Bella Roma

Reagan and Mike and I had quite a trip planned through Italy, a whirlwind week-long trip with our first stop being in Rome!

Hello Rome!

There was a terrible rain storm brewing when we landed, and we hit a little flash flood on the way to the hostel, but by the time we'd settled in, most of the rain had passed. We loved our hostel--called Colors Hostel. It was really more of a hotel than a hostel, as our room had it's own bathroom and we even had breakfast included each day. The room was big, brightly painted, and they even gave us welcome champaign. Can't beat that!

Balcony lounge off the common room in the hostel.

After settling in, we set out to explore the area. There are pretty things everywhere in Rome, so even though we didn't really know where we were, we were blown away by everything. Of course, we also had to stop for some tasty treats and drinks throughout the afternoon. It was definitely a successful first day!

The next day, we had prebooked tickets for the Vatican, so that's where we headed first. I am so glad everyone told us to prebook our tickets because otherwise we would have been stuck in a line for hours and hours. And Rome was hot!!! Thankfully, we got to bypass the line and head straight in. Our guided tour was great! We saw the Vatican museums, the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica. All of these places are just amazing and really make you feel small compared to their grandeur.

Ready for our tour

Just a few hundred fellow tourists all trying to squeeze through the same
narrow corridors. 

One of my favorite parts of the Vatican Museum was the room of maps!

The Thinker

Van Gogh

Degas

Touching the Vatican walls

Michelangelo's Pieta inside St. Peter's Basilica

St. Peter's Basilica

St. Peter's Basilica

St. Peter's Square/Piazza S. Pietro

Me and a member of the Swiss Guard

I sent some postcards from Vatican City

For the rest of the day, we wandered around, stumbled upon more impressive sights (they are everywhere!), visited the Pantheon, had some great food and just enjoyed this amazing city.

Amazing pizza!

The smallest car!

Gelato  

Outside the Pantheon 

Inside the Pantheon

The funniest little truck I've ever seen!

Trevi Fountain. We threw coins in and made wishes!

Loved the public fountains for drinking water. This
one looks gross, but it wasn't.

I bought a painting from this man.

Bruschetta. Amazing!

Spaghetti with pesto. Amazing! 

Walking home across Ponte Sant' Angelo 

The next day, we set off to explore another important part of Rome--the Coliseum and the Roman Forum. We took the metro to the Coliseum to try to preserve our energy since our hostel was far away and it was unbearably hot. The metro was easy to use and fun, too.

Inside the metro station 

The Coliseum is nothing short of amazing. It's incredible to stand there and just imagine what it would have been like to be a gladiator coming through the tunnel about to face your death. The history is fascinating and the structure is still in such good condition for how incredibly old it is! We were all completely fascinated. We were even able to fight through the burning sun and endure the sweat dripping down our faces!

Next we headed across the street to explore the Roman Forum. This excavation site was also amazingly fascinating. We were lucky to have Mike with us because he somehow managed to help us wander all over without getting too lost. It was mid-day sun, however, so we started to fade after about an hour and grew a little too desperate for water and food. The only food we had were mints, so we eventually broke down and started eating those as we tried to navigate our way out. Finally, we made it out and cooled off in a nearby restaurant with some late lunch and good wine.

This time I had some delicious lasagna!

We spent the rest of the day doing our usually meandering walk with some shopping here and there. That evening, we had a really nice meal in a cute area (I have no idea where we were though!).

I got a real kick out of the parking situation. People just park wherever they
can because space is such a commodity, and the smart cars can park pretty
much however they want. "No Parking? No Problem!"

Seafood risotto. No idea what that guy was...a shrimp? He was scary but the
dish was great.

For our last day in Rome, we actually took a day trip to the island of Capri. The trip involved a three-hour bus ride and 50-minute ferry, but it was so worth it! Capri is an amazing little island--very beautiful, very upscale and very trendy. Once on the island, we took little mini busses up to the town at the top of the island called Anacapri. The roads are so very narrow that only special, small vehicles can pass. Our route also including a harrowing drive along a very steep cliff.

On the ferry

Capri!

That line in the rock on the left is the scary road we drove on!

Great view on the ride up to Anacapri 

Scary cliff drive...

We spent the first part of the afternoon shopping before lunch. I loved walking through the little lanes and popping into all the shops. I even bought these amazing hand-made sandals from a local shoe maker. Capri is known for its sandals (among other things like linen capri pants and everyone's favorite caprese salad, which we also tried).

Lots of treasures to be found on Capri!

Shopping high!

Quite a view

The shoe maker I bought my sandals from

My sandals. Love them!

A true Caprese salad

After lunch, Mike, Reagan and I took the optional tour of the famous blue grotto, which is a neat little cave where the light plays tricks on the rocks and the water glows blue. We climbed a bunch of stairs down the cliff, hopped in a tiny boat, and took our quick tour through the grotto. The cave is amazingly beautiful, and although our time in it was far too brief, it was still worth the extra cost to see it. After the grotto, we took a boat back to the harbor and caught our ferry back to Naples, then our tour bus back to Rome.

Approaching the grotto

This is one of the tiny boats you get into. Then the guide
takes your through. 

The view of the cliffs coming down 

About to enter the grotto 

Our turn next!

Isn't it amazing!?

Inside the grotto...Reagan "fell in"

On the boat back to the harbor  

What a great day!

We didn't make it back to Rome until about 10 p.m. that night, giving me just enough time to pack for our next adventure--Florence! I completely loved Rome and Capri, and I can't wait to go back for another visit!