Publin in Dublin: Spring Break: ROMA

We got off our train from Florence around noon on Friday and were astounded by the beautiful warm city of Rome. We checked into our hostel, the "party hostel" according to Hostelworld.com haha I just liked it because it was on Via Urbana. This hostel is definitely one for the books. It was the first time I had to be in a dorm setting, but we lucked out on our roommates being boys from Notre Dame that actually knew some people studying in Dublin with us.

After unpacking, we headed over towards the main drag of Rome, and went straight to the Colosseum. We paid to go inside and walk around and explore. Inside, it is a bit renovated, with a museum wrapped around the edge, detailing its history.

The Colosseum was definitely the highlight of my Rome trip. There is so much history that happened in such a tiny area, I really liked the museum, helped fill in some knowledge gaps and definitely gave our tour more meaning. Directly next to the Colosseum is the Arch of Constantine, the largest arch in Rome. Really it looks like every other arch in every other city Ive been to, but it was still a cool sight.

After that area, we made our way over to the Trevi Fountain, which was undeniably gorgeous, however was PACKED with tourists. We each grabbed a piece of pizza and ate lunch on the steps of the fountain. There is an actual drinking fountain connected to the Trevi that you can drink out of, however if you so much as touch the water in the actual fountain, you will, at least, be slapped on the wrist by a policeman nearby.

After some more sightseeing, we grabbed a kebab for dinner, streetfood that is super popular in Europe, but most so in Italy from what Ive seen. Its kind of like a gyro, but with fresh veggies and chicken. Anywho, we met up with people from Illinois studying in Rome for the semester and they took us out to a club for the night. On our way there, we casually strolled near the Trevi again, and since it was the middle of the night, we were one of the only ones there.

The next morning, we slept in a little bit and headed across the river to Vatican City. Our friend Bridget was the only catholic in the group and insisted on going in to see everything. We were fine hanging out in the square in front of St. Peters for a little while then leaving and meeting up with her later. The line to get into the Basillica wrapped around the entire square and was a two hour wait at minimum.

So we left Bridget behind in Vatican City and went to Piazza Navona, where the Four Rivers Fountain is located. The piazza was filled with families and children running around snacking on pizza and gelato. We grabbed something to eat, and then made our way to the Pantheon, a roman temple nearby. The pantheon was definitely really cool, had a large opening in its roof, so when it rains only a solid colomn of rain comes into the temple. We had gorgeous weather so didnt get to see that, but it sounds pretty sweet.

After the Pantheon, we were all so exhausted, so we rushed back to the hostel to take a much needed nap. We made plans to go to Dar Poeta for dinner, a pizza restaurant that was recommended to us by a ton of people, and after dinner, we met up with the Rome Illinois kids as well as my boyfriend Ryan and his dad, who was visiting Italy for the week.

We went to an Irish bar for the night, it was great to see Ryan and Mr. Gately again. Me and my friend Marykate made plans to meet up with the two of them the next morning, since I would be heading to Verona with them that afternoon. That next morning we made our way to the Spanish Steps, which in essence is a giant staircase in the heart of Rome. What makes it unique is that there is constantly hundreds of people sitting on the steps, eating and relaxing in the sunlight. We met up with the Gatelys and went for lunch.