Hiya! time for the “etc” part of greece, etc!
i didn’t have internet in rome, but here is a summary of sorts.
the plane ride from athens to rome was awesome! aegean airlines is pretty sweet 🙂
we had a veggie breakfast on the flight and arrived around 10am. this is where things get ugly!
i
read that it was possible to take the metro from the airport, but our
only options were the leonardo express, a taxi, or [apparently] a
shuttle. i was so confused and distraught that daniel and i stood in a
line for almost 30 minutes just to be TOLD to pay 30 euros and ride the
shuttle. fine. whatever.
we arrive at the hotel early, leave our
bags [b/c we can’t check in yet], and go exploring. rome is HUGE.
daniel and i were so overwhelmed! it’s mega crowded and HOT HOT HOT in
the summer! yes i knew it was going to be touristy, but this was
insane!
we walked around for 3 or 4 hours, ate pizza and a
delightful little restaurant, and continued walking. did you know some
places in rome have a “cover charge” simply for eating there?? also,
the gelato is GREAT. eat a ton of it.
that aren’t so great….LONG lines, crowded streets, busy metropolis,
very fashionable, speaking spitalian [attempting to communicate with
spanish! ha!], crazy traffic [i.e. daniel getting “tapped” by a
scooter!], and a lot of rude people…
absolute favorite part was the coloseum! i remembered going there as a
child and being intrigued…so we definitely went back 🙂
our
hotel room was big!! when we finally got to check in i was super
excited to take a looong shower! we walked SO much the first day that i
PASSED out before even blow drying my hair [i finally had a blow
dryer!].
Day two started out pretty depressing! I woke up before
Daniel to do my hair…popped my neck as usual….BLARGH. i totally
screwed up my neck! i can’t look up or turn left. it’s incredibly
inconvenient. either way, daniel and i walked a ton more!
we
checked out after breakfast, had the hotel hold our luggage, and
trekked around rome again. first stop…vatican city. ya i TOTALLY
forgot we were going to the vatican. i walked around but was rejected
when i tried to get in to the basilica! the photograph showed a girl in
hoochie shorts, with cleavage and an exposed mid section – surely i was
fine in shorts and a tanktop! no cleave, no belly!
wishful
thinking…there was a tent right before entering and a guy told me,
“you need to cover your shoulders and your pants are too short.” SIGH i
kinda knew that was coming! so i waited outside while daniel walked
around the basilica. i had to change locations when tour guides started
using my outfit as an example of what NOT to wear. THANKS.
afterwards
we walked around some more and went shopping. why is shopping so
uplifting? i don’t even do it that often, but it was pretty great!
things i noticed to be quite popular:
pant jumpers, gladiator sandals [ankle and up], tights/leggings, giant hats.
right
before we left rome i bought a giant beach hat…rome made me worried
about my skin! no matter where you were, the sun was frying your brain. i
never drank so much water in my life!
alright, don’t get me
wrong, there are TONS of beautiful things and parts of rome…but don’t
go in the summer if you can help it!
after the 2nd day, daniel and
i went to the train station a couple hours early for our train to
vienna. about 40 minutes before our train departed daniel encouraged me
to check out the shops on the lower level of the train station [where
the metro is located]. bad idea! i found a couple really cute shops and
we BARELY made our train! haha
the train to vienna was really
cool! since we left at 7pm it was light enough to see a lot of what we
rode by – BEAUTIFUL country side! and in the morning, once we were in
austria, it was even MORE beautiful!
i’ll write about vienna tomorrow or something. just know that i LOVE IT. 😀
i leave you with a photo of our train car and one of the delicious cappucinos i enjoyed in rome 🙂
