ROMA

Upon saying farewell to Woof-Ware and arriving in Rome the next morning, we were taken aback by the fact that 1) my phone somehow did not make it to Rome, and 2) our hostel somehow was not in Rome. Ugh. A one-hour train ride later, we found ourselves in the beach town of Ostia Lido – in a hostel right on the beach. Unfortunately, we had just spent three days on the beach and were ready for Rome – three days worth of plans in Rome. Luckily, the woman at the hostel allowed us to cancel the second two nights we were planning on staying there and we easily found somewhere great to stay in the center of Rome. The thing about Ostia Lido is… there’s nothing in Ostia Lido. We made a dinner of “dirty sandwiches” (for further explanation please refer to Florence post), grabbed a bottle of wine for 3 euro, and headed back to the hostel. The rest of the night was relatively negative… two of our dorm mates came in around 3:00 am wasted, couldn’t get the door open, banged and called for about 20 minutes before we were willing to wake up and oblige them. About one hour later, one of them was snoring so loudly he made the older Romanian gentleman’s snoring from earlier in the trip sound like sweet music in my memories. I bailed on Tommy to an all girls dorm around 5:00 am… Although presented with the option to move he did not, a decision for which he suffered throughout the next day.

tommy looking handsome in ostia lido

enjoying the beach

The next day however was fabulous! We moved to our great hostel five minutes from the train station and headed for the Roman Forum. Although our plan was to spend a few hours there and a few hours at the Coliseum, we ended up spending almost the entire day at the Roman Forum. So spread out and historic, we loved walking around imagining what may have gone on there. The ruins were so vast and intriguing, it’s hard to pick out one specific highlight, however seeing the exact place where Caesar was cremated was pretty fantastic J

Roman Forum

 The next day we walked the entire city it seems like. Coliseum, Pantheon, some churches (I’m sorry, there have just been so many at this point), some huge, beautiful, impressive building whose significance we were not certain of… Is it clear by this description we nearing the end of the trip? Ha ha. My favorite part of the Coliseum was the “graffiti” done by spectators of the gladiators they admired most. Literally etched into the walls with chisels, the graffiti depicted warriors, beasts, and weapons. Very cool.

graffiti

il coloseo

sitting on something really old in the coloseum

karate kick! coloseum style

view from doors of pantheon

Rome was not beautiful like Paris, nor was it vivid and colorful like Barcelona. For the most part it felt cold and sparse to me, a white marble patina defining each building, whether old or new. And… I LOVED IT. The air of Rome is heavy with history. The Coliseum, Roman Forum, and Pantheon breathe life into the city; a monument from antiquity nestled amongst the gelaterias and bars on every corner.

pantheon!

Before we knew it, our two days in Rome were up, and it was time to head back to Madrid for our last night in Europe. WHAT? NO? IT CAN’T BE? Sigh.