I spent my first night in Rome at a party hostel called The Yellow, that had a bar on the main floor and a dancey place in the basement. I had a blast. I met so many people, including two people from river heights! It was sweet.
The next day i moved to a cheaper hostel on the other side of the train station, which was pretty decent, except for the problems they were having with the lights on the last two days i was there (aka they didnt work some times). I headed to the colosseum after dropping off my things, and it wasnt a very long wait to get inside. Thank you, low season! It felt very strange experiencing it in person...very surreal. I find a lot of landmarks i see on this trip are at least partially covered with scaffolding. Kind of a bummer! After the colesseum i wandered around the surrounding area, where the architecture was AMAZING. Touristy, but still stunning.
I made Monday a shopping day, hitting up a large market, where i walked away with one vintage skirt for €1. I found a cute shop called Pifebo where i got my cat shirt and a totebag with the stores logo on it, and i ended up visiting one of their other stores that had a tonne more stuff and was staffed with two sexy men. I picked up some things there that i paid for by weight. I wandered upon a little cafe where i had a yummy buffet lunch, but i cant recall the name. That night i headed back to the yellow to see if i could find any friends from saturday night, and i did! I had dinner there and made friends with the dude behind the bar. They had a burlesque show that night (my first!) and i stayed up way too late.
In the next few days i visited Piazza Navova, Trevi fountain (wicked!) the Panteon (pretty rad), Basilica di San Marco, Spanish Steps (not a huge deal during the day but perhaps pretty at night), galleria nazionale d'arte moderna (large and confusing) and Villa Borghese park, which is an amazingly sprawling, beautiful and lively greenspace.
On my last day in Rome i joined up wiith a sweet lady from France named Aurore and headed to the vatican city. We had missed the pope by a half hour, and at this time they had barracaded to entire piazza control and clear the area, i suppose. To pass some time we headed off the main street to find some cheaper coffee and treats. We ended up sitting for a few hours and consuming two coffees each. Such a great time! After this we headed back to St Peters Basilica and waited in line for not very long, despite the length. Tour guides come up to you every minute or so, warning you that youll be waiting a long time unless you go on their tour etc, and they tend to follow you while youre walking away. (Im sure the wait time is monsterous come summer time.) the Basilica is beautiful, obviously, right? And gigantic. Very impressive. Aurore had the impression that the vatican museum (which houses the sistine chapel) was €40 for entry, so we didnt go, but its actually under €20. I suppose im a tad disappointed i didnt see it, but what you gonna do? After the vatican we headed to a cool little area called Trastevere where we ate a late lunch and drank some wine. We wandered around and looked at the shops and the people then headed home, getting caught in the rain halfway. It was still a beautiful night!
When we got home i checked my bank balance and thought to myself, self, you have to pay rent and pay your visa, and then there wont be much left. Not in your regular account, anyways. So, i had to go on a quest to find an international telephone to call my bank to switch over shop money (money ive saved for my shop) into my regular account. As ive never used one of these establishments before i was unaware you had to press a button when it connected, so after reaching two different people, they both couldnt hear me and hung up. Finally i connected with someone and they made the switch, and i only had to pay like 0.50€. Crazy easy, but annoying. While i was around the station i purchased my train ticket to Naples, and the next morning, i was off.
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