All About Rome

I’m back from my week long adventure in Rome!! Now I’m going to share my experience and some general costs.

TL:DR Flights were long. We didn’t get robbed. Their public transportation is difficult expect getting lost to be part of the adventure. Food is delicious if you like pizza and bread. Gelato is very yummy. There is a lot of awesome history in Rome. Pompeii was also very historical. Basically, Rome is like NYC only older.

First off, the flights there and back were exhausting. We rode three planes each way, and had to drive three hours to the Oklahoma City airport. The final drive home from Oklahoma City after we’d already been traveling for 24 hours was brutal. But our round trip ticket was only $627 each. Which is a steal. Most flights with only one stop out of Dallas are at least $1200 (round trip non stop out of Dallas is not available). And now that I’m on the other side of that traveling misery, ehhh it was worth it.

Second. We didn’t get robbed. Even though everyone we ever told that we were going to Rome HAD to warn us of the dangers of pick pocketing, we managed to visit the Eternal City without possessions being stolen. One lady even told us “Everyone gets robbed” on one of our plane rides. Well lady WE DIDN’T so take that! While we were a little irritated at all of warnings about pick pocketing, we didn’t ignore them. Richard kept his money in his front pockets. Because he’s a man and he has pockets. And I carried a backpack. This backpack has three pockets. In the front pocket, I stuffed a sandwich. Which I was actually hoping somebody might try to steal because that would have been funny. My debit card and passport were kept in the middle pocket and since it was raining off and on most of the time we were there; I wore a jacket over my backpack so that no one would be able to slip a hand in. So that’s the first step. Don’t make it easy for them. Second step, be aware. The only person that we came across that we thought might have been trying to steal from us was on the train to the city from the airport. This lady, looking like a meth head gets on the train with her bike. She’s acting erratic. Running between both of her bags muttering Italian under her breathe and bad English. Richard and I were in each corner. With our bags tightly gripped. She hands Richard a cigarette, which he sets down. Then she leans her bike on me. Which I promptly move and let fall. Then she starts asking for our phones to call her husband. I quickly said “We don’t have service here.” Which was a lie but I didn’t care. When we got to the next stop, a non-looking meth head twenty-something man comes down from the top section and they start muttering, SHE PULLS OUT A PHONE and they get off the subway together. Really lady. Not cool. We’ve only had half-assed plane sleep for the last 24 hours and you’re going to try to rob us right when we get here?! But after that we had no issues.

Public transportation. Public transportation in Rome consists mostly of buses. There were a couple subways but we never used them. Their system is not well catered to tourists. I never found an offline route map for each bus route probably because they change depending on the time of day. Even though the routes at every stop are listed; the names of the stops and the streets they are on is pretty useless information if you don’t know the city that well. So we struggled with that. On one particularly embarrassing occasion we got onto Route 46 on the wrong side of the road which proceeded to take us two hours out of the way to the far northeast side of the city. That was a frustrating morning. But after that mishap, we started to get the hang of it. Unlike what the internet says, bus tickets are not available at every stop. We bought our 48 hour pass at a small store near the Vatican for 12.5 Euro. But upon riding on the buses we realized something. Most people do not run their ticket or proof of legal riding the busses everytime they get on. So we just didn’t either. When in Rome right? But if you don’t scan your ticket and the police do a surprise inspection and your ticket has not been stamped, you could be fined. We got stopped by the police at Termini, the main station but we had our tickets on us so the police lady just assumed we were dumb tourists and showed us how to scan it and then let us go. Another tourist that didn’t even buy a ticket for the bus, received a fine from the police. We heard her claiming that she couldn’t buy a ticket because the bus driver wouldn’t stop for her. Which made no sense but her English was broken sooo idk maybe something else happened. Anyways, we escaped that issue. We rode the trentralia train to Naples and it was really nice. An extremely smooth ride, it had comfy seats with tables, wifi and a gorgeous view of the Italian countryside but it was expensive. At about $200 round-trip for both of us, we paid for that luxury. We also took a train from Naples to Pompeii. It was difficult to find and we spent awhile wondering around Naples until we found it. It was cramped, smelly, slow, and covered in graffiti. But it was only $12 for both of us round trip.

Food. Italians love sandwiches, pizza, croissants, and espresso. I’m not sure there was really much else to eat. My favorite sandwich was a flat one with spicy salami that we actually bought in Castel Sant’Angelo. And my favorite pizza was a mozzarella and salmon pizza that we got at a restaurant near where we were staying off of Gregorio VII. Yeah, I know, weird, but it was really good. We spent about $550 on food for the two days of traveling and 5 and a half days we stayed in Rome. And that includes the small amount of groceries we bought for snacks and breakfast every morning. (Italian breakfast of a croissant and an espresso was not enough to sustain the amount of walking we were doing everyday.) So we actually went about $150 over budget but that’s still not bad and we splurged a couple of nights and had a steady stream of wine so I think we did good. We did get nervous however when a man on one of our flights told us that he and his wife had a small pizza, and two teas for 60 euro. However, we never saw prices like that and luckily most restaurants post their menu prices right outside of the door. My only advice is to ignore the middle eastern man trying to coax you inside and only eat there if you want to. Also, gelato is the best thing ever, I was pretty obsessed with it.

And now on to what we saw. The first day we saw the Colosseum, the Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill. The Colosseum was amazing and huge and a great piece of history but neither Richard nor I were as impressed with it as the Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill. The Roman Forum consists of the ruins of the financial and business district of the Roman Empire dating back to Caesars’ and Emperor Augustus’ time. Basically the Wall Street of the Roman world. And the Palatine Hill holds the ruins of Emperor Augustus’ House, a large stadium and the ruins of the beginning to civilization in the area dating back to 900BC. Not to mention breathtaking views of the city and relaxing walks. These two areas were more of an afterthought and yet, they were filled with amazing ruins and history.

The second day we went to the Vatican. We stood in line at St. Peter’s Basilica and only waited for about 20 minutes. But we got lucky because right after we got in line, it started stretching around the Piazza even in the rain. I’m not catholic but I took a moment standing in the most beautiful building I have ever been in to stare at the walls and the sculptures. And I mean to really look at everything. Not take a picture and walk away. To really take in where I was and what it meant to millions of people around the world and throughout history. I tried to take in how beautiful it was and appreciate the time it had taken to build it and I actually started to cry. I got emotional and had to wipe my face off, hoping the guard wouldn’t notice. It was truly breathtaking. I think I will always get a little emotional in remembrance of that place. After the Basilica, we went to the Vatican Museums. Which also held beautiful statues, paintings all over the walls and ceilings, rugs, maps and old globes. We didn’t get to see everything but we did get to see the Sistine Chapel. And to be honest, we were both a little disappointed. Yes it was beautiful. But it was so packed and we were all sort of tunneled in there with the words “no photo, no video’ being repeated constantly that it was difficult to properly enjoy it. Then we walked to the Castel Sant’Angelo. This was one of my favorite places in all of Rome. With a rich history, from Emperor Hadrian’s tomb (he really built a lot while he was emperor), a fortress with a corridor for a retreating pope in danger from the Vatican, to a prison and castle for Popes. The museum is sort of set up like an Ikea store; you move through the walls on a path going up and up past the ashes of Emperor Hadrian, and the courtyard where prisoners were hanged all the way to the top. The views are beyond amazing. Including a skyline of the Tiber River and the Basilica in the distance. And as it started to rain while we moved through the Castel, Richard and I really felt and pretended like we were in the midst of a muddy defense in the middle ages.

The third day, we actually went back to the Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill and then finished the day with the Trevi Fountain. The fountain is absolutely gorgeous. It was crowded but we were still able to get to the front and snap a few photos while I read off a few facts about the beautiful location and then we left. Fun fact, this super famous fountain was actually built in 1762, which by roman standards, is a pretty new addition.

The fourth day we decided to take a bold day trip to see the Pompeii ruins. I’ve always been fascinated with Pompeii’s history and had a distinct connection with the fear of an erupting volcano since watching Dante’s Peak at to young of an age so it felt like it would be worth the 3 our trip each way. We had to take two buses, and two trains to get there. Albeit getting lost a couple times, we did eventually make it. It was a beautiful day and the ruins are absolutely gorgeous. Dozens of houses in amazing condition are preserved throughout the streets, some with gardens in the center and bones in corners makes the location eerily both romantic and haunting. We saw only a few of the casts and I was a little disappointed about that so if you go there make sure you make time for the museums that house the casts but the few I did see were absolutely heart wrenching. A child and mother frozen in time, you could almost see the emotion in their face frozen in the ash. The fear and realization that they were going to die transcending thousands of years through a cast is a really odd connection to have with another human being.

The fifth day, our last day in Rome, we slept in a little and then visited the Pantheon. An old pagan building transformed into a church/mausoleum that was extremely stunning. The dome was so large and ornate that it barely looked real and the grave of Rafael, the famous artist buried among kings was also beautiful. When we left the Pantheon, it began to rain but we had only one remaining goal, to see the Spanish Steps. However, the rain poured and we got soaked and lost and confused on a few of the streets. So by the time we made it to the Spanish Steps, I was cold and wet and I literally took a picture and then wanted to leave. But we made it!! We saw everything we wanted to see!!

Total, including airfare, airbnb, food, and transportation, we both spent a little over $2770. We went over budget by $400 but the original budget didn’t include Pompeii so I think we did really well. I really enjoyed going to Rome with my boyfriend and now I’m going to start planning our next trip to Tokyo, Japan!