Rome

Our travels to Rome started off on Thanksgiving Day at like 3 in the morning, because our flight left at 6:20, requiring us to take a few night busses to the airport. Olivia and I had the same flight as two of our classmates who were on their way to Athens, so that was exciting. Upon arrival at the Rome airport and after figuring out how to get to the city center, we headed towards the Spanish Steps. As we were trying to figure out the best way to get there, we also had to figure out the crosswalks, because some of the literally appeared as if you just walked and cars went around you - not what we were use to in Budapest nor in the states. After walking across a few times with a few Italians, we seemed to get a hang of it. When we arrived at the Spanish Steps, I was immediately impressed about the amount of police and military presence in the area. I felt very safe being there and this was common throughout all of Rome. Olivia and I then tried to eat a snack on the steps before quickly being told that we can't eat on the steps. Oops, our bad; but this makes perfect sense and I'm glad they don't let people eat, because it keeps the steps clean. We then wandered (or should I say ROMEd) our way towards Piazza del Popolo and Villa Borghese. The leaves in the Villa Borghese were huge, like as large as my face! Afterwards, we were hungry since we had such an early morning and smallish breakfast, so we headed for our first gelato of the weekend. We went to Gelatria La Romana as recommended by a high school & college friend studying abroad in Rome. This place was the best gelato we had all weekend, plus it only costed €2.00 and included dark chocolate in the cone. If we had stayed in Rome longer, I would have gone back.

After our gelato snack, we headed towards where we planned to have lunch. I know this order of food is a bit backgrounds, but it made sense in terms of the map. We stopped at Piazza Navona to take in the beauty before heading towards Campo de' Fiori for sandwiches at Forno Campo de' Fiori. I had read this place has some of the best Piazza Bianca sandwiches, and boy were they right. These sandwiches were delicious and not outrageously priced. Olivia and I got two sandwiches and rice ball to share. Again, if I was in Rome longer, I would have gone back. After lunch we saw the Pantheon and Trevi Fountain. Sadly the Trevi Fountain was blocked off for the day, so we didn't get to throw a coin in, but we decided we would come back another day if we had time. The amount of times I got asked if I wanted to buy a selfie stick throughout the day made me laugh. Here I am with a nice camera and these guys think I'm going to want to buy a selfie stick from them. Nice try, but nope. I'm glad I don't have to deal with people trying to sell things in Budapest all the time, because it got annoying real fast.

After sitting near Pantheon for a little bit, we decided to walk to our AirBnB even though we were a bit early. We hung out in the little square right next to our AirBnB until we checked in. After of course taking a nap, we grabbed some groceries and then grabbed dinner at a local cheap priced restaurant. I had a cheesy pasta and Olivia had lasagna. Very good. We then walked towards another recommended gelato place before walking by the river and sitting in some random square and talking for a while. Eventually we both decided we were super tired and should head off to bed before another long day tomorrow. (No, we did not have any turkey on Thanksgiving, but we did have sweat potatoes and pumpkin cheesecake Wednesday evening, does that count?).

Friday we spent basically all day at the Vatican. We had no intention of doing so, but it turned out that, and I'm slightly glad it did. The main reason why I wanted to visit Rome was to see the Vatican and it definitely deserved a day to itself. We departed our apartment at 8:00 AM in the rain; my thought as we left: "I don't want to carry a large umbrella around all day if it is just going to rain for a few hours this morning. We'll be fine with just our rain jackets." My thought after 15 minutes walking in the rain: "We should have brought the umbrella". We were soaking wet! After passing through all the sales people trying to get me to buy a group ticket or poncho,  we stood in line until the museum opened at 9. It was about 8:30 at this point and it was still raining and we were still very very wet. Luckily, the people standing behind us let us stand underneath their umbrellas with them. I don't think they spoke anything but Italian, but they were really friendly. So grateful for those friendly Italians. The rain stopped right around 9 and we were inside about 20 minutes later. Olivia and I spent the entire morning walking around the museum. My favorite part was probably some of the contemporary artwork. The Sistine chapel was cool, but it was also crowded with the guards giving reminders to be quiet and not take pictures like every two minutes. It took away from the beauty of it.

After we went and got some pizza at Bonci Pizzarium, a highly recommended pizza place from the millions of blog posts I read about Rome. It was very tasty. Then we went back to the Vatican to go into St. Peter's Basilica, see the tombs below the Basilica, and to go up to the dome. The top was gorgeous and it was stunning to be able to get a view of the whole city. The main reason why we spent so long at the Basilica was because I wanted to attend mass there and our only option was the 5 PM one. Mass was probably my favorite part of the day. There was nothing super special about the Mass, but it was cool to think about how many masses take place in the Vatican every day and that I got to be apart of one. One thing that makes me sad though is this sense of religious value lost within the Basilica. The amount of people at Mass compared to the number of people taking pictures of the Basilica was sad in my opinion. There is so much more to the Basilica and all it's beauty than our ability to snap a photo of it. After Mass, we returned to our apartment to make dinner before heading out for some gelato.

On Saturday, we again were out the door around 8 in order to be one of the first at Palatine Hill when it opened at 8:30. The morning was beautiful and there were few people there, allowing Olivia and I to enjoy taking some fun photos.  We spent 3-4 hours exploring and taking pictures at Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum. We then went out to grab some pizza and a calzone before heading back to the Colosseum. The Colosseum was cool to see, but very crowded. Afterwards we headed back to the Trevi Fountain, and luckily were able to sit down at the edge this time, allowing us to get our perfect Lizzie McGuire moment. :) We then meandered our way back to our apartment. I attended Mass at the local Basilica around the corner from us before Olivia and I enjoyed dinner together at our apartment and then our last gelato at a local store.

On Sunday, we got up way earlier than I like to wake-up at in order to catch a train and then a bus to the airport for our 8:30 flight. Unfortunately, the bus schedule is different on holidays/Sundays , so we had to get a taxi to the airport. We were both a little frustrated by this due to the extra cost, but at least thankful that it was an option, because walking was not. We arrived back into the city center of Budapest around 11. I did no homework this weekend, which I'm sure will stress me out later tonight due to the amount I have due tomorrow, but I enjoyed my Sunday with time to relax, catch up on sleep, skype with family and friends, and prepare for the week.

Overall, the weekend was full of photos (like 600+ that will be edited within the next two weeks), memories, and gelato. I hope to one day return to see the Pope and eat more Italian food, but in the mean time, I have 2.5 weeks left in Budapest and a day trip to Amsterdam the day before arriving back home in the States. I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and I can't wait to see everyone in about three short weeks. Happy Advent. :)