Rome, Italy & The Vatican

Rome, Italy & The Vatican 24-27 November 2016

$20 Flight to Rome

When we got to Bratislava, we were hungry and knew that if we didn't get something to eat, we probably wouldn't get to eat until the morning after arriving in Rome. We picked up a couple of Kebabs from the train station.

Ryanair is the greatest. As long as you are traveling light, you can fly for super cheap. We found a $20 flight from Bratislava to Rome. Bratislava, Slovakia is only an hour from Vienna so we caught the late night flight out of there. It was an adventure getting to the airport. We had never been to the airport and didn't know exactly where to go after arriving in Bratislava, but it all worked out. It was Thanksgiving day, and besides having to go to class, we made a LOT of pies at Cindy's apartment with the group. Carli brought me a piece in a bag and I ate it while we were waiting at a bus stop in Bratislava. We got to our flight with a little bit of time to spare, and made our way to Rome. We got in very late and had a hard time finding my friend's place. 

As you would expect form Italy, there were mopeds everywhere!

This is Alessandro! He is my host cousin from when I was an exchange student in Switzerland. When we met as teenagers we didn't share a common language as he spoke Italian and Swedish, and I spoke english and broken German, but we managed to get along great. His Mother Helena is my second host mother's sister and is incredible. She was sadly out of town the weekend that we were in Rome, but she let us stay at her apartment with Alessandro while she was gone. 

This is a map with all of the locations that we visited in Rome. We walked pretty much everywhere!

The Vatican & St. Peter's Basilica

This is the outer wall of the Vatican City. This was our first stop upon waking up and heading into the city. We expected a long line, but there was zero wait! Apparently November is a fantastic time to visit Rome. As you can see, the weather was fantastic as well!

This picture looks fake, but it's not! This is one of the first courtyards you see inside the Vatican.

This is me sitting on the ground this trip, and below is me sitting down at the same place as an exchange student in spring of 2011 (The one in the red hoodie). Crazy how long it's been!

It seems like the whole Vatican museum is a huge maze that ends at the Sistine Chapel. After a while of wandering through all this art, we just started speeding through so we could get to the chapel and get on to other things in the city.

Inside the Sistine Chapel. It was packed with people and security guards telling people not to take photographs. So we snuck these. After all, we didn't come all that way and walk forever through the rest of the Vatican to come away empty handed. 

The ceiling

"The Creation of Adam" Not a bad shot after a little bit of cropping! 

We loved the Vatican, and experiencing that bit of history. This spiral ramp led to the exit. Next up was St. Peter's Basilica. 

There was a bit longer of a line by the time we got to the Basilica.We had to wait about an hour to get in which is still better than during the busy season!

The Swiss Guard

These statues sit right above a doorway inside the Basilica which leads to the place where donations and offerings are brought.

After exploring the Basilica, and the catacombs, we started our ascent to the top of the dome.

Made it! They didn't have these bars here five years ago though! Kinda disappointing. 

The Papal Gardens

By the time we got back down, evening was coming, and the city's lights were starting to come on and we still had a lot of ground to cover.

First stop was dinner! We were starving and found a little Italian restaurant and ordered a LOT of food. We got 4-cheese tortellini, 4-cheese gnocchi, and a 4-cheese pizza. It was all delicious!

Pantheon

The Trevi Fountain. Making wishes!

Most romantic wet willie in the history of wet willies. :)

Gelato! This specific Gelato shop is the same one that Helena showed me in 2011 saying that it was the best in Rome! I had no hope of finding it because I had no idea where it was, but we randomly walked by and I was able to recognize it. I think because I've dreamed of eating that gelato so often.

We walked into a Lindt store and found these gigantic truffles. They're not a plastic sphere filled with little truffles like you can find, but an actual huge truffle! We got one for Helena and Alessandro to say thanks.

Carli's new friend

Last stop for the day were the Boroque Spanish steps. 

We were going to take the metro and train back to the apartment, but the metro was closed to we hoofed it. It was a long walk! This is me looking up walking directions. It was a miracle that my phone battery lasted the entire day!

We got home, and while Carli was getting ready for bed, I tried to plan out the next days activities and see if it was possible to fit in a trip to Pompeii. I was so exhausted and didn't get too far with that.

Colosseum and Roman Forum 

The Roman Forum is probably my favorite part of Rome. You really get to connect with the history of the place without having to experience it in a museum. There is a more direct connection between you and the past.

Making way to the train station to catch our night train back to Vienna. We had reserved bunks on the train and were looking forward to getting some rest and getting back to Vienna. Rome is great, but as with any large city, especially as we were doing all the touristy stuff, we had to constantly be on guard of our possessions. We made it to the train station, and to our platform only to find out that all of the sleeping cars had broken down and were out of service. This left a crowd of perturbed travelers on the platform who didn't speak German, trying to deal with an Austrian train conductor. He was telling everyone that there would be a coach bus to take them to Vienna. That sounded absolutely miserable to us! So I talked with him in German and asked if there were any other sitting places on board and he discretely told me that there were but not enough for everyone but that we could go and get one. Thank goodness for knowing German. It was a long 14 hour train ride, and we didn't sleep well, but it was better than a bus. Carli was a trooper, and so awesome to be able to take the stress of all the traveling and improvising. I really couldn't imagine going on this adventure with anyone else!