Day 3 in Italy...time to explore Roma itself!
I have a friend from back home studying at Loyola University Chicago's Rome campus. When he came to visit me in Dublin he brought two of his friends as well, so when I came to Roma, I at least knew some people. I met with one of the girls at one of the metro stops, and she took me to Piazza del Popolo.
From the piazza we went to the Spanish Steps. It seems necessary for me to point out that a lot of these sites have no particular significance for me, but I felt that they were places that I should see while I'm here in Europe.
We then got onto one of the main streets, Via del Corso. We stopped at a cafe where I got a Nutella croissant...it was delicious!!!!! We then made our way to Trevi Fountain. This was definitely my favorite site. It was a lot more massive than I thought it was from pictures. The statues were so intricate, I was amazed with the amount of detail and work that would have gone into creating the fountain. While I was there I tossed a coin over my shoulder and made a wish...typical tourist stuff.
After Trevi fountain, we went back to Via del Corso and eventually came upon the Roman Forum. I was quite surprised to see how much ground it covered. It looked very cool to me, and I realized that what I like about Roma isn't its history, but just how it looks and feels.
After passing through the forum we arrived at the Colosseum. The place was packed with tourists and peddlers trying to sell us useless crap. It was still a cool place, though, considering it's size and how much happened there.
As we were leaving the Colosseum we were approached by a protest parade. It was some kind of worker's union protest.
We then wandered around the city center some more, and eventually came back to Piazza Navona, where the Christmas market and carnival were in full swing. It was very cool to see everything going on there. It was quite a popping place.
We were done pretty early, so we went to a pizzeria where I got some potato pizza, which was surprisingly good. My friend then took me up to Loyola's campus, where I met up with the rest of my friends. They were working on final papers and studying for their finals for a bit so I just hung out there. We then watched some kind of theater performance by the students. It was a bunch of small comedy sketches. They were pretty good, but some of it was in Italian, and there were some inside jokes, but it was great. After that, my friends and I went to a place called Foodoo for dinner. It was a really cool place. We ordered a drink, then for 3 euros you get basically unlimited finger food, so we had bread with bruschetta, cheese pizza, broccoli quiche, and delicious pesto pasta with feta cheese.
After dinner we went back into the city center, to a gelato place called Fridgidarium. I had their signature gelato, which was delicious, but after a while it was too sweet for me. We then walked through Piazza Navona with our gelato, it was a great time.
After such a long day, I had to get back to the hostel to pack for my flight the next day (more on that in the next and final Italy post).
Next up...final impressions of Italy overall.
I have a friend from back home studying at Loyola University Chicago's Rome campus. When he came to visit me in Dublin he brought two of his friends as well, so when I came to Roma, I at least knew some people. I met with one of the girls at one of the metro stops, and she took me to Piazza del Popolo.
From the piazza we went to the Spanish Steps. It seems necessary for me to point out that a lot of these sites have no particular significance for me, but I felt that they were places that I should see while I'm here in Europe.
We then got onto one of the main streets, Via del Corso. We stopped at a cafe where I got a Nutella croissant...it was delicious!!!!! We then made our way to Trevi Fountain. This was definitely my favorite site. It was a lot more massive than I thought it was from pictures. The statues were so intricate, I was amazed with the amount of detail and work that would have gone into creating the fountain. While I was there I tossed a coin over my shoulder and made a wish...typical tourist stuff.
After Trevi fountain, we went back to Via del Corso and eventually came upon the Roman Forum. I was quite surprised to see how much ground it covered. It looked very cool to me, and I realized that what I like about Roma isn't its history, but just how it looks and feels.
After passing through the forum we arrived at the Colosseum. The place was packed with tourists and peddlers trying to sell us useless crap. It was still a cool place, though, considering it's size and how much happened there.
As we were leaving the Colosseum we were approached by a protest parade. It was some kind of worker's union protest.
We then wandered around the city center some more, and eventually came back to Piazza Navona, where the Christmas market and carnival were in full swing. It was very cool to see everything going on there. It was quite a popping place.
We were done pretty early, so we went to a pizzeria where I got some potato pizza, which was surprisingly good. My friend then took me up to Loyola's campus, where I met up with the rest of my friends. They were working on final papers and studying for their finals for a bit so I just hung out there. We then watched some kind of theater performance by the students. It was a bunch of small comedy sketches. They were pretty good, but some of it was in Italian, and there were some inside jokes, but it was great. After that, my friends and I went to a place called Foodoo for dinner. It was a really cool place. We ordered a drink, then for 3 euros you get basically unlimited finger food, so we had bread with bruschetta, cheese pizza, broccoli quiche, and delicious pesto pasta with feta cheese.
After dinner we went back into the city center, to a gelato place called Fridgidarium. I had their signature gelato, which was delicious, but after a while it was too sweet for me. We then walked through Piazza Navona with our gelato, it was a great time.
After such a long day, I had to get back to the hostel to pack for my flight the next day (more on that in the next and final Italy post).
Next up...final impressions of Italy overall.
yaaay!! I love how even outside of Ireland, when you get to Italy, you're eating POTATO pizza :D
ReplyDeleteHaha yeah it's pretty crazy! Ireland and potatoes just won't leave me alone!
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