Rome

The second stop of our epic winter vacay was none other than ROME. Our flight from Paris arrived in the evening and we took a bus to Termini station, the major train station in Rome. Our hostel was conveniently located nearby, but we quickly learned that the Termini area completely blows. It's ugly and totally lacking in character and good places to eat. On the brightside, it is well connected to the metro, busses, and trains. Our hostel wasn't much better... boring, ugly, rude staff, the works. Oh well! After grabbing a subpar meal nearby, we began our nightly tradition of drinking wine and playing card games, which was abruptly ended at midnight when our hostel closed the common areas and declared quiet hours. Seriously?!

The next day, we explored ancient Rome! We bought a pass that allowed us entrance into the Colosseum, Roman Forum, and Palentine Hill... lot's of tourists, but it was pretty cool to be in a place soooo old. We also began our deep love affair with Italian gelato... yum!

On our third day in Rome, we headed to Vatican City, the smallest country in the world! First, we hit the famous Vatican museum, which is HUGE. Once again, we were plagued with huge crowds, but we got to see some amazing art, including Michelangelo's ceiling in the Sistene Chapel. Next, we went to the St. Peter's Basilica, where we toured the cathedral and then climbed the stairs to the top!

Michelangelo's "finger touch". I was naughty and snuck a picture.

St. Peter's Basilica

The stairs to the top of St. Peters were intense! No, my camera was not tilted...

Our third day in Rome was New Year's Eve. We took the bus into the better side of Rome, and the first thing we came across was the world's most epic pizza. We walked by this place that had tons of people flooding in and out, and we knew we had hit the jackpot! Next, we walked around and hit up sights like the Trevi Fountain and the Pantheon, shopped, and ate more gelato. We didn't really know what to do for New Year's Eve, so we went to some club event organized by our hostel, and to make a long story short, it sucked. But hey, we're past that now!

Eggplant, sausage and peppers, and mozzarella pizza... EPIC.

nom nom nom

On our final full day in Rome, we spent time being lazy, ate lasagna, and visited the Spanish Steps. The next morning, we headed to our next destination: FLORENCE! There is a lot to do and see in Rome, but I can't say it was my favorite city of our trip. If I could do it over, I would have stayed somewhere else and maybe planned our stay a little better, but we did enjoy ourselves nonetheless.

Ciao!