1. Sleep in a train station.
It happened. Our first meltdown/breaking point, kind of. But It was a horrible day that led up to it! Because our train left Cinque Terre for Rome at 1am and we had no where to go until then, we hung out and slept in a cold train station in Cinque Terre waiting for the train. The station was really dirty but we were so tired and cold we didn't care - we put down a sheet we brought and bundled up in just about every article of clothing we brought and tried to get comforable...to no avail. Neither of us had gotten sick on this trip until that day..a cold was brewing and my nose was running like crazy! Which made things worse. The other crappy part was that the train left at 1am and arrived in Rome at 4am and we didn't know where we were going to go once we got into Rome! We got in and realized The cheaper hotels were far from the train station which required walking, metro-ing, and lugging our huge bags around to get there and the first two we went to were totally booked! Our phone and ipad both had dead batteries so we couldn't even look anything up! I don't even remember how we got in that situation haha, typically we at least book a room the night before and make sure everything is charged! We were so tired and didn't know what to do or where to go and felt like we couldn't take another step so we dropped our bags and collapsed on a random street. Neither of us moved for a while, totally exhausted and defeated...I'm pretty sure We looked like homeless people sprawled out on the ground, super dirty from the train station and hiking the previous day, we probably could've put a cup out and collected change. Haha but Robby took charge and found a place, while I continued to be homeless and immobile. My man!! So after a miserable morning on no sleep and snot faced, we got checked in late that afternoon and went straight to bed and slept for 12 straight hours. Definitely got our money's worth from that hotel! Rome was off to a rough start but seriously after that 12 hour sleep we felt AMAZING the next day and ready to conquer!
2. Stay in crowded hostels..
That first night we got a pretty nice hotel with a comfy bed and a private room, we deserved it! The rest of the time it was 10 bed dorm room style which is the best way to go in Italy! Not only is it waaaay cheaper (in a place like Italy costs add up quick) but it's fun and you meet people from all over! I hav no statistics to back this, but I'm pretty sure Italy is the #1 tourist country in Europe. Tourists are everywhere and you are even charged an additional "tourist tax" each night you stay in a hotel, first time we had seen that!
Eat amazing gelato
Rome had The best gelato I have ever tasted from anywhere in Italy, the USA and even in Afghanistan! we had gelato ATLEAST once a day...maybe even twice...or three times..
3. See the Collusium (My FAVORITE!!)
The collusium is incredible. I loved being inside of it and imagining what went on 1500 years ago. I learned so much just walking through it and reading signs. I knew that gladiators fought there and that they made spectacles of killling prisoners, but there's a lot I didn't know. They have huge underground passageways where the gladiators got ready, practiced, etc and they also had full on sets down there that were brought on stage as well as animals wandering that were going to be used in the show. Some of the entertainment included Greek and roman plays where they had the prisoner they wanted to kill play the main character in one of the tragic plays who dies in the story. That way the play totally took on reality when the character was actually killed on stage as part of the play. How crazy is that?!?! Another form of entertainment was setting up the stage to look like the wilderness and having a "hunter" come in on one side and have animals on stage on the other and have the audience watch as the hunter hunts his prey. I guess the sets for the plays and the hunts were very elaborate....seems so crazy to me!!! Everyone went to the Collusium, rich, poor, old and young! The entertainment was free because they wanted everyone off the streets for a while, helped reduce crime. Ironic that watching people die was a way to reduce street crime.
I got in trouble for this one.
4. Make your own pasta
Like I mentioned in the Florence post, most the pasta we bought was sub-par and overpriced. So we stopped buying it. At any hostel that had a kitchen we would make our own pasta dinner! This was the best thing ever because the pasta you can buy in stores is cheap and they have some amazing sauces! Pair that with some fresh bread and arrividerche!! (still don't know what that Italian word means but we used it for everything, it's fun to say) Somehow our homemade pasta was way better than anything we bought...maybe we are just dang good chefs and didn't even know it til now.
5. Walk til you feel like crawling...everyday...And soak up the history!
They say if you're not careful, Rome will eat you alive. We experienced some of that the first day there. But every other day after that was full of adventure, sightseeing, and learning. This history is incredible and it's amazing to see buildings dating from the first century! So much to see which is amazing, and exhausting! By the end of everyday we were so worn out, our feet hurt, and our brains fried. But we LOVED that about italy. Not a dull moment and when you do finally go to bed you sleep better than ever!
6. See Saint Peters Bascillica and climb to the top of the dome for an amazing view of Rome!
This is the church honoring st. Peter and it is said that it is built on the location where he was crucified upside down and also that his remains are under the church. The church was beautiful and you can climb to the top of the dome of it to get an amazing view of all of Rome! Super cool
View from The top!
7. Hang out in the Sistine Chapel with the Pope.
This is the Popes personal chapel. Unfortunately we didn't see him, But the chapel was pretty. Michealangelo painted the ceiling and a full wall of it and it is incredible! I loved the painting he did that covers a full wall - its called the Great Judgement and it depicts Christ on judgement day with people who are being saved and some that are being cast into hell. Apparently Michealangelo drew one of his enemies on the hell side- haha! Really powerful and beautiful, here's what it looks like
8. Take pictures of all the random, old Statues and monuments everywhere
A cool fountain
At some ruins in the Forum..no pictures please!!
9. Make a scavenger hunt for your friends who are going to be there in two weeks
We had friends coming to italy a couple weeks after us so we wrote a couple notes and hid them conspicuously in areas we knew they would go! It would be amazing if they were still there and the first note gave them a riddle they had to solve for directions to the next one which was hidden with a sack of gold coins worth $2M!!!!! They wish...
10. Get the heck out before you spend all your money...
Now on to Greece!
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