Rome! (June 26-27)

Last weekend 3 of us went to Rome. We had to take the night train from Vicenza to Rome Friday night and left around 10pm. We left right after Rachel got off work though so we could get to the station by 8 when the ticket windows close (she had to get her train pass stamped). The buses took forever and we were crazy and ran into the station at 7:58! The guy was flipping the sign ‘chuiso’ (closed) but we barged up there and persuaded him to stamp the pass which only took 2 seconds! Woo that was close! Hahaha We had seat reservations on the train and were planning to sleep and get there at 6:10am. That unfortunately didn’t happen because our seats were next to crazy people! The train had little cabins with 6 seats—we had 3 seats, an older Italian guy in one, a middle-aged talkative Italian in one, and an empty seat. They were trying to talk to us but we couldn’t understand much…I tried using my Italian Jiffy Phrasebook but could only say basic things. Suddenly the crazy talkativeguy got up and brought back another guy who he figured spoke some English…then made him translate his life story to us. It was interesting but we didn’t really care and the translator kept saying I don’t know why he is telling us this…I don’t know him! He was funny and we talked to him awhile and found out he was from Rome but in the Italian Army in Verona-going home for the weekend to visit family. He was interested in the U.S. base we work on and talked about the army in Italy. He also taught us some Italian words and placesto go in Rome! So we didn’t really sleep but I felt pretty excited and hyper when we got to Rome at 6:09am!

We had some breakfast, bought a map, and reserved our seats for the way home right away before heading out. Since we were there and going so early, we got a pass for the double-decker tourbus and had to wait for it to start running at 8:30. It took us to all the main attractions where we could get off and then back on since a different bus came around the route every 10-15 minutes. We saw the Collosseum, walked around Palantine ruins, and then up to a huge palace

with a free National Museum of some sort inside with historic army uniforms, flags, etc. it was cool and they had the changing of the guards on the tomb ofthe unknown soldier. We rode the bus again and headed to the Vatican. All three of us agreed that we wanted to spend time there and paid for a tour in English. It was a bit pricey and extremely long but worth it because we were able to see everything and skip some of the long lines! During the 4.5 hour tour Saturday afternoon I was pretty drained because of the heat, crowds elbowing, and being awake since 5:30am Friday! Afterwards we ate at a little place nearby with really good lasagna and gelato. The bus took us around to some more attractions (churches, fountains, and plazas). It rained pretty hard for awhile in the evening and my camera battery had died by the time we were to the Vatican earlier. It one of the plazas I spotted Teresa (a friend I go to college with who is doing Camp Adventure in Naples)! We had no idea we would both be in Rome the same weekend and actually ran into eachother!! Crazy

Because we were so tired, by 8pm we decided to head towards the hostel for the night. I knew it would be a little bit of a walk when we booked it but it was even further up and hard to find even with a good map! Most of the walk was fun , pretty at night, and we saw a lot of Rome we hadn’t planned to. I was able to ask a few places (using Italian) where it was and they kept saying straight. We were getting frustrated and some French people asked us in English if we knew how they could get a taxi! I said No, and you need to help us! Luckily the guy had a GPS in his pocket and showed us the way! Too bad we weren’t any help to them!

We didn’t get to the hostel until about 11pm—it was really big and we had 3 bunk beds in a room with 10 people. It wasn’t too bad and we could lock our stuff up at night. I am not sure, but I woke up somewhat sleepwalking looking under beds because I was having a dream that the kids I work with (infants) were there and climbing on and under all the beds!!! I hope nobody woke up and saw me crawling around-that would be freaky! We got up around 9 and had breakfast at the hotel (only 1 Euro and nothing great). We took the city bus back to sightsee more and found out our hostel was really close to the edge of Rome and the Olympic Statium complex! During the day we saw the Trevi Fountain and the Pantheon. Our train left at 2:30 that afternoon and we played cards/slept on the 7 hour way home.

Wow I wrote a lot! Sorry! I will try to keep it more brief next time.