The beginning of my travels!

So here I am… the same but different at the beginning of my travels. Mostly I’ve just been a lot more tired than normal this week. Jet lag? Hostel sleeping? Too much to think about? Any way I’m still very happy and excited about my decision to travel! Allowing myself to travel at a slower pace was exactly what I was looking for. I love wandering around and taking photos. Sometimes you know the lighting isn’t right, or there’s a giant tour group in the way, or you’re just too hungry to appreciate the scenery. Now I can come back around an explore an area a bit more if I get hangry during the day. I can return to the same restaurant a few times and the staff recognizes me and says “ciao!” which is always a pleasant feeling.

Funny tourist mistake I HAVE to share because it’s so embarrassing… I was having an apertivo (buy a drink, you get free food!) at a neighborhood joint and although I had spoken mostly english, decided to ask for the check in Italian. So I ask, “vorrei il contro per favore” which I thought meant “I would like the check please” but I said contro wrong – it should be “conto” So what do I get? A shot of Cointreau!! OMG. The waitstaff had a really good laugh with me and then gave me the shot for free! My face turned the brightest shade of siren red possible but I guess it didn’t turn out that bad with a free shot. You live and you learn!

I wasn’t sure how long I’d stay in Rome, I’ve been taking it slow and absorbing it all. Also, not surprising, carrying all my stuff around on my back is downright exhausting so I’d prefer to move cities/hostels less! It’s not the “real” backpackers’ backpack that’s causing the problems- it’s the extra bag with all my camera gear/laptop in it. I’m doing a bit of research, hopefully I’ll find a solution that works for me. I’m also getting used to the looks of “OMG THERE GOES A BACKPACKER!” from other tourists and locals. It’s a bit early in the summer so I think I’m a sign of the tourists hoards coming, once everyone is out of school and also traveling. So far it’s been nice, I’ve been avoiding the party hostels, so the people are all people about my age, just looking to save a dollar while exploring new a new city.

I’ve seen quite a bit of Rome but there are a ton of guides out there already, so a few highlights for me personally:

Trastevere

The rione (neighborhood) Trastevere was so gorgeous and fun to walk around the tiny streets. I had pizza a few times at a place called La Renella Panificio, which provides the bread for many of the local restaurants and neighborhood inhabitants. So delicious! I haven’t been taking photos of my food because… it’s been mostly pizza and pizza doesn’t photograph well unless the lighting is perfect. 😛 How long can my diet consist of pizza and gelato? We will see! Metabolism, please keep up with my taste buds! The thing is.. pizza is so cheap! 3 Euros for high quality pizza with all fresh ingredients – it’s a total bargain. I’m keeping under my budget for the most part, I’ll post an update on that in a week or two.

PS you can click on the photos to see larger/uncropped versions of them 🙂

The Colosseum

Obviously! But more just finally seeing it in person vs. actually going inside it. The day I visited happened to also be the 2016 Rome Marathon! The marathon actually started and ended in front of the Colosseum but I decided I’d still try to visit it, maybe there would be less visitors once I got there? I ended up walking way far out of the way but it was fun to see all the festivities. When I exited the Colosseum, the first wave of finishers was arriving to greet their family and friends. Perhaps these people are the gladiators of our time? Shout out to all my marathon running friends! As far as inside the Colosseum, I didn’t do a guided tour but read up on the history on the thankfully English plaques. It was ridiculously hot, so I knew I couldn’t stay long or risk a pretty bad sunburn. I would love to go back and do the underground tunnels tour but it was booked well in advance.

The Vatican museums and St. Peter’s Basilica

I bought my ticket online so thankfully I didn’t have to stand in the crazy long line to get to the museum. I did have to walk as slow as humanly possible to get to the various exhibits though! This was beyond crazy-inducing for this New Yorker. Used several “moving through a crowd” techniques to angle in front of the tour groups. But oh it was worth the hassle! Look at those golden ceilings! Amazing art throughout. I was most impressed with the Raphael rooms I think – it was so fun to see him peeking out in a painting I had only read about in books. I snuck a photo of the Sistine Chapel just like everyone else there, crappy phone-quality photo below!

I’m going to try and post once a week to keep some regularity and I have another post coming about my last few days in New York City and the craziness of the actual leaving.

-Ashley