Travellatte: When in Rome II

I left the house in my giant black fuzzy slippers today. I even walked down the street a little bit before realizing it. Happy Monday!

So back to Rome...

Friday, January 3:

Sara and I woke up bright and early around 8:00am to an AMAZING breakfast prepared by Stefano. Okay so it probably wouldn't have been amazing for anyone else. But by my standards it was because it had all of my favorite things. First off, Italy has the best coffee I have ever tasted in my life. And being a coffee addict (cough cough travellatte) I know. Stefano made us real Italian coffee and it was sooooo good. I had two cups and ended up bouncing off the walls because it's stronger than most coffee. He also served us pastries consisting of a croissant stuffed with some kind of cream/yogurt/vanilla filling and a chocolate croissant stuffed with chocolate. Don't mind if I ~~eat everything in sight~~ do. After breakfast, Sara and I got ready and eventually headed to the famous shopping street Via del Corso. This street is famous because it is lined with every big name fashion designer and their stores. Because the theme of our Rome trip always involved getting lost, we obviously went the wrong way up the street. So in the end we walked the ENTIRE street (about a mile long.) Finally we made it to our destination, Piazza Venezia which sat at the very end of the street. This piazza was HUGE. There was a large building at the very end (which we later learned has only been used for military purposes) and in front of that was a giant round about for cars. Sara and I hopped our way between the cars to the building and pretty much stood in front of it gawking. The Romans really knew how to build MASSIVE, beautiful things.

Italian Soldiers

Sara vs. the typical size for a Roman statue

Eventually we meandered our way up a ton of giant stairs (obviously we had a photo shoot throughout our venture), and made it to the first level. At this level is the "tomb of the unknown soldier", the eternal flame, and the Italian guards guarding both. I have made finding the tomb and the flame a new game of mine since my backpacking trip last Summer. I refuse to research where each one is; I prefer to just stumble upon them. And so far, I have seen them in Washington D.C., London, Paris, and now Rome.

After climbing up more stairs to the second level (and of course taking more photos)...

we headed inside the building itself. We were basically allowed to meander where ever we wanted, so our first stop was the basement. This is where the Italian military had (has?) their meetings. They have been using this building for a long time based off of the history. We next climbed our way up some stairs to another level of the building which brought us outside again. We walked around and eventually found ourselves in a church that was attached. We went inside and were amazed. The outside of the church was very dilapidated and old. The inside was designed beautifully and it exhibited wonderful Roman architechture.

This painting was awesome, because it was 3D. They layered the different pieces so it was literally popping out at you.

Upon exiting the church, we were greeted with an option to take an elevator up to the very top of the building or to continue back down. We chose the first option and paid our way to the very top. Boy, was it worth it. We had an complete view of the city, famous monuments and all.

The Roman Forum

After more photos, we headed back down in the elevator and stopped in the cafe at this level of the building. Sara enjoyed a nice bowl of fruit, while I scarfed down a delicious danish. (If it hasn't already been established... I'm quite the fatty when it comes to food. Always have been, always will be.)

After our snack, we departed Piazza Venezia and its amazing building and headed towards the Roman Forum. This monument is in complete ruins but it takes up a good chunk of the city. Part of the ruins are visible to the public. The best ones, you have to pay to see. Stefano had purchased our tickets the previous day, so we were able to skip the long line and head right inside. There's not much to say about the Roman Forum except that everything is mind blowingly old and the whole thing is enormous.

Before/ Then

After/Now

Walking thru the ruins eventually leads you to the Palatine Hill. This used to be considered the center of the city and on top of the hill sat a Roman palace.

I like yoga everywhere... even in Roman ruins

Luckily for us, the weather was perfect on this day. It felt like a beautiful Spring day. You didn't even need to wear a jacket! Very refreshing from the cold weather we had been having in Priego.

After Palatine Hill, we finished the rest of the Roman Forum and headed next door to the Colosseum. Unfortunatly, we had spent so much time getting lost in the Forum that our time had to be cut short in the Colosseum since it was closing. We literally ran through the parts of the audio tour. I plan to eventually return to Rome and finish the Colosseum properly.

After we were literally kicked out of the Colosseum, Sara and I headed to a gelato place a friend of ours had recommended. For those of you who don't know, Italy is famous for three things: pasta, pizza, and gelato (a type of ice cream). And like every person who has ever been to Rome says, I am now claiming that I found the best gelato in Rome. But seriously. It was amazing.

After gelato, we headed to a part of Rome known as Trastevere. Here we walked through narrow Roman streets and admired beautiful Roman archictecture and typical Roman life. Eventually we made friends with a waiter who convinced us to eat at his restaurant. Before you even make an assumption, he was probably 65 years old. Totally awesome though. I asked the man where the bathroom was, and he escorted me (holding my hand) to it while we discussed different things. Sara and I ordered the famous "Roman Artichokes" and "Caci y Pepe" which is basically fettucini alfredo with spaghetti. As always, our food was amazing.

Did I mention that we were eating outside...

After a relaxing two hour meal (it was the first time we sat down all day), we headed back towards our B&B. On our way back we first stopped at the Trevi Fountain. We realized that we never took part in the tradition of throwing two coins into the fountain. One is to symbolize finding love and the other is to symbolize that you will make a return to Rome in the future. Ya got me there Romans.

After our fountain visit, we passed a bar that advertised "free jazz concert." As we were deciding whether or not to check it out, one of the band members came up to us and convinced us to stay. We enjoyed a drink as we listened to a very good "jazz" band. I put the word jazz in quotes because they basically played American songs with string instruments and trumpets. It wasn't actual jazz music which made me laugh.