Rome Sweet Rome

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I’m a little sad today. My brothers and friends all left me to go back home. It’s weird, but seeing everyone made me miss home. I thought it would help, but it only made it worse I think. This is really the first time I’ve felt homesick at all.

We all traveled quite a bit and walked so much over the past week. I think we’re all exhausted. We went to Assisi, Florence, Bologna and Venice before returning to Rome. I hope everyone enjoyed themselves. I know I enjoyed seeing everything.

I moved into my new apartment after coming back to Rome. So far, I’m not sure how much I like it. The apartment itself is really nice, and new and clean. But my bed isn’t that comfortable, I no longer have TV in my room, and I can’t get the internet to work. The buses aren’t nearly as convenient as in our old neighborhood, and I had absolutely no idea how to get home from the city center the other night. It’s going to take a bit to get used to I think. It’s just really making me miss the luxuries of home and being able to get places easily, and having personal space, and being connected to the outside world. I feel so bad that I haven’t been able to keep in contact with people as much as I’d like to.

I’m not sure what the weather has been back home, but I’m pretty sure it was over 90 degrees on Sunday when we were standing in St. Peter’s Square receiving a blessing from the Pope. It was definitely the hottest day yet, and I’m pretty sure that I will die of heat exhaustion this summer.

As soon as I get a chance, I’ll post some pics for you all to see from our little trip across Northern Italy.

Anthony, John, Jon, Jill and Andrea - thanks for coming to visit me. I really hope you all had a good time and wish you could have spent more time here. There is so much more of this country to see, but at least you got to see all the important stuff. Guess what? “It’s Wednesday and I’m the Pope!”

Here's a little bit of what we all did in each location we visited...
Wednesday May 21st - Andrea arrived and we took it easy that night and went to Campo dei Fiori for dinner. Of course we were seated next to a table of four guys from America. Two were from Philly and two were from Long Island. All four went to PSU of course.

Thursday May 22nd - Andrea and I met Heather at Mirko's cafe. Andrea now knows what a cutie he really is. After that we took a stroll across the Tiber and into Piazza del Popolo and down Via del Corso. We saw the Spanish Steps, Piazza Navona, Pantheon and the Fountain of Trevi. We also did a little shopping. We went back to the apartment to meet everyone else there. After everyone arrived we went to the pizza place around the corner from my apartment in Testaccio. It was definitely some of the best pizza in Rome. After that, we all just hung out with some bottles of wine.

Friday May 23rd - It was much of a repeat of the day before. We saw all the major sites and did a little shopping. Later that night we had dinner and then met Davide out at Coyote to start celebrating his birthday. It was a fun night that lasted until around 6am.

Saturday May 24th - we toured the other half of the city, seeing the Colosseum and the Forum. We also stopped to see the Mouth of Truth. Saturday night I went with my roommates to Davide's birthday party/dinner. Everyone else went to the Moonlight Cafe on my corner to watch the Inter Milan vs. Roma Coppa Italia game. We all met sometime around midnight yelling and running and screaming in the streets after Roma won the game. I'll add some pics. Afterwards, what else...Coyote again. Once again, the night lasted until 6am.

Sunday May 25th - Hmm, what did we do? Honestly, I don't remember. I think we just walked around Rome again. Later that night we moved our stuff into our new apartment.

Monday May 26th - I had a job interview for a teaching position (which I got, yay!) so everyone else went to see the Vatican, and we met up later in the day at Piazza del Popolo. I was really happy that everyone enjoyed seeing the Vatican and the Sistine Chapel. I apparently missed the most exciting night since there were numerous quotes and jokes that came out of that one morning. Later that night we had dinner and then Davide passed by to give us our security deposit. After lots of wine and nutella, it was suddenly 3am and Davide decided it was time to leave.

Tuesday May 27th - We caught an early train out to Assisi. I LOVE Assisi. We arrived and took a bus hoping it was the one into town. Once we arrived at our stop, we only had a short hike up a mountain with our luggage. Ok, it was really two steep hills, but when it's 90 degrees and the sun is beating on you while you're pulling a 40 lbs suitcase up a hill it feels like a mountain. Even the old men were taunting us. So yes, Assisi is all hills. That's the best way to describe it. The hotel was nice and we had nice views. We had dinner at this small wine bar that was serviving Apertivo. It was tasty. We also found this nice shop with a bunch of specialty item. We all bought stuff here. It was so tasty.

Wednesday May 28th - Somehow we had this brainy idea to hike the mountain (ok, this one seriously was like a mini mountain) at 5:30am. It's called Rocca Maggiore and there is a castel at the top. Once you're at the top, the view is definitelt worth it. Guess who forgot their camera? Yep, that would be me. After this, we went to our free hotel breakfast and took the train into Florence where we stayed for the next two days. Upon arrival in Florence, we all went to see the churches. So, the first stop was the Duomo. It's such an ornate church from the outside, but the inside is very plain, with the exception of the paintings on the inside of the dome. Right across from the Duomo is the bell tower and the Baptistry, with the bronze doors by Ghiberti. I think I can honestly say this is my favorite piazza in Italy. I could stare at the detail on the church for hours and never get tired of the pink, white and green marble with all the statues of the saints. After the Duomo we went to Santa Croce. Now, this is a special church. There are a bunch of famous people buried here...Michelangelo, Dante, Machiavelli...the list goes on. It's just amazing to see so many important people in history all in one place. Later that night we had dinner and then went for a stroll along the Ponte Vecchio. We got some wine and went and sat on another bridge that overlooked the Ponte Vechhio. And this is what I love about Europe.

Thursday May 29th - We saw the rest of Florence today...except it rained 😞 But we went to the Uffizi Gallery in the morning. It was amazing. I loved it...especially the paintings by Botticelli. After that we went to Piazzale Michelangelo and got a view of the whole city. After that we went shopping! Later that night we went to a pizza place for dinner and it was actually really good. We called it quits a little early since we were all so exhausted.

Friday May 30th - we went to Bologna. I was never here before, so it was interesting to see. There isn't a whole lot going on in Bologna except the university. We just kind of walked around the city at our own pace. The girls decided to do a pub crawl. This concept isn't so easy to master in Italy since it takes about 15 minutes to order your drink and to receive it. Then if you want another (or the check) repeat the process. So, we just sat in the rain under an umbrella at the cafe with our beer. After the sun came out we just walked around a bit. We asked the woman at the desk in the hotel if she had a recommendation for dinner. Good idea asking her because the restaurant was awesome. We ate really well and had a lot of food and wine, and the bill was pretty cheap. Afterwards, the woman told us where to go to get a few drinks. We went to some pub and had some really cool beers. Definitely a good choice.

Saturday May 31st - We took an early train into Venice so we'd have the whole day to spend there. Finding the hotel was an adventure. Once we FINALLY got our stuff into our rooms we set off for the day. We went to Saint Mark's Square and played with the pigeons for a while. After that, we sort of just strolled the city. We did some shopping and then we went to dinner sitting by a canal...typically Venetian.

Sunday June 1st - We returned to Rome on the 5:30am train from Venice so we could make it back in time to see the Pope's blessing at noon. We were successful and we saw the Pope. Afterwards, we went to the crypt in the Vatican to see all the tombs of the Popes, including John Paul II. We didn't do much the rest of the day since we were so tired. But the girls did go to see Sex and the City at night, and then we met up with everyone at the Spanish Steps to see everything at night.

Monday June 2nd - Andrea left to head back to the States. The rest of us just walked around and took it easy. It rained again a bit. We went to see the Elephant Statue by Bernini and then went to Santa Maria Sopra Minerva. This was after we went to see the Cappuccin Crypt. It's decorated with the bones of 4000 monks that died between the 1600s and 1870. It was actually quite amazing. Davide came over later to make us all dinner. It was really good, and we all had a good time.

Tuesday June 3rd - This was just a shopping day and a relaxing day. Jon went off on his own and found some pretty cool places I'll need to check out in the next couple months. We all went to see Saint Peter in Chains Church where the chains that were used to arrest Saint Peter are housed, and also the statue of Moses by Michelangelo...quite amazng. I made Bolognese sauce for dinner. I think it was pretty good actually. So, at least we saved a little money on food.

So now everyone has left me and it's back to being quiet again. It feels weird and I miss everyone already 😞 I'll post pics later, so be sure to come back to this post again to see some pics.

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Photos

Assisi
The church of Saint Francis

The Duomo
The Duomo in Florence

The Pig!
This is in Florence. Remember this statue in Philly? Yeah, here's the other one :)

Venice
St. Mark's Square

Playtime with Pigeons
Ahhh yes, our lovely friends in St. Mark's Square

Comments

[Dan Mangigian]

Thanks for the update. Sounds like everyone had a blast.

[Andrea]

Thanks Carla!!!
Reading this all at once you realize how much we did. It's crazy! I had an amazing time and can't thank you enough for everything. Miss you!!