Europe Trip 7 : Rome, Italy

Rome 1

The train ride from Venice was pretty long. As we were leaving Venice, we noticed that it had started to rain, but I had hoped that it wouldn’t span all the way to Rome. Yeah, I was wrong. By the time we got to Rome, it was pouring rain like crazy. The metro got flooded out, so we had to walk it to our hotel. I gotta say, Arc’Teryx brand stuff is well worth the money. All my electronics made it to the hotel dry and functional.

We didn’t (couldn’t) do too much the first day because of the rain, but we did notice that the United Colors of Benetton stores here are actually affordable. They are probably around the same prices as our Gap and BR stores.

Rome 2

We left early-ish for Vatican City to try to beat the crowds, but unfortunately the crowds beat us.  The line to get into the Vatican Museum had already spanned around a few walls, but at least the line moved.  After 1.5 to 2 hours we finally got in.  The art collection in there was pretty awesome.  It was nice seeing a lot of stuff you remember seeing in your high school textbooks with your own eyes.  The works by Raphael and others were really crazy, but none can beat Michaelangelo’s work in the Sistine Chapel.  It’s really something you have to see for yourself.  But here, I snapped up some illegal photos:

Afterwards, we went to lunch at this place that Alex had so enthusiastically recommended.  The only probably is that “Armandos” was no longer there, but it was a different name.  We decided to give it a try since it also had the famed lasagna with black truffle sauce on the menu outside.  We went in and the waiter tried to push a set menu on us.  They brought out all these appetizers and when we tried to ask for a menu, they said they didn’t do that.  When asked about the price, they said something like 40 euros a person!  We kept saying that all we wanted were lasagnas, but they kept trying to get us to eat the appetizers.  When we were firm, they just told us to leave.  Messed up.

Anyhow, we found another random food place (which is not worth noting) and went to the Church of Saint Peter.  That is one magnificent church.  The place is so ornate with super high ceilings and marble and art everywhere.  

We were pretty tired after that and so we went back to our hotel and rested a while.  Then we set off to the laundry place and grabbed some food.  The best place we ate at in Rome so far was right next to the laundry place.  Tomorrow I think we will try to see the Colosseum and go shopping!

Rome 3

Tired. Went to Colosseum, the Forum, Pantheon. As well as the main shopping street. There was Gucci, LV, Valentino, Armani, Ferrigamo, Prada there. Too expensive. Feet hurt. Sleep… zzz..

Early flight to Athens tomorrow.