Part 1, Roma
So for my Spring Break, me Amanda and EJ went to Italy: Rome, Florence, and Venice, in that order. Best trip I have ever taken. Italy is my favorite place I have visited so far (Lisbon, Portugal; Amsterdam; Dublin). Florence was my favorite city, I’ll get to why in Part 2.
We got into Rome at 9am Thursday April 2. Had to take a cab at 5am to the airport, was a nightmare. We get to our hostel (Hostel Happy Days Roma, NO Happy Days were had here), and the guy behind the desk says we don’t have a reservation. So we’re like fuuuuuck. But we end up getting a hostel down the street, however, we do get schooled because it ends up costing us double. But, FUCK YOU HAPPY DAYS I GAVE YOU A BAD REVIEW ON HOSTELWORLD.COM SO SUCK IT BITCH. Anyways, we put our shit down and got touristy.
For Day 1, we walked around the city, ate some pistachio gelato, (best thing I’ve ever put in my mouth, insert sexual pun here). Went to Piazza Navona and saw the cool fountains. We ate lunch and then met these Navy guys who we accompanied to the Pantheon, where we discovered Raphael was buried, surprise! The whole time we kept being like, I can’t believe were in ITALY. IN ITALY. WE’RE IN ITALY. Like, this stuff has been here for YEARS MAN. I touched buildings that have been touched by Kings and Emperors and even JULIUS FUCKING CAESAR. I still can’t wrap my head around it.
We then journeyed to Piazza Venezia and saw the Vittoriano. I tried to get a picture with one of the sexy guards, but he had just been bitched at by the security guard not to take photos with tourists…Damn. We took in the view of the city, which was gorgeous, we could see everything. The Colosseum, the Roman Forum, St Peters, blah blah blah. It was definitely cool.
THEN we tried our first gelato. Deliciousness, the first of many throughout the trip, I seriously lived off that stuff. So good, had like nutella and banana, pistachio and chocolate, and hazelnut and chocolate, there was tiramisu and god, I would just go back to try every flavor.
Then we trekked over to the Trevi fountain and threw our coins in the water to wish for a second journey to Rome. After the fountain, we went to the Spanish Steps, which is kinda weird that it’s famous, cuz I mean, they;re just steps, like what the fuck? But heres where the trouble started…again. I just want to note that throughout this trip nearly EVERY PERSON we asked to take a photo of the three of us zoomed in on our faces and totally missed the background. SERIOUSLY WHAT THE FUCK?! CAN I PLEASE SEE YOUR PICTURES BECAUSE I WANT TO KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TAKING PICTURES OF. At the Spanish Steps, I literally asked 4 or 5 people to take a pic of us, and they WERE ALL OF A CLOSEUP. Like, WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU? I did not come to Italy to get a picture of myself. God, what idiots. And some even didn’t know which way was the front, and ended up taking pics of their faces. No fucking joke. It was so weird. People are dumb.
Went down Via Condotti in front of Spanish Steps because it is all the high fashion like Dolce and Gabbana and Prada and all that shit. I wanted to go in, but the sales people were very intimidating and I looked like shit and was sweaty and dirty from walking 358934759374 million miles. Also, in front of the Spanish Steps, we saw a newlywed couple, it was really cute, but a little cliche. Imagine them in twenty years, Oh, yeah we got married at the Spanish Steps, NBD. I think I would say to myself, What fags.
After the steps, we traveled to the Piazza Popolo, where at this point we were so tired we decided to go back to the hostel and take a nap. But not until we awkwardly stood around for 10 minutes waiting for one of us to ask someone walking by if they would take a photo. And we never did. Typical.
After naptime, we got “dressed up” and went out to a nice dinner. We walked by Castle San Angelo, which was gorgeous at night, and we walked across a bridge with Angel Statues, absolutely breathtaking…and romantic. Too bad I was with 2 other girls. We went to dinner and I had AMAZING PASTA. Oh my god, let me describe it to you: it was gnocchi pasta in a red sauce with chicken and sausage and it was heaven in my mouth. Second best, but not the last (wink) thing I put in my mouth that night. After dinner, we went across the plaza to…wait for it…an American Bar. I mean, can you blame us? It said Ladies Night, Drinks Half Off on the sign in front…While in there, we met who we now call “Caterpillar Guy” cuz he worked for Caterpillar, and he bought us…Baileys shots. Greaaaaaaaaaaaaat. A pussy shot, you want me fucked up? Get me some whiskey bitch. Well, while Amanda was flirting with the Irish bartender and EJ was hitting on some 12 year olds, I chatted up Caterpillar guy. It was fun, we got good and drunk. Had some 3 euro Long Islands, delicious, and Amanda asked for a drink from her bartender, and guess what he gave her? A fucking sex on the beach. SEX ON THE BEACH? A. does it look like im on the beach? B. Am I 15? Again, give me a whiskey shot, jesus.
Anyways, had EJ freakout number 1 this night. (This girl is crazy, I got mad stories about her, so ask me if you haven’t heard, I could write a fucking book and make millions.) She wanted to go to a nightclub with these 12 year old Italians and we were like, no its like 2am and we need to get up early tomorrow. And then she freaked the fuck out, got all mad and threw a fucking temper tantrum.. This girl is 21, fyi. We were like, what the fuck. And then she tried to lead the way home, even though Amanda knew she was wrong and we ended up at the Vatican Wall.
Day 2
I woke up the next morning in a haze, still drunk from the night before, stumbling around everywhere before shaking it off. We got ready and then went to the Colosseum. (Tip for Kicks: We bought our tickets at Palatine Hill, which is good for both, and we cut the huge line to the Colosseum) Colosseum was unreal, so cool. One of my favorites in Rome, for sure. I kind of wish we had a tour guide for all of it, but all we had was my MTV Europe Guidebook, in which, throughout the trip we would decide to have a history lesson and we would consult the book and its info on the sites. Thanks MTV!
On our way to the Colosseum, I ran into these dumb little trinkets that vendors were selling. It was a cut out picture of Mickey and Minnie Mouse, and they had a boombox, and when they turned music on, the cutouts came to life and started dancing. I got a video. It cracked me up. Ill post it later
After the Colosseum, we were chillin in front, and these crazy pub crawl guys came up to us. they were attractive, so I turned on my winning charm…And then all of a sudden, this other pub crawl guy comes up to us and I yell to the hottie pub crawl guys that they have competition. So they come over, and the new guy gets pissed off and is like, Can I please finish, Can I just please, please just let me finish. I was like chill out dude Im not coming to your fucking pub crawl so save your breath. And he was like Im too hungover for this and walked away. Those damn pub crawls are competitive as fuck. They started getting into a fight saying the other was illegal and that they had killed some kids, or something outrageous. It was very entertaining
Then we ate lunch at this cool place with a good view of the Colosseum. Had a cheese pizza, and some pasta. After, we went to the Roman Forum, Capitoline Hill, and Area Sacra, where a bunch of stray cats were chillin, it was cool.
That night was the best night in Italy. We went to dinner, had a couple bottles of wine, after went to Roman bar, tried a weird drink we named fake Mojitos, we were sitting at the bar and we helped the bartenders mix drinks while we were there. After, we headed to the Trevi Ft. there was maybe 3 other people there, and we got HUGE Peroni beers froma newsstand and drank it in front of the fountain which was all lit up. It was unreal. We also had to pee really bad so we had the brilliant idea of peeing ON THE STREET. AND YEAH, WE DID PEE ON THE STREET. multiple times. i definitley peed on myself. haha. We took a cab home, but several cabs that night tried to rip us off. The first cab to the Trevi was obviously going the wrong way and I bitched him the fuck out. And then the cab ride home cost 25 euro, and we were like why? and he was like because Im a limo cab, we were like fuck you but he snatched Amanda’s twenty out of her hand before we could run.
Day 3
Woke up super early, and super drunk, to get to the Vatican. Me and Amanda went cuz EJ was still blackout from the night before? Saw Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel and St Peters. Sistine Chapel WAS SICK. We were also hit on by 14 year old Spanish boys, and we decided to leave. After, we went to lunch where we met up with EJ…Freakout number 2
I was called a bitch because I did not wake her up for the Vatican at 9am, even though I DID. and I was called a bitch again because I did not want to go the Vatican when I JUST WENT. Me and Amanda were like whatever.
Walked around a little bit, but then we decided to go the train station early to catch an earlier train to Florence.
Florence, Part 2, tomorrow.
17 DAYS!
