What a weekend! Thursday night consisted of little to no sleep as I woke up at 4am Friday morning to walk to the Hauptbahnhof (main train station) to catch the 4:52am train to Basel with Nick- which ended up being 25 minutes late! Thankfully we made our connection to the train to Milan and then again to Rome. Approx. 9 hours of traveling in total- but we made it to Rome right ontime a little before 3pm. It was only about a 5 minute walk to our hostel from Roma Termini- the main train station in Rome. We checked in and decided to start exploring the town and seeing what we could see before the sun set. Right outside of our hostel is a big church-like building (we never really found out what it is) and decided to take some pictures in front of it- and who walked up but our friends that we were meeting- Kelsey, Ali, and Hannah (all studying in France)!!! It was the best luck since neither Nick or I had a phone that we knew how to use in Rome to call a French cell phone. Once we met up with our friends, we had to walk to meet a friend of Hannah's who is studying in Rome and he showed us around- the Colloseum was only about 10-15 away from the hostel, we saw the ruins, the new museum, etc. and I thought that Rome is absolutely beautiful! So much history and it's all so close together. At around 6:15 we decided to head back to the hostel because they had a free 7pm pasta dinner Friday night. At pasta we met a group of people from Michigan and a guy from Australia and a guy from New Zealand were sitting with them. Pat (the Aussie) and Jim (the Kiwi) asked if they could hang out with us and ended up being great friends for the weekend! We hung out that night and had a great time chatting.
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| Collosseum |
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| Trevi Fountain |
Saturday morning we had every intention of getting up and going to see the Colloseum and the Vatican since it was supposed to be the last day of good weather for the weekend- but we were all exhausted from traveling and ended up sleeping in by accident. We got up, dressed, and ready to go and headed out a little after noon where we got some lunch (I are a calzone) and got some Italian Gelato- yummy!! We headed over to the Collosseum and wanted to take a tour inside- but it was going to be over an hour of waiting and 12 euros- so we opted out and took a short walk through the ruins. The area right next to the collosseum was where a marketplace and warehouse used to be. We also walked into a little chapel overlooking the Collosseum. While we were wandering around the ruins we came across the most adorable German couple who walked with us part of the way towards the Pantheon and we kept going towards the Trevi Fountain. On the way we got a little lost and ended up stumbling upon the President's house! We had been wondering why there were so many police/guards and we felt pretty silly once we asked. Eventually we found the Trevi Fountain (which was crawling with tourists) and then made our way over to the Spanish Steps (also crawling with tourists) so we didn't stay at either of those places very long. As we were walking towards the Pantheon we stumbled across the best cigar shop in Europe, so everyone bought a nice cigar (except for me- not a big fan of the smoking) and then we kept going and stumbled across the best coffee shop in the world (according to Hannah's friend studying in Rome- apparently it was in the NYT?) so I bought a cappacino for only a euro and it WAS delicious! After that we headed over to the Pantheon but for some reason they weren't letting people in, which was a major bummer. But while we were there a man bombarded us with flyers telling us to go to a Collosseum party- and we were pretty interested! But first we went over to where Hannah's friend lives and got some AMAZING Italian Pizza for dinner. After that we made our way home (through what seemed like Alfred Hitchcock's birds- they were everywhere!!!) and got ready and headed out to the Collosseum party with Pat and Jim- and it was a blast!
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| St. Peter Basilica |
Sunday morning was the last Sunday of the month so the Vatican was "open" so we headed over there around 11am using the metro train system. It was supposed to be pouring rain all day but it ended up just being cloudy/windy so we decided it was worth it. When we got there we found out that the only things open were St. Peter's Basilica, the tombs, and the Capella. The museum had been open but had just closed. We were bummed out but decided that since we were there anyway we might as well just go see what was open. We stood in line for about a half hour and then went into St. Peter's Basilica which I can honestly say is the biggest and most awe-inspiring cathedral I've ever
seen... and I've seen a fair few cathedrals before. It was gigantic and beautiful. We may be bad Christians for it, but Nick and I the whole time just kept making references to the movie Angels and Demons which takes place in the Vatican city/Rome and it was really cool to see these things for real (even if the story is fiction). After the basilica we walked through the tombs and I saw where Pope John Paul (the one who just died) had been laid to rest and the oldest tomb we saw was pre 1000- VERY old. The line for the Capella was just too long and we decided to call it a day. Once we got back we just lounged around for awhile and then made a huge pasta dinner in the kitchen in the hostel. Afterwards we went for Gelato with our friend Kiwi Jim and went to bed early.
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| My first Italian Pizza! |
Monday morning was the start of a long travel day and Ali and Hannah left the hostel around 5:30am, Kelsey at 9:30, and Nick and I had to be on the train to Milan at 11:15 so we had a leisurely morning. However, we both woke up feeling kinda sick- sore throats and Nick had a cough. I listened to a book on my iPod from Rome to Milan (about 3 hours) and then on the train from Milan to Zurich we did homework, listened to music, and I even sat across from a monk from Tibet- pretty cool. That train ride was interesting because the border guards just went through our car and went up to these two guys, asked them for their passports (which they didn't have) and then took them away- it was crazy! Then Nick almost got thrown off the train for not writing in that we were going to Germany- his eurail pass didn't include Switzerland. But finally, after a close call, the Italian guy figured out what we meant and let us keep going. Once we made it to Zurich we ran to our train to Freiburg and made it home by about 9:30pm- at which time I was CERTAIN that I was pretty sick: hard time swallowing, hot, ears hurt/popping, body aches... yep. Took a nyquil and called it a night!
After sleeping 13 hours I feel a little better but I'm really sad that I couldn't stay in Rome for longer! It was such a blast and I just loved being there- the weather, the atmosphere, the history... it was just so beautiful. I could have just sat around all day and loved being there. and I didn't even spend that much money- everything included the trip was less than $400!!! I'm talking travel, hostel, food, etc. Pretty cheap!
After sleeping 13 hours I feel a little better but I'm really sad that I couldn't stay in Rome for longer! It was such a blast and I just loved being there- the weather, the atmosphere, the history... it was just so beautiful. I could have just sat around all day and loved being there. and I didn't even spend that much money- everything included the trip was less than $400!!! I'm talking travel, hostel, food, etc. Pretty cheap!
I can't believe it's already NOVEMBER. This morning I looked out to see tons of yellow leaves scattered all over the ground beneath the tree outside my window, coupled with a grayish sky in the background- typical November/fall. It just reinforces the idea that my time here is limited. Going to Rome this weekend was exactly what I needed- it made me realize just how lucky I am to be able to do the things I am doing. Not only am I seeing the world, but the people you meet walk in and out of your life and change you, no matter how large or small. Your surroundings affect you. Your experiences shape you. I never thought that I would be able to figure out with ease how to use international railways, book hostels, make plans for trips, communicate in multiple languages, make friends wherever I go, or appreciate the things I see and realize that I may never see them again. Like the Buddhists say, the only thing constant in life is change. As I sit here watching the leaves fall from the trees, the trees I look at everyday, I know that those trees will bloom again- but there will be a new person living in this room watching it and I will be back at home and possibly never see these trees again. It makes me sad that I can only stay here for such a short time and only see a portion of what the world has to show me, but I am glad and feel so terribly lucky to have been able to see it, at least for a little while.
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