Rome

After I foolishly bought a 6am train ticket from Naples to Rome instead of a 6pm one, I was trying to think of a way to get to the ghetto at 6am from Pozzuoli....but instead I just bought a new ticket, thank goodness! Trains in Italy are so cheap, I love it.

Rome was a dream! Our hostel was awesome, wifi at every square inch, great location near the train station, and so cheap! By the time our two days were up, I had Rome navigated perfectly in my head- so different from Paris. I am terrible with directions. Somehow, Italy solved that problem for me. Just another reason to love Italy.

I have been putting off writing these posts about Italy because I know there is so much I want to say and not a sufficient enough brain capacity and finger mobility to get it out correctly. So...Here are my highlights!

-When we were visiting the Colosseum, the weather went from partly sunny and agreeable to a 10-minute torrential down pour! Everyone around us was not only SOAKED, but laughing because there was literally no way of escaping the monsoon that was upon us. It was actually quite hilarious. Afterwards, the sun came back out and gave us beautiful weather for the first half of our day. We walked wherever our feet would take us and luckily, just happened upon the things we wanted to see!

-To the left of the Colosseum is a hill covered in beautiful olive trees and is simply picturesque Italy. The building on the hill turned out to be a quaint little church that had candles inside to light. Upon Grandma Colleen's request, I lit a candle in honor of Great Grandma Susie. Leading up to the church was also a really cool display of carved wood plaques that documented Christ's life.

-In search of Emily's golden sunshine mouth thing, we wandered a bit, asked someone where we could find it by using the one word that the Sister Missionaries taught us in Naples (dove) which turned out to be the MOST helpful word possible, and then didn't find it again. Turning to an old, friendly looking food-cart vendor,we asked "dove boca di...somethin'..." He looked at us like we were the dumbest people in the world. To our left was the line for the Boca di somethin'.

-We found the Trevi Fountain! My favorite place in Rome, hands down. That night, we sat and people-watched for hours and witnessed a guy propose to his girlfriend!! Right in front of us!!! Oh my gosh! Coolest thing ever. When I saw what was happening, I began cheering and clapping and after an awkward moment, people realized what I was cheering for and joined in. So special! I threw my three coins in for 1) a return to Rome, 2) a love affair in Italy, and 3) marrying an Italian man. Let's just sa, I want my Paolo to come and sweep me off my feet. Those Italian men are fiiiine.

-While searching for the best gelato cafe that Emily's sister-in-law went to, we were caught in a wide open square when the hardest rain storm I have ever been in, hit. Wind blowing sideways, rain hammering into our bodies, drenched in a record breaking 0.38227 seconds, and squealing like little girls. I have never been so wet and cold in my life. Once we saw the Pantheon, we warranted ourselves a stop in an over-priced-but-cute cafe where I ate my first Italian tiramisu! Delicious, of course. But I think my favorite was in Venice. Complimetns to Nico. :)

-Our hostel was 5 minutes from the train station and it was awesome! On our way out, we took an overnight train to Venice. No it was not one with beds. Not it was not comfortable. And what we didn't know was that it was about to be the Inferno Train of Death.