Day 28 - Touring Rome

June 28 – Touring Rome

Laura, Breanna, and Amanda left at 6am for a 130 euro, 9-hour, ubercomprehensive tour. Liz and Courtney were still asleep because they went out with their friends from last night. Shannon swore I snored so badly that night. So weird coz no one has ever told me I snore. I’ve been on the tennis team for 3 years and trust me I would have gotten hell if I snored. LOL. Anyway, so Shannon and I were together. Since we had more days ( we had 3 full days; they only had 1.5), we opted out of the 130 euro tour.

We walked up to Stazione Termini to claim our Roma passes. The Roma Pass is actually a really good deal. It costs 20 euros and gives you 2 free entrances to places of your choice and discount to other places. It only makes perfect sense to pick the Colosseum as the first one because if you just buy the ticket at the Colosseum without the Roma pass, it costs 11 euros plus you have to fall in line for a long time. With the Roma pass, you can avoid the line and go straight to the entrance. Also, the Roma Pass gives you free access to public transportation for 3 days.

Anyway, after getting our Roma Passes, I convinced Shannon to do a Sightseeing Bus with me. I’ve never been on one and really wanted to experience it. We got a day tour for 13 euros. It was pretty cool. We hopped on one right outside Stazione Termini and got off at the Colosseum.

The Colosseum is enormous. Thus, it’s named so. Duh. Lol. Anyway, we rented an audio guide for 4.50 euros. We were there forever. It was a very cool place. Again, it’s one of those things I can’t really explain. :P Oh btw, have I mentioned it was burning hell in Rome? It was superrrrrhot! Anyway, it was so cool while we were up there, there were newlyweds taking pictures with the Colosseum as the background. How romantic eh?

After exiting the Colosseum, I was dying of thirst. I was parched like never before. So, of course they have these little mobile stores. I come up to the guy and ask how much. A 12 oz. bottle of water cost 2.50 euros! Ridiculous! In the words of Paco and Ma. Luz, “İQué barbaridad!” So I sucked it up and continued dying. We hopped back on the red bus and I told Shannon I was getting off at the next stop to get water. Luckily, the next stop had one of these things. I love it! The water was cold too! It was heaven! Anyway, right after we replenished our bottles, another red bus stopped. So we hopped back on. We finished the tour around the city and hopped off around Tritone to hit up Fontana de Trevi.

There were many shops near Fontana de Trevi and while we were walking down one of the alleys I hear “So Slow” by Freestyle (Filipino band). I got so excited! Hahaha. How weird was that. Walking down Rome and hearing Freestyle. Anyway, of course I had to enter the store and sing along and make little chika with the people there. All they had were glass and crystal stuff so I couldn’t really buy anything from there. Anyway, we proceeded to the Fountain. It was pretty much awesome. We took lots of pictures. Then, we walked back to the hostel. I swear this trip seemed more and more like Survivor by the minute. By this time, I was super-spent with all the walking and the heat. We got back to the hostel. I took a shower and took a short nap. We went to dinner. I had a 9 euro plate of 5 pieces of ricotta cheese and asparagus filled tortellinis. Cuh-razy. I ate it super slowly. Indeed, they’re right when they when you eat slower, your brain catches up and tells you you are getting full so you stop eating. Well, I wasn’t close to being full but that was the most I could do.

We then went to Campo de Fiori to try this amazing wine Liz and Courtney were raving about. It’s called Moscato D’(something) Shoot! I’ll have to ask Amanda for the real name coz I told her to take a pic of it coz they say it’s sold in the States. Anyway, indeed it was ridiculously good and so was the price. Haha! A bottle was 25 euros. We split it 5 ways so it wasn’t all too bad. Anyway, we stayed there for the longest time. They wanted to go out but I couldn’t take any more. I wanted to just go home. After sitting there for about 3 hours, I was like, we gotta go. So, 3 of us went home. The rest wanted to check out the bars but I wasn’t up for it. Not my kinda company. :P Anyway, I was glad to be back at the hostel. Got ready for bed and I was out!