I woke up ridiculously early this morning, whenever I have to be up for something important I find it nearly impossible to sleep the night before because I get paranoid that I am going to sleep right through it. After double checking that I had everything I needed for my 3 days in Rome I set off for the bus stop at about 6:00.
During the day the buses run at six minutes and 36 minutes past the hour, but apparently this early in the morning they only run at 25 past, which meant I had a nice 20 minutes wait at the bus stop. It had snowed the night before so everything was covered in a nice blanket of snow and even though it made the wait a bit colder, the view was pretty so that compensated for the loss of feeling in my fingers.
Finally the bus arrived, I was surprised to see it was very full of morning commuters. Whenever I had been on the bus before there was usually no more that five other people on it. I got into Zurich okay and stopped off at an American bakery called Blueberry, which does THE best blueberry muffins, seriously they are incredibly delicious, so I picked up one of those for the train and found my platform, after locating my train, carriage and then seat, I settled in for the first leg of my journey about four and a half hours to Milan. I watched a film on the train, and enjoyed the beautiful scenery as we travelled through the Swiss alps, it was very special.
Milan station was packed with people, so I located my train as quickly as I could and got out of the way, there was a lady sitting in my seat when I got on there, so I had to try and indicate as best I could that I had to sit there, and luckily she got the idea and moved. The journey to Rome was not as long, only around two hours, so I watched Stuck in Love, which is becoming a favorite, so mine - go and watch it right now.
Finally we arrived in Rome, the station was again very busy and I was super paranoid about all the pick-pocketters that I had been warned about, they were meant to be really bad at the station. By some miracle I found my hotel after a 10 minute walk, I had a little help from the map, but I wasn’t sure that I was reading it right, so after a series of lucky guess I arrived outside and went to get checked in. My room was really nice, I had managed to get a great deal on bookings.com, so thank you to them. It was the Rome Life hotel, just north of the main city, and I only had a short walk to get to the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, Il Vittoriano and all the other main places to see.
After dumping my stuff, I grabbed some money and my camera and set off to explore the city. I stumbled upon Il Vittoriano, although you can’t really miss it. I didn't have a clue what it was until I went inside and located the gift shop. Just standing outside though, I was completely blown away by the scale of it. It was incredibly big, it is not popular with the locals, however, I don’t know whether that is because of how much of a tourist trap it is or whether they don’t like the fact that it is a monument to Victor Emmanuel, the first king of a unified Italy. I caught the lift to the top, which gave spectacular views of Rome, and you could literally see everything, the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain, the Colosseum, the Forum - just everything, so if you ever go to Rome, put it on your list of things to do.
I took some pictures, but the pictures don't really justify how much you can see. After buying some postcards, I made my way to the Trevi Fountain. Halfway there it started to rain, luckily the temperature was still mild so although I was a little damp, I wasn't cold. The Trevi fountain was very very busy. There was a school group there as well as lots of tourists taking selfies. If there is another more annoying than crowds of people, it’s crowds of people with umbrellas. And if there isn't anything more annoying than that it is hug groups of school children with umbrellas. I tossed my coin in the & made a swift exit. Not sure how I managed it but I did get slightly lost on the way back but that was okay but I walked through less busy parts of the city and saw things that I probably wouldn’t have done if I had gone the right way. You will find it to be a recurring theme in my adventures, that I have absolutely no sense of direction whatsoever.
I had dinner at this cute little Italian restaurant just round the corner from my hotel. I had passed it on the way back and it had look nice so I popped in, I didn’t really register what it was called though; all I know is the pizza was yummy. There was a group of American students, in there when I arrived and after they left about halfway through my meal, another group of American couples came in and sat at the same table. I had a margarita pizza, which I appreciate is so unadventurous but whatever, I’m not really a fan of thin crust but I really enjoyed this pizza it was the right combination of sauce and cheese and the base was a little crunchy whilst also being soft enough to eat. WHAT MORE CAN YOU ASK FOR? After dinner I conveniently passed a gelateria on the way back to the hotel and stopped in to get what was probably the most indulgent ice cream in the word, a scoop of Nutella ice-cream and a scoop of Oreo. YUM! It was the most perfect 2000 calories end to my day and after I had demolished it, it was time to get into bed, ready for another busy day tomorrow.
Sorry it has taken a few days to get this up, just been getting back into the routine. Next post on Wednesday - see you then!! xx
Video
Pictures
Sorry it has taken a few days to get this up, just been getting back into the routine. Next post on Wednesday - see you then!! xx
Video
Pictures
