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Rome came a little sooner than expected (
6:15am) and even though we were exhausted from the train ride we were able to find our hostel pretty easily. It was about a five minute walk from the station, the only problem was we couldn't check in and freshen up until
1pm! We clearly woke the groggy receptionist up and she showed us a less than secure place to leave our bags until we could check in. We grabbed a map and did the only thing there was to do at six in the morning, go exploring. It was kinda cool to see a new city start it's day, even the cafes weren't open for breakfast yet. We kept walking until we found a restaurant and shared an omelet and toast. We hadn't planned on doing much sightseeing that morning, but with several hours to kill we accidentally stumbled upon some ruins (Arco I'd Tito), Colosseo (the colosseum), the astonishingly big monument of Vittorio Emanuele II, and a museum featuring a Salvador Dali exhibit. Walking the streets of Rome was incredible, every time you turned a corner there'd be another statue, monument, fountain or ancient church or structure. The city still had a
lot of old world charm for being such a busy capital. I never thought I could be so impressed on so little sleep at so early in the morning. Somehow we passed the time and checked into our private room, eagerly awaiting a nap. We woke in the evening and got ready to grab some food at a reasonably priced restaurant down the street from our hostel. The neighborhood around our hostel was adorned with several restaurants, gelaterias and laundromats. One of the most infamous bars and hostel was located directly across the street from us called the Yellow. It was too pricey to stay there so we did the next best thing and booked the hotel across the street. The Yellow was characterized by people sipping spirits and enjoying lunch and company out on their patio. It had a bar and restaurant inside and downstairs a small dance floor/beer pong room and dj booth. Half way downstairs to the dance floor was a tiny bar where we got very well acquainted with some bartenders from Berkeley over many shots of limoncello. This bar provided many good memories (and hangovers) with Croatians and navy corpsmen and ladies from the Midwest
to the South. It was a very laid back environment where everyone seemed to socialize. Friday was pretty much wasted after a fun night at the Yellow, but we did manage to leave the room, try some more gelato, find the Trevi fountain, do laundry and indulge in some delicious Chinese food. We called it an early night to prepare for a day of sight seeing.
Saturday morning we got up at a decent hour and decided to buy a hop on hop off open air tour bus pass. Apparently so was everyone else because every bus was swamped with tourists. We did however manage to swindle our way in to only paying €15 each for the bus pass when most companies were asking €18-22! When in Rome, do as the Romans do...and haggle! We ended up walking to the colosseum hoping most people would be getting off at that stop freeing up room up top, but that didn't work out. We got on, rode the bus for a few stops and got off at the Basilica Di San Pietro, aka the Vatican. It was crawling with tourists, including about 500+ people waiting in line to get in. Within minutes of
exiting the bus we were approached by several people trying to sell tours. It actually wasn't a bad deal: €40/person for a 2 1/2 hour tour of the museum and the church. The best part was that the tour groups supposedly bypassed the line! We were really torn, but ended up just taking pictures of the outside and hopping back on the bus. I know we missed out on a once in a lifetime opportunity, and will probably regret it but there was a lot more of Rome to take in on our last day in this city (Kevin also has his heart set on the Dali exhibit). We finally scored seats on the top of the bus and enjoyed being off our feet, cruising around to every must-see landmark. We rode the bus for about an hour until we got frustrated with all the stops it made and amount of time we needlessly waited at each stop.After jumping off the bus, we headed to the Salvador Dali exhibit at the museum where we realized that a simple lie of telling them we were one year younger got us tickets in a much cheaper price bracket. Gotta save whenever and
however we can! It was really cool to see his actual work, drawings, and brush strokes in real life, (Kevin writing this part now) after seeing so much of it at home. Makes a huge difference being at a museum when it's something I'm actually interested since he is one of my all time favorite artists. At the end was an incredible short film that was a collaboration of Dali and Walt Disney that incorporated much of his work in scenes in the animation. Really hard to describe but hopefully there is a video posted online somewhere. Afterwords we enjoyed dinner, the Yellow, walking to the Trevi Fountain to see its brilliance at night, back to the Yellow 😉 then finally to bed. What a day and night!
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Devenie
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:))
What incredible and beautiful pictures!!! What a wonder trip AND ......Salvador Dali!!!!!!! I can't even find the words :))...