain and were looking for gelato nearby. We found the place II Gelato di San Crispino (Thanks @Zach for the rec!) and got three flavors each! Yummmmm! The Trevi Fountain was beautiful at night and we even saw a proposal!
Tired from our journey to Rome, we started to head back home. Along the roads, there are various “water fountains.” Now to explain this in its full effect, we have to take it back to our time in Taormina, Sicily. We were and still are annoyed by paying for water. It was not until our last stop in Sicily that we finally found free water. But it wasn’t just free water or a water fountain... it was a statue with constantly running water. And people went to it like a watering hole (from now on, we refer to all free water fountains as watering holes). So these watering holes can be found in many places, like here in Rome. Thank goodness we can just find them on the street and fill up our bottles. It’s still a hunt to find them, but our thirst is quenched and our bank accounts are saved! See photos below.
The next morning, we woke up early to see the Vatican City. We had reserved a tour (which is a must do). We “started” the tour at 8:30 am but didn’t see anything until 10 am! It took us over an hour just to get in and see the first artwork! So we learned that our 3-hour tour was really just 1.5 hours. On the tour we saw the Vatican Museums, the Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter's Basilica. These made Grace really wish she brought her art history notes @Dr. Piercy!! The Vatican museums contained over 70,000 pieces of art. Most notably is the School of Athens by Raphael. It is huge and there is so much to look at! And of course the Sistine Chapel was absolutely amazing. It is hard to understand how Michelangelo was able to paint everything so proportionally correct and with such great detail on the huge walls. Many parts of the paintings looked completely 3D, very impressive to see in person! The Last Judgment took up the whole back wall; it is difficult to put into words how amazing it is. After the chapel, we went to the basilica, which was huge and astonishing, with Michelangelo's statue of Mary holding Jesus. We were glad to have seen all of this and to get a tour of it! At the end, though, we were very ready to leave because you're constantly touching other visitors the whole time. We aren’t the Pope but gosh they gotta reduce the number of people allowed in every day by at least half! It was uncomfortable, like herding cattle but not even cattle, it was like herding snails. Snails! Walking through the old palace you could barely enjoy the frescos.
Exhausted and hungry, we grabbed a bite to eat nearby. We had to refuel to explore the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, and Palatine Hill. We got these tickets ahead of time on CoopCulture, which made it really easy for us to get in. After seeing the Parthenon and knowing little about it, we got audio guides to learn more about the Colosseum without being in an official tour. It was crazy how much of the Colosseum had been distorted and used to build other things in the city like the Vatican Palace for the Popes. Also, under the sand arena (at the center) were underground rooms (for storing weapons and wild animals) and trap doors. So advanced for 2000 years ago!
We then headed to the Palatine Hill, and honestly we had no idea what it was before going. We quickly learned that the word palace can from Palatine, and we learned about the ruins from the signs and English and Spanish tour groups around us. The Forum, which was the center of the city and a marketplace, now was ruins of the town below the Palace on the hill. We are still wondering why this area was abandoned...we will give 10€ to anyone who can let us know why it was abandoned and left for nothing.
Afterward, we rewarded our long day of listening and reading by getting gelato at the Venezia Square and walked back to our apartment. 25,000 steps that day. We rested and then headed back out to get dinner near Piazza Navona at La Focaccia. We then got gelato round two (best gelato ever) from Ai Tre Tartufi in Piazza Navona. This was a recommendation from Dr. Kelley, one of Emily's Tepper professors (We have been following all of his guides and friends' guides! Thanks so much!!). We had planned to go out, but it was not lively out. We went to what was supposed to be a local piano bar, yet it was closed. We were unsuccessful in finding the nightlife on a Tuesday :( so we headed home to bed.
DAY 2
Who says you can't visit Rome in a day! Well, you can't, but we tried our best. Check out the pictures below for all the sights we saw on our 3-euro walking tour guided by Rome mini maps (made in Italy). We were most impressed by how large everything was and how intact it all still was. The Romans were very, very advanced and while we wouldn't want to live in the 1800s in the US, we would definitely live in the upper class in Rome when all of this was built! Also, interestingly there were a lot of Egyptian influences because Caesar was in love with Cleopatra.
After our long day, we hung out for a bit before looking up places for dinner. We were craving salads after eating so much pasta and pizza these past few days. Looking up suggestions on Yelp, one review said "We're two Californians burned out on carbs..." THAT'S EXACTLY US! But unfortunately the place would have been closed by the time we got there. But if you're ever in Rome and craving a salad, apparently Nanù is the place to go. After no luck with salads, we decided to get Japanese food and ate some sushi at Hari. It was pretty good! We ended the day with starting The Gladiator, so we could learn more about the Colosseum and the Romans, at least the Hollywood version. We then went to bed early, excited for our train to Florence the next day!
To Be Continued,
Grace & Emily
Tired from our journey to Rome, we started to head back home. Along the roads, there are various “water fountains.” Now to explain this in its full effect, we have to take it back to our time in Taormina, Sicily. We were and still are annoyed by paying for water. It was not until our last stop in Sicily that we finally found free water. But it wasn’t just free water or a water fountain... it was a statue with constantly running water. And people went to it like a watering hole (from now on, we refer to all free water fountains as watering holes). So these watering holes can be found in many places, like here in Rome. Thank goodness we can just find them on the street and fill up our bottles. It’s still a hunt to find them, but our thirst is quenched and our bank accounts are saved! See photos below.
The next morning, we woke up early to see the Vatican City. We had reserved a tour (which is a must do). We “started” the tour at 8:30 am but didn’t see anything until 10 am! It took us over an hour just to get in and see the first artwork! So we learned that our 3-hour tour was really just 1.5 hours. On the tour we saw the Vatican Museums, the Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter's Basilica. These made Grace really wish she brought her art history notes @Dr. Piercy!! The Vatican museums contained over 70,000 pieces of art. Most notably is the School of Athens by Raphael. It is huge and there is so much to look at! And of course the Sistine Chapel was absolutely amazing. It is hard to understand how Michelangelo was able to paint everything so proportionally correct and with such great detail on the huge walls. Many parts of the paintings looked completely 3D, very impressive to see in person! The Last Judgment took up the whole back wall; it is difficult to put into words how amazing it is. After the chapel, we went to the basilica, which was huge and astonishing, with Michelangelo's statue of Mary holding Jesus. We were glad to have seen all of this and to get a tour of it! At the end, though, we were very ready to leave because you're constantly touching other visitors the whole time. We aren’t the Pope but gosh they gotta reduce the number of people allowed in every day by at least half! It was uncomfortable, like herding cattle but not even cattle, it was like herding snails. Snails! Walking through the old palace you could barely enjoy the frescos.
Exhausted and hungry, we grabbed a bite to eat nearby. We had to refuel to explore the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, and Palatine Hill. We got these tickets ahead of time on CoopCulture, which made it really easy for us to get in. After seeing the Parthenon and knowing little about it, we got audio guides to learn more about the Colosseum without being in an official tour. It was crazy how much of the Colosseum had been distorted and used to build other things in the city like the Vatican Palace for the Popes. Also, under the sand arena (at the center) were underground rooms (for storing weapons and wild animals) and trap doors. So advanced for 2000 years ago!
We then headed to the Palatine Hill, and honestly we had no idea what it was before going. We quickly learned that the word palace can from Palatine, and we learned about the ruins from the signs and English and Spanish tour groups around us. The Forum, which was the center of the city and a marketplace, now was ruins of the town below the Palace on the hill. We are still wondering why this area was abandoned...we will give 10€ to anyone who can let us know why it was abandoned and left for nothing.
Afterward, we rewarded our long day of listening and reading by getting gelato at the Venezia Square and walked back to our apartment. 25,000 steps that day. We rested and then headed back out to get dinner near Piazza Navona at La Focaccia. We then got gelato round two (best gelato ever) from Ai Tre Tartufi in Piazza Navona. This was a recommendation from Dr. Kelley, one of Emily's Tepper professors (We have been following all of his guides and friends' guides! Thanks so much!!). We had planned to go out, but it was not lively out. We went to what was supposed to be a local piano bar, yet it was closed. We were unsuccessful in finding the nightlife on a Tuesday :( so we headed home to bed.
School of Athens by Raphael
Was so good we went here twice! Thanks @Dr. Kelley for the rec!!
Thanks @Zach for the rec!
DAY 2
Who says you can't visit Rome in a day! Well, you can't, but we tried our best. Check out the pictures below for all the sights we saw on our 3-euro walking tour guided by Rome mini maps (made in Italy). We were most impressed by how large everything was and how intact it all still was. The Romans were very, very advanced and while we wouldn't want to live in the 1800s in the US, we would definitely live in the upper class in Rome when all of this was built! Also, interestingly there were a lot of Egyptian influences because Caesar was in love with Cleopatra.
Baths of Caracalla
Circus Maximus
(Bocca Della Verità (Mouth of Truth)
Temple of Hercules Victor
Theatre of Marcellus and Temple of Apollo Sosianus
Porticus Octaviae
Fried artichoke done the Jewish way at Da Giggetto
Turtle statue in the Jewish ghetto
Piazza Campo De Fiore
Piazza Novana
Pantheon
The hole in the dome of the Pantheon
Trevi Fountain
Bottom of the Spanish steps
Top of the Spanish steps
Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore
In front of San Pietro in Vincoli (St. Peter in Chains, a church)
Michelangelo's Moses sculpture in San Pietro in Vincoli
After our long day, we hung out for a bit before looking up places for dinner. We were craving salads after eating so much pasta and pizza these past few days. Looking up suggestions on Yelp, one review said "We're two Californians burned out on carbs..." THAT'S EXACTLY US! But unfortunately the place would have been closed by the time we got there. But if you're ever in Rome and craving a salad, apparently Nanù is the place to go. After no luck with salads, we decided to get Japanese food and ate some sushi at Hari. It was pretty good! We ended the day with starting The Gladiator, so we could learn more about the Colosseum and the Romans, at least the Hollywood version. We then went to bed early, excited for our train to Florence the next day!
To Be Continued,
Grace & Emily
SUPER impressed how much you got done in 2 days in Rome!!! That is something to be proud of!
ReplyDeleteAbandoned bc volcanic eruption that left everything frozen in time. Except for one man. His name was Romulus and he was raised by wolves. Little known fact about rom-dawg is that he was actually a werewolf and ate is twin brother Remus one full moon. Remus was a vampire who fell in love with a human named Bella while going to his local high school. She wasn’t all that special but rom-wolf got jealous of his twinnie and wanted human love too. So he stole Bella one night (who at this point thought she was a vampire) to prove that werewolves are objectively cooler than vampires. But Remus was so mad he started the Gallic wars and killed everyone to get back Bella gurl (he was also hungry bc #vampyprobz but that’s beside the point). In an epic final battle between the twinnies Romulus killed his brother and decided to abandon the ruins he was raised in for good. But it was unfortunate bc Bella had become a vampire and couldn’t love Romulus back so he killed her too. Ever since it’s been abandoned but on a full moon some say you can still hear Romulus howling for his lost love Bella Thorne
ReplyDelete