Weekend in Rome

This weekend, several of us ventured to Rome, Italy. We left school early, missing the last two classes after lunch on Friday. We walked to La Garriga, then hopped a train to the airport, flew an hour and half, and landed in the awesome city of Rome! We caught a taxi at the airport to our hotel. That alone was a trip that almost made me want to go back to Spain. The driver was a crazy driver, weaving and changing lanes without signaling. He was an expert at using the horn. (I wonder what the life expectancy or an Italian horn is?)

Once we arrived at our hotel, Hotel Giorgina, we dropped our bags off, and headed across the street for our first Italian meal. What else would you eat in Italy, but pizza! And it was amazing! Then, because that wasn't enough, we went next door for some gelato. Yummy! Finally, it was time to go to sleep our first night. It was super clean with 3 twin beds and one double, perfect for us 5 girls. We slept well and sound.

Hotel Giorgina

 Day 1
The next morning, we headed out to the Coliseum. It was amazing! We were able to walk all the way around it and take lots of pictures. It was cool and surreal to be standing in the Coliseum. Next, we walked towards Vatican City. The streets were fill of shops and boutiques. We stopped frequently to window shop and check the map. Fact: there are no street signs, the road names were carved into the building corners.

The Coliseum

The Coliseum

 At the Vatican, we toured St. Peter's Basilica. While I am not Catholic, this was still amazing. The detail and the feel of the building was not at all what I expected.  We went to the basement and saw where the Apostle Peter was buried and the tombs of other Popes. Up next, the view from the top! We climbed 551 stairs. Did you read that carefully? 551 stairs to the top of the Cupola to have the most amazing view of the city. 360 degrees of Rome, wow!

St. Peter's Basilica

 Once we climbed back down, we headed to the Vatican Museum to get a look at the Sistine Chapel. The museum was huge and it took a solid 15-20 minutes of walking to get to the famous room. Once there, it was pretty impressive. It was very crowded and you couldn't take pictures, but made me think about how he did it.

From here, we left and went to next Italian meal. After pizza, what else could you have, but pasta! I had a massive plate of spaghetti. It was the best spaghetti I have ever had. The noodles were perfect, and the sauce had cheese melted into it. And once again, finished off the meal with gelato.


After lunch (at 5PM), we headed to our next stop, the Trevi Fountain. We hit the fountain at a peak time; there were lots of people. It was dark so the fountain was all lit up and gorgeous. The fountain has a story that says if you throw a coin into it, you will one day return to Rome. Another story says you just make a wish while you throw a coin in the fountain. Well, I threw in 3 coins! I can't wait to see what happens!

Throwing my coin in, making my wish!

The Trevi Fountain

After the Trevi Fountain, we made our way back to the hotel. We stopped along the way to buy souvenirs and look in the shops. We rested for a bit at the hotel and then headed out again for dinner at the Pizza Forum. The place was recommended to us by Giovanni, the night desk clerk at the hotel. It was situated near the Coliseum, so we got to see the Coliseum again, at night, all lit up. This pizza place was different than the first one, because this was thick crust. The first night, we had thin crust. However, their thick crust would just be normal crust in America. But, it was delicious!  And from here, we walked back to the hotel and went to sleep.

My dinner

Day 2
Day 2 started with  hotel continental breakfast around 8:30. Then, we headed out to a couple of sights and shopping. We went to the Pantheon, toured, took pictures, and enjoyed our last Italian meal, spaghetti. I love Italian food! The Pantheon was free and very crowded, but still cool to visit. 

The Pantheon

 From the Pantheon, we headed to the Spanish Steps. This too was free and very crowded. It was interesting to see all the people just sitting on the steps and enjoying the day.

Spanish Steps

The Spanish Steps was the last major tourist thing we wanted to do. At this point, we were all tired. We headed back to the hotel, slowly, shopping along the way. We stopped for gelato, of course. At the hotel, we picked up our bags, talked to Giovanni for the last time, and jumped in our taxi to the airport. Good bye Rome.

The journey back to SEK (the school) was long. We caught our flight, which I think was late, that took us to the Barcelona airport. Then, from there, we had to get on the Aerobus to get us back to the center of Barcelona. Once there, we hopped on the night bus to La Garriga. And once we got off that bus, we had to walk 45 minutes at 2 AM to get back to school. I finally passed out in bed around 3 AM. Shew...it was a long day, but a great weekend. Overall, the trip the Rome was amazing. The people were so nice and friendly. They would smile and call us various names, "Angel", "Bella", etc. The city was fairly clean, busy, fun, and overall a great experience. I hope that my Trevi Fountain wishes come true and that I get to go back to Rome someday.

Finally...pictures! Here is the link to all my pictures of Rome. I am also adding the link to my Spain pictures.

Rome Pictures 2011

Spain Pictures 2011