Arrivederci, Roma! (5/5)

Sunday March 6, 2011, last day in Roma:

Our last day was beautiful! It was sunny and warm, the first time it had been so since our second day there. Our ticket from the Colosseum yesterday we could use it to go into the Forum. The Forum is huge--- it's basically a bunch of old ruins right next to the Colosseum that you can walk through. My favorite part was climbing over a chain to get to this humongous tree to take a picture next to it. I don't think I was supposed to go up to the tree, but it was sure fun!

Here was the huge tree, it was awesome!

Orange trees were growing everywhere!

The view of the Colosseum from the Forum.

We wandered through the Forum for quite some time. It was super beautiful and just relaxing to meander around in the sun and take it easy. We were definitely soaking up every minute we could before our flight back to London. Somewhere in the Forum (which is huge, by the way) we lost Katie. She disappeared. In Rome. And we didn't find her until we checked out from our hotel. 

Anyway, after we left the Forum we headed toward Trevi fountain to pay our last visit to one of my favorite spots of Rome. It was pretty crowded as usual, but it was beautiful to see it during the day, since I hadn't been before. While we were there we ran into some random BYU kids that were on a break, like we were, from one of their internships. It was super random... but we ended up talking and getting gelato with them. They also told us about a really pretty park that overlooks the city. So we headed over that way, passed the spanish steps again and also saw a horse show going on in one of the plazas. 

After that we headed back toward our hotel to get our things. We got gelato one last time and walked up our favorite steps to get to the colossem. While climbing the steps we passed by an accordian player that was playing 'let it be'. It was awesome. We then ended the night in front of the colosseum at sun set, eating gelato and enjoying the last minutes of being in Rome. It was kinda bitter sweet, but I was definitely ready to go home to London.

We took a taxi (crazy driver again) and then got to the airport. Ryan air was crazy again... and our flight was delayed another hour. We got home super late, but it was all worth it.

I really hope I can go back to Rome sometime again in my future.

"Hey Lady!" (4/5)

Saturday March 5th


Today we had breakfast and then went out to the market again.  It was very rainy today, so it was kinda miserable walking around. We walked over to boca de la verita and waited to put our hands in it's mouth. Apparently if you tell a lie and put your hand in the mouth you will lose your hand. Good thing that didn't happen to me. After that we walked past parts of the old Forum (the ruins next to the Colosseum)

boca de la verita

part of the forum

the capitol building

in front of the capitol

yum

pizza :)

We went back to the hotel to take eat pizza and diet coke and to take a nap and then after our nap we headed to the colosseum to take our guided tour. The tour was pretty awesome. We learned a lot of cool things. Like there used to be stairs all around the inside of the colosseum where people used to sit. Also, the colosseum wasn't the only one of it's kind. It also wasn't the biggest. It's just the one that was preserved. I really enjoyed going inside the colosseum and looking around. It was pretty cool and very interesting.

After our tour we met up with our friends at the spanish steps for dinner. The dinner was pretty good. I got spaghetti again and some great garlic bread. Yum! After dinner we went to Trevi, again and just relaxed. I love the Trevi fountain it really was my very favorite.

After that we headed back to our apartment, got some gelato and played some cards again. It was a very fun day.

Prego! (3/5)

Friday March 4th

I woke up and got some yummy breakfast again.

After that our group got some information from the concierge about different markets that were going on around town. So she marked them on our map and we headed out for the day. The first market we went to was full of great food--fresh produce, homemade sauces and pasta noodles--as well as some souvenirs, like shirts, bags and clothes. I got a huge apple. Probably the biggest apple I have ever seen, and it was delicious.  I also got some cute pasta to bring home to my parents. It was bow tie pasta that was green, white and red stripes like the Italian flag.

After the markets we headed over to the parthenon. It was raining quite a bit, so it wasn't too busy. They had the middle of the building roped off because rain was coming through the occulus. It is such a beautiful building. I loved being able to see it after learning quite a bit about it in my interior design class from freshman year.

After the Parthenon we got some pizza for lunch and gelato. Then we went shopping around Rome for different things.

For dinner we went to a family restaurant just around the corner from our hotel. When we walked in they greeted us so warmly and sat us down at the table. When other people came in everyone got up and greeted each other with cheers and hugs and kisses. It was just like what I imagined Italian families would be like. The family was just so cute and the food was AMAZING. I had the best pesto pasta I've ever had. They played beatles music while we ate and then Kaylee, one of the girls with us, asked for the check in Italian. He laughed and told Kaylee it was perfect and then when the check came he had taken off about 5 euros from our tab. It was just so perfect. I loved it!

After dinner we walked over to Trevi fountain and got some more gelato at San Crispino. I got some grape gelato and it was the most refreshing and realistic gelato I've ever had. It was pretty good, just kinda expensive. Trevi fountain was wonderful, yet again. I threw a coin in the fountain and drank some of the water. Apparently when you do that, legend says you will come back to Rome again someday. I hope I do.

After that we went back to our hotel. I got another gelato (3 in one day!) and then we played cards in our hotel room. It was a lot of fun.

Basically I love Rome. That about sums it up.