When I finally arrived in Rome I headed straight to my Airbnb to drop off my stuff. My Rome home was a room in Matteo's apartment in a safe, beautiful building with a cool elevator that I had no idea how to use.
Rome Metro is super easy to navigate and I bought a 48 hour pass for unlimited Metro rides. The streets are wider in Rome so I didn’t feel as compressed with the people walking around. The city is filled with spectacular historical sites and beautiful architecture. I walked around for four hours that afternoon and was blown away by the views. I've always loved bridges and Italy has so many beautiful bridges and they are mostly designed just for strolling.
I saw some well known sites that afternoon like the Colosseum, Piazza Navona, Castel Sant'Angelo, and the Pantheon. I also saw a lot of the Forum (from the outside). If I could’ve done one thing differently I probably would’ve paid for a ticket to walk around inside the Forum. I had no idea it was that big and even with all my research didn't realize I needed a ticket. For next time...
Later that night I went to a restaurant called Sui e Gui that a good friend had recommended...and it did not disappoint. Delicious pasta, red wine and Tiramisu.
The next day I had a reservation to tour the Vatican Gardens (the only way into that area is with a paid guide). First of all, Vatican City is insane. My Airbnb was about a 10 minute walk from the Vatican and when I rounded a corner it was a sea of people. They were standing in two lines (neither labeled) so I got in the line that looked shorter assuming that was the line for people who purchased tickets ahead of time. The people in front of me guessed the same thing and we finally realized we were in the correct line when we saw the line about 5 minutes later.
The Gardens were really beautiful and had some unique pieces in the garden like a piece of the Berlin Wall. We walked through the English rose garden, the Italian garden and saw amazing views of St. Peter’s Basilica. It started POURING down rain unexpectedly and once again, I got drenched. I wasn’t alone though (other Americans with no coats).
After touring the Gardens I walked through more of the Vatican Museums and into the Sistine Chapel. It's very beautiful but again, it was packed and if you wanted to stop and gawk at the ceiling (me) the employees would start yelling at you to go to the middle of the room (where there was no room). Once you left the center of the room you were somewhat aggressively moved towards the exit. And don't EVEN try to take a photo. First of all, there are signs everywhere that no photos are allowed in the Sistine Chapel but, as you can imagine, people weren't reading or acting dumb. The guards would start yelling at people if they saw anything being pointed at the ceiling besides a finger. Flash photography can potentially ruin art (which is why no flash photography at all is allowed in Vatican City).
After the Vatican I walked over to Saint Peter's Square which was so much bigger than I expected and got the full view of Saint Peters Basilica. There were huge lines all over the Square of people trying to get into the Basilica. I wandered down a quiet street away from the tourists and enjoyed an Aperol Spritz and some cheeses. The other thing I love about Italy are all the water fountains. Supposedly completely clean, drinkable water you see many people filling up water bottles with.
So, back to my jacket from many blogs ago…I stupidly left my jacket at my friend’s house in Germany. My Rome Airbnb host said I could send the jacket to his house so my friend Ana went to DHL and mailed it to me. I thought over a week would be enough time to get it…it wasn’t. So I found a North Face store in Rome and had to shell out a couple hundred dollars to replace my jacket. If I wasn’t riding horses in cold Icelandic weather I would not have done this but I knew I’d freeze if I didn’t have a coat.
The next morning I took the train to the FCO Rome airport which has the QPass security - a free service where you basically reserve a spot in a special security entrance to go through faster. As advertised, it was very fast. Right as I got to the airport I started receiving notices that my flight was delayed. One hour, two, three, four hours delayed. I think I had 12 different times I’ve used scheduled transportation during this trip and only 2 times has it been on time (or arrived on time, I should say). When we finally got out of Rome the flight was over 4.5 hours late. The interesting thing about flights in the EU is they have to pay you $650 if your flight is delayed more than 4.5 hours. And Iceland Air was good on that promise!
The next morning I took the train to the FCO Rome airport which has the QPass security - a free service where you basically reserve a spot in a special security entrance to go through faster. As advertised, it was very fast. Right as I got to the airport I started receiving notices that my flight was delayed. One hour, two, three, four hours delayed. I think I had 12 different times I’ve used scheduled transportation during this trip and only 2 times has it been on time (or arrived on time, I should say). When we finally got out of Rome the flight was over 4.5 hours late. The interesting thing about flights in the EU is they have to pay you $650 if your flight is delayed more than 4.5 hours. And Iceland Air was good on that promise!
And update from my previous Croatia travel fiasco...World Nomads insurance came through for me and I was refunded back all the money I lost and had to spend extra when my boat was canceled! Highly recommend them for travel insurance but you have to keep ALL your receipts and proof of travel well organized. To be refunded for the bus cost I had to provide a copy of the stub from my ticket! Luckily I'm a total freak and save stuff like that!
Next stop...ICELAND!
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