I returned from a trip to Rome with my boyfriend two days ago, and it was amazing!
Day one: It was the first time I went on a trip with my boyfriend, so that made it even more special. We went there by plane, from Amsterdam. It started out a bit troublesome since it turned out our suitcases hadn`t been paid for yet, and that the flight had been delayed for an hour or so.
For GJ it was his first time flying and he was afraid the airplane would come falling out the sky and kill us all, but luckily that didn`t happen. I never cease to be amazed by the view from a plane…Too bad you spend more time checking in and waiting for your luggage then you do flying. Once we did get properly arrive we still had to find our way into Rome itself, since the airport is a good 30 km away. We managed to catch a bus and (after facing some rude bus drivers and using our GPS) we found the hotel.
Day two: This day we decided to go visit two of the most important cultural sites of Rome, the Colosseum of and the Forum Romanum. We were pretty lucky since we were just about to stand in line for the Colosseum (which was 1,5 hours long!!) when someone approached us and asked if we were EU citizens and below 25 years of age. Since we were, we could join their English tour of both the Colosseum and the Forum Romanum for which we had to pay about half of the usual price and we could walk right past the long long line.
The Colosseum was as impressive as I thought it would be, it`s even bigger than you imagine it to be when you see pictures or video footage. There wasn`t much left of the Forum Romanum (everything was stolen to build the Vatican) but we had an amazing tourguide who told us loads of amusing facts (did you know the average roman was only 130 cm?)
Day Three: This day we decided we wanted to go swimming, since it was terribly hot (and it would continue being terribly hot the entire week). This was easier thought then done, since GJ had read about a pool near the Colosseum but we couldn`t find anything about it when we were actually at the Colosseum. Not a single sign, not a single leaflet…it was like the pool wasn`t even there. Luckily, we had access to Wifi in the hotel so we googled it, and it turned out that it was on a 3 minute walk from the Colosseum but it was so well hidden by trees that you couldn`t see it from the street…we`d actually passed it the day before.
So, off to the swimming pool we went. It was expensive, 14,50 for a day, but there wasn`t a single tourist and the water was wonderful! We spend the entire day relaxing there.
Day Four: This day we visited the Pantheon and the Trevi fountain. We were utterly incapable of finding the Trevi fountain at first and had given up, making our way to the Pantheon, when we stumbled right upon it. It sure was a gorgeous fountain. I felt a very strong desire to go swim in the fountain but unfortunately, it wasn`t allowed…you weren`t even allowed to stick your big toe in the water. (You were more than welcome to toss all your coins in though).
We spend quite some time at the Pantheon, just staring at the ceiling and looking around us (and GJ was playing games on his phone…he`s still a geeky boy!
). Eventually we returned to eat some delicious food (the pizza and pasta really is as good as they say!)
Day Five: We went shopping this day! Being a big lover of shopping, I had a great time. At first I was a bit disappointed since all we saw was Gucci, Prada, YSL, Burberry and more
fancy brands which we couldn`t afford. Luckily, I`d read something about an affordable street -the Via dei Corso- and it turned out to be amazing! Best of all, THERE WAS A HELLO KITTY STORE. Yes, you`ve read that right. It was a store entirely dedicated to Hello Kitty, and it wasn`t even a small store…it was huge! I wanted to buy EVERYTHING, but unfortunately it was all very expensive so I only bought myself a fancy wallet. I needed a new wallet anyway since I managed to ruin my old one by putting diet coke in an aquarius bottle. It`s not a good idea..not a good idea at all. Turns out those bottle caps can`t handle the soda and explode, it was all over the walls and ceiling of the hotel room. So I was like
OMGPLEAZTELLMETHISDIDNTHAPPEN and started cleaning like mad, seriously finishing about five minutes before roomservice knocked on the door. I`d managed to save my butt there, but not the contents of my
handbag… it was all soaked in diet coke, even my money *sobs* But hey…it gave me an excuse to buy the HK wallet!
We also visited an amazing church which was decorated with the bones of 4000 monks. It was fascinating in a really creepy way, seeing all those skulls all around you. What creeped me out most though were the mummified skeletons of some of the monks and the skeletons of small children. It`s definitely recommend you to pay a visit there though, it`s at the Via Vitt. Veneto. (You`re NOT NOT NOT allowed to make any pictures though, I picked this one from google, when a kid tried making a picture every single one in the church was kicked out until they`d found who`d made the picture…I wonder what happened to the kid who had made the picture).
Day six: This day turned out to be a whole lot more exciting than I`d expected it to be! We were planning to just make a stroll through a huge park when we ran into a pond which was filled with…well, we couldn`t see from a distance but it looked like some crazy fish! When we approached the pond we noticed that they were turtles, a LOT of turtles, at least 60 of them! They were very used to humans so you could feed them (they ate EVERYTHING, from cake to crisps) and pet them. So obviously, we spend the rest of the day feeding and petting turtles.
Day seven: Back home again *sulks*