I am becoming right the little jet setter. My lovely boyfriend rang me up Thursday night and told me to pack a suitcase. He was whisking me away to Rome for valentines weekend! Less than a week after we got back from Switzerland (thank goodness I had all my laundry done).
It was a bit of a mad dash to get to the airport in time after work on Friday. We literally made it by about a minute, I was majorly stressing. But we did make it, and I calmed down (with the help of some wine - thanks BA) and before I knew it we were in Rome! Somewhere I had really wanted to go for the longest time.
Our hotel was really central, though perhaps not in the best location. It was right by Termini train station and most train stations aren't in the best area. We went out to grab some midnight ice-cream (of course, I mean Italy), and spotted a few ladies of the night...
Anyways, like I said it was very central. We were about a fifteen minute walk from the Colosseum, our first stop on Saturday morning. It was really very cool. We stood in the arena and imagined that we were gladiators heading into our fight. My boyfriend reckoned he could take down a lion or two no problem. I wish we had paid for a tour of it, rather than just wondering around by ourselves though. We stopped and sneakily listened to a few guides and what they were saying was so interesting. The snippets I heard really gave more life to the building and helped with our imaging!
We then walked through the forum, and jumped on a bus to the Vatican. When we arrived, the big screens around St Peter's Square we all on as new Cardinals were being welcomed into the church by the Pope. After a little browse, we joined a big que that was snaking around the square. We weren't entirely sure what the que was for (I had a nights notice before the trip - no time to research), but it was long so it had to be good and decided to wait in it a little while. Turns out it was to enter the Basilica which was very impressive. Obviously, it didn't move for a little while as the service for the Cardinals was still in progress, but it meant that when we were allowed to enter it wasn't completely filled to the brim with tourists. Also, it was extra cool that the Pope had been there 20 minutes before us! Before you enter the Basilica you have to go through airport-esk security and there are a lot of signs telling you to be quiet and to be respectful as of course, it is a place of worship, and there are lots of fairly intimidating men in uniforms around to enforce this. Of course, my very accident prone boyfriend manage to fall up the stairs entering the church, causing a bit of a fuss and lots of glares and titters from said security.
By this time, our stomachs were rumbling. And surely it is a crime to be hungry when you're in Italy, so we headed in the direction of our next destination, the Pantheon, and grabbed some lunch. We shared a pizza for a starter and had a pasta dish each for our mains. I went for spaghetti and meatballs, but was very jealous of my boyfriends amazing carbonara.
After the Pantheon, we went to the Trevi Fountain. This was my only disappointment of the trip. It was one of the things in Rome that I was really looking forward to seeing, but when we got there, it was all covered in scaffolding, with not a drop of water in sight. We discovered that it was closed for repairs for the year. Typical. Nevermind, I still threw a penny in! With ice-cream in hand to cheer us up, we took in more of the sites Rome has to offer.
One thing about Rome that I really wasn't expecting was the level of poverty. I don't know why, but in my head I never pictured Rome to seem... poor. But it did. Every step you take, there is a man or women trying to sell you a rose, or a bag, or a self-stick (yes, really. I have never seen so many self-sticks before in my life. No I did not buy one), it was really annoying, and I have to admit I did get a little frustrated. But then we went out for a nice dinner on the Saturday evening, and walking to the restaurant we passed a LOT of homeless people sleeping on the street, with just a bit of cardboard for shelter. The worst was on one corner, I saw a little make-shift tent made from some clear plastic sheet. Mum was sleeping by the tent, with dad and two little children inside. The sight of those two little pairs of shoes outside broke my heart. I wish I had bough a bloody self-stick or a rose or something.
It was a lovely valentines day surprise. We had such a fun time together and ate so much pizza and so much pasta and so much ice-cream. I came home feeling all the more cultured, with a massive craving to re-read some Dan Brown books.
