When in Rome...

Warning: Very Long Post…just skip the words and look at the pics if you want :)
Going to Italy was a learning experience. There was so much that I will try to separate it out by each day.
Day 1: Arriving in Rome
My plane landed in Rome around 9:30 in the morning, but my traveling partner’s plane didn’t come in until 12:30 so I had the pleasure of sitting at an airport for a long while! I noticed that as people from the EU went through passport control, they would simply flash their passports while they strolled on through the gates… me on the other hand, I had to stop, answer a few questions, have my passport screened and then was allowed to go on through. Getting through security wasn’t any more difficult than usual for me; I had just never seen how easy it was for EU citizens.
When Britanny finally arrived, the first thing on our agenda was to find our hostel and check in. As soon as we checked in, the man at the desk told us we weren’t actually going to be staying there but in another building. So we nervously followed this guy to where we were actually going to be staying for the next few days. It turned out that we were getting to stay in a two bedroom apartment with a fully kitchen and bath, so it was much nicer than we anticipated.

my first taste of gelato! yum!!

We found a nice little Italian place to eat dinner, or so we thought. We were eating outside and talking while all of the sudden this woman two tables away from me begins screaming at the top of her lungs while everyone at the table gets up as quickly as they possibly could and ran away. At first I thought that there was a bug or something gross in her food. But, it turns out that there was a man who had gotten down on his knees and crawled to the edge of the fence surrounding the restaurant and grabbed this woman’s purse and ran off with it! It was a good thing that this woman was screaming her head off as she chased him down the street because someone else heard and got the bag back for her. But it was just a really scary thing to witness. The rest of the night the two of us couldn’t stop thinking about it, we were so scared being in that city for that night. I think we checked the locks on every door and window in our apartment twenty times that night!
Day 2: Coliseum and the Forum
We were able to start the day fresh and have a better outlook on Rome after a good nights sleep. We went to the Coliseum and the Forum. We spent so much time in these two places… we looked at everything and went everywhere we could.

Just some old ruins..

THey also had drinking fountains all over the city where you could fill up your water bottles for free! I did a very good job of staying hydrated!

While at the Forum, we stumbled across this rally being held just a little ways away from us. Of course we were curious, so we went to check out what all the fuss what about. There were all of the signs and flags for the Democratic Party and other signs saying something like “Another Italy is possible”. We wanted to find someone to ask what this was all about, but before we could, it began to rain.

Day 3: Vatican
When in Rome, you must see the Vatican! And on the last Sunday of the month, entrance to the Vatican Museum is free. We heard that there wasn’t much of a line to get into the museum, and we also wanted to get blessed by the Pope at noon in St. Peter’s square, so we arrived at the museum about 10 AM. We quickly learned that we were not the only ones who knew the museum was free today. After waiting in line for nearly 2 ½ hours, we missed the Pope’s blessing and only made it into the museum 8 minutes before the last entrance. We knew that our time was limited in the museum so we quickly passed most of the museum and headed straight to the Sistine Chapel. This room was astonishing! I had assumed that since we were able to take pictures at everything else in the museum with out a flash, that we would be able to take pictures in hear as well. I began snapping shots casually until all of the sudden I noticed a laser pointer shining right on my face and in my eyes…initially I thought this meant he thought he saw my flash go off… but no, it meant no pictures at all in here. Apparently, instead of putting up proper notices around the entrance saying absolutely no photography, they think it is better to shine laser pointers into people eyes! I found this to be so ridiculous that I just kept on taking whatever pictures I wanted, just more secretively! I’m a rebel I know! Haha!
Getting lost seems to be a tradition that Britanny and I have going, so there is no need to stop now! On our way to the Trevi fountain, we somehow managed to get turned around and find ourselves on the Spanish Steps and then eventually made it to the Fountain. Then while we were in the area, we decided to stop by the Pantheon as well!
Day 4: Markets
For some reason, since I have arrived in Europe I have been really interested in going to markets around town. There was this well known market called "Campo di Fiorre" that was first on our list. It was the cutest Italian fruit and vegetable market. We picked up some peaches and explored all of the new vegetables I had never seen before.
We also found this very picturesque market close by where they sold paintings and musicians played their music for all who passed by.
We eventually made it to this huge monument that now houses the Italian version of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. This place was so big but it was also so beautiful!
Day 5: Last Day
At this point, Britanny and I had walked basically everywhere in Rome atleast once from all the times we had gotten lost. It was definitely a long day for us. As soon as we walked out of our hostel, it was raining. Silly me, I thought we had left London, I didn't bring an unbrella. The rian continued all day while we were just walking around and taking in our last few hours of Rome. I am pretty sure we made a stop for our last taste of real gelato.
Since the day was a bit dark and gloomy, we headed to the airport early to relax and not have to worry about being on time. It turned out that our flight was 1 1/2 hours late so we have PLENTY of time waiting. When we got back to London it was SNOWING! It wasn't a huge amount of snow... it was more like a Texas snow. It was just such a surprise because we were coming from 80 degree weather in Rome back to freezing weather in London. It was also the first time that it had snowed in October in London in like 60 years...