So on the train after I wrote my last post I remembered that I had found the hostel in one of my guidebooks so I looked it up and found directions from the nearest metro stop. When we got to the station in Rome there were signs for the metro but it involved going up and down numerous flights of stairs with our luggage which was quite a struggle. Sometimes we got lucky and people helped us. We bought our tickets, figured out how to get to the stop the guidebook gave directions from, and barely made it on the train we were supposed to get on that was about to leave. After we got off at the stop we faced another flight of stairs. I managed to get my bag up and so did Mackenzie with the help of three nuns. Our hostel was in the Vatican City area in Rome so there were plenty of nuns and priests walking around. We tried following the directions in the guide book but they weren’t very clear so we ended up asking a bunch of different people until we finally found it. We checked in and thankfully our room was on the first floor so we didn’t have to carry our bags up the stairs. The hostel was called Hotel Colors and it lived up to its name. Everything was different colors including our comforter which was pink. We had our own room with a queen sized bed which was really cute and had its own sink and shower. It was a nice change of pace to have our own space.
After getting settled in we started our exploration of Rome. We started at St. Peter’s Basilica which we didn’t go in but stood in the piazza and took pictures. It was breathtaking. It was bigger than I could have ever imagined and just plain gorgeous. We walked around the piazza taking it all in for a good amount of time. After the Basilica, we walked by Castel Sant’ Angelo and Piazza Navona on the way to the Pantheon. The Pantheon was really cool looking inside and out. We read that they started constructing it in 31BC. Next we made our way to the Trevi Fountain which was surrounded by tourists. We made our way to the front to take pictures and throw in our coins though. After the fountain we walked towards the Colosseum and on our way saw a bunch of ancient ruins. It was funny because we would be on a fairly busy main road and on either side of us was ruins and then all of the sudden in front of us was the huge Colosseum. We didn’t want to pay to go into the Colosseum but we walked all around it and there were places where you could see in which was cool. We also saw the Arco di Constantino which was next to the Colosseum.
After seeing all these famous attractions we decided it was time to wander back in the direction of the hostel and find something to eat. It was crazy how we saw almost all the big attractions in Rome in about 3 hours. We eventually found a place to eat where we split bruschetta and each got a calzone. My calzone had ham and cheese in it which was really good. We continued wandering and went back to St. Peter’s Basilica one more time on our way to our hostel. Back at the hostel we showered, made use of the awesome free wifi, and went to sleep.
Friday morning we woke up early so we could go inside St. Peter’s Basilica without waiting in line too long or having it be extremely crowded. The hotel had breakfast that was included with our room and was amazing. There were all kinds of delicious pastries including croissants, cereal, yogurt, coffee, juice, fruit salad, and other yummy things. I made a sandwich and got an apple for lunch too. After we got ready we walked to the Basilica and only waited in line for like ten minutes tops. Inside the Basilica was amazing. It was huge and every corner was covered with an intricate painting or gorgeous sculpture. We saw where St. Peter’s grave was and the famous statue of Mary and Jesus. I thought it was all really pretty and cool but Mackenzie was obsessed with it all. My favorite quote of the day was when Mackenzie asked if there was a place to pray there and then said “this is the holiest of the holy, you get what you want if you pray here.” After we spent a pretty long time in the Basilica we went in the shop for a bit. It was cool because you could buy a postcard and stamp from the shop and then send it from the vatican postal system. They even had tables where you could sit down and write on the post card.
After St. Peter’s Basilica it started to rain a bit which was the first bad weather we have encountered since we’ve been traveling. We decided to go back to the hostel and change since we had to wear clothes that covered our knees and shoulders to get into the Basilica. Since we had seen so much of Rome the day before we decided to take a side trip to Naples to eat the best pizza in the world, or so I’ve read. She talks about it in “Eat Pray Love” and says Naples has the best pizza in Italy and this place has the best pizza in Naples. We didn’t want to pay for seat reservations on the fast train so we decided to take the regional trains which were free with our eurail passes even though they were slower and the trip would be 2.5 hours instead of 1. The train left around 2:50 so we decided to wander around Rome a bit more on the way to the train station. We passed more famous structures and spent some time wandering around the shops inside and outside the train station.
When it was finally time to get on the train we started walking through the train looking for a seat and realized there were none. The train was almost completely full. Luckily we found two seats that pulled out of the wall between two of the cars. After we sat down the train kept filling up until the area between the two cars we were sitting in was jam packed with Italians. It was quite an experience. A few of them were all yelling in Italian getting the people to open the doors to the main cars to let in air conditioning since it was so hot. At one of the stops the train made a man got his hand stuck in the door and the others had to help him pull it out which was quite a commotion. One of the Italians saw I was reading in English and asked if I was from England and I said no the US. He tried to keep telling me something and I had no clue what he was saying. I just sat there looking confused as they all kept staring at me and eventually just went back to reading. They were probably making fun of me after that but whatever I couldn’t understand anything they were saying.
We got to Naples and followed my directions to L’Antica Pizzeria Da Michele (aka the pizza from Eat Pray Love). We went in and both ordered medium pizza margherita with a coke. It was a pretty small place and you could see all of the kitchen which was also small. You could see them cook the pizza in the huge oven and could even see the fire in the oven. There was a picture of Julia Roberts eating there on the wall too. When we got our pizza I was in heaven. It was by far the best pizza I’d ever tasted and worth the long, crowded train ride. I never wanted to stop eating it and was extremely sad when I was done. Some girls behind us only ate a little more than half of their pizzas which we decided was a serious sin. No, I know what you’re thinking, we did not eat theirs too we just saw it and thought it was so wrong. We must have gotten there at the perfect time because by the time we left it seemed like they were cleaning up. Thank god they were open and we didn’t take the train all the way there just for them to be closed. After we ate we had about 2 hours to spare so we wandered around Naples going in a few shops here and there. We had heard bad things about Naples but we didn’t have any problems and the shopping was pretty good. However there were definitely less tourists. The train back to Rome was uneventful and I read my book the whole time. We walked back to our hostel from the train station which was a relatively long walk but we managed to stay on main roads so it wasn’t too sketchy. Back at the hostel we showered and went to sleep so we could get up early the next day to catch our train to Venice at 8:45.
This morning (Saturday) we woke up early, got ready, checked out, ate breakfast, and made our way to the train station. Now that we knew where we were going it was less of a struggle to get there than it was the first time getting to the hostel. We made it to the train on time but it was pretty crowded. Thankfully for the fast trains you have seat reservations so we didn’t have to worry about having a seat. The only problem was finding a place to put Mackenzie’s bag. Mine fit in the overhead but Mackenzie’s needed to be in the racks between cars but they were full. She left it sitting next to the rack so hopefully no one will move it because it would be a pain to have to try and find it. We’re sitting on the train now on the way to Venice and I’m interested to see how difficult it is going to be to find our hostel. A bunch of reviews said it was hard to find and multiple people have told me you get around Venice by following signs towards main attractions instead of using street signs. I’m excited though because I’ve always wanted to go to Venice ever since our music teacher in elementary school told us about it. I can’t believe this is our last Italian city but that’s probably a good thing because I like Italian food a little too much.
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