Roman Holiday

With a relative knowledge of geography, Rome is not directly on the ocean. In fact, it is about an hour train ride or hour and a half taxi ride from the port. Since my mom loves figuring things out on her own, we took the train into Rome and planned to use the subway as transportation from one sight to the other. Our first stop was the one sight my grandma personally requested: the Spanish Steps. My mom and I couldn't figure out why she wanted to see the Spanish Steps so badly. I mean, after all, they are just a lot of steps. And she was slightly disappointed when she looked around and said, "This is it?" On our way to the Trivi Fountain, we made a bathroom break at the most elaborate and exquisite McDonald's in the world. It was unlike anything I had ever seen for a fast food place. This McDonald's was lavishly decorated with marble flooring and a few statues. Although the toilets may not have been up to par according to my high standards, the overall atmosphere of a fancy restaurant in a McDonald's is an experience not to be skipped!

After our lavish McDonald's visit, we followed a tour group to the Trivi Fountain. In such a tourist congested area, it is always important to keep an eye out for gypsy children who can steal all your valuables right before your very eyes. However, I have noticed a drastic improvement from my first time visiting Rome, but it is always important to be on the cautious side. When visitors wish in the Trivi Fountain, each is allowed three wishes. The first two are your free choice, but the last is always to return to Rome, and it has never failed me! Each time I've wished in the Trivi Fountain, I've found myself returning, as well as my other wishes fulfilled. Our next stops to cross off our list were 5 churches that either my mom, grandma or I had never seen before. All of which the American travel phenomenon Rick Steves recommends. The first church we wandered into is my personal favorite church in Rome, St. Ignasis. During construction, the church ran out of money to complete it with all marble columns and the dome. In order to appear lavish, the church painted a three dimensional dome on a canvas and painted some columns as in order to make them look like marble! Pretty clever if I don't say myself. In the end, they made a gorgeous church and the lack of money is not noticeable to the ordinary visitor. The next church on our list was the Pantheon. The Pantheon was originally a pagan and has been recently featured in the blockbuster Angels and Demons. On my mom and grandma's last trip in November, they did not visit the Pantheon, only walked by it. Although the church was in service at the time, we made up for it. 

By the end of our church expedition, it was 12 pm. Not bad to see 5 churches, the Trivi Fountain, and the Spanish Steps in only 3 hours. We then went to lunch in the Plaza Nirvoano. The three of us shared a pizza and salad. Most Americans find Italian pizza disappointing. However, I don't really notice a difference between pizza in Italy and pizza at Italian restaurants. Ordering at Pizza Hut is a different story though. While walking to our next stop, a galleria, we saw one of my best friends from USC, Joey! I screamed in excitement as we crossed paths in Rome! It's always weird seeing someone from home in Europe. Last time, I ran into Kim and Amber from high school, knowing they were in Europe too. But this caught me completely off guard because I had no idea that he was even in Europe! After a short walk back to the Pantheon, we parted ways, but it was still good seeing someone from home. 

The galleria we visited was once a palace for a wealthy and influential family. They had a huge art collection, complete with originals and copied works. Some of the copies were so close to the original painting, that it was difficult to tell if the painting was the original or not. At every audio mark, Grandma stopped to listen to the handset. She was enthralled with the collection as well as the elaborately decorated rooms the palace invited guests to dance and dine. Although a house tour and art collection could put me to sleep, it was the highlight of the day for Grandma. After listening to all of the recordings, we headed back to the train station to ensure that we caught our train...but we never would have guessed the trouble it took to get there. 

The lucky day we were in Rome was the day the Giro d'Italia blocked some of the streets, severely inconveniencing some of the tours from the cruise ship and our route to the subway station. At first, the bike race was really exciting! First the cop would come by, then the biker followed by its car with substitute bikes and supporters. As the biker would race by, spectators rattled the gates in support of the biker. Unfortunately, we did not know the race's route. We walked from the monument of the tomb of the unknown soldier all the way to the Coliseum in search for the metro. Towards the end, we were getting a little frantic because we were in jeopardy of missing our train. Finally, we found the station and raced to our train. We were literally minutes away from missing the train. And missing the train entailed missing the boat. But overall, we had a great day in Italy as we sail towards Naples!