Rome: Where history meets shithole

Now don't be fooled by the title of this post. I really liked Rome. There's no disputing, however, that it is a dirty dirty place, a problem only exacerbated by the presence of dirty italians. O wait, I'm Italian, I can't say that. woops. #sorryimnotsorry.

Let me get my Rome bitching out real fast. It's dirty as shit, the public transport sucks, and you feel like you're in a tourist playground.

Ok, now that I got that out, back to business. We rolled up into Rome and found our way to my friend Nicole's apartment. After dropping our stuff off, Rachel and I set out to explore the immediate area, a section of Rome called Trastevere. It's is the hip, trendy, and up and coming area according to some of my friends. We found some pretty sweet steps aka another opportunity for some bomb ass rachel photography.

so artsy

That night, we randomly chose a little restaurant on the main street in Trastevere. The thing about Italy is that even if you just pick a random place on the street, the food is going to be bomb. We were the only people in this little restaurant around 7pm, much too early for the real italians to eat dinner. I got a pizza, Rachel got some gnocci, and we both fell in love (with the food). The qualms that I did have with Rome are immediately redeemed by the food. After staying with Nicole one night, we decided to go stay with our friends Pat and Brian because there were a bunch of other kids also staying with Nicole. Pat and Brian were incredibly hospitable as well.

Time out. Haven't yet discussed the really old old things in Rome ie the reason everyone goes there. You usually think just Colosseum as the main ruins in Rome. Nien. There are ruins everywhere, just straight chillin in the middle of the street like its nbd. That's probably one of the main reasons that Rome has a small and dysfunctional metro system. They can't build underground because there are so many goddamn ruins everywhere. Thanks a lot Caesar.

straight chillin

But the main tourist attractions really were amazing and really were worth the exorbitant prices we had to pay to visit them. How is Italy in so much debt when it charges 20 euro to see a bunch of old rocks aka the Colosseum. Also, the Vatican Museum (the place with the Sistine Chapel) brings in five hundred thousand euros PER DAY. that's 500,000! Obscene. All I can say is that that sounds more like the international headquarters of Judaism and not Catholicism. Distasteful joke? Maybe. This blog is now flagged by AIPAC.

How colosseul

sweet purple shirt bro

The Colosseum was actually pretty damn cool. It's hard to imagine how they built these gigantic structures without modern construction equipment. Granted, they still had slaves back then. Too soon. But seriously, how do these things stay standing for so long? I just can't forsee something like the Sears Tower standing for thousands of years.

full view of inside the Colosseum

After visiting the Colosseum, we schlepped over to the Vatican. We did a lot of schlepping in Rome. Definitely got a workout just from all the walking. To replace all the calories that I may have lost while schlepping, I aggressively consumed proscuito sandwiches and gellato. Yummmm. 

The Vatican was definitely an impressive place. With an income of 500,000 euro per day it damn well better be. Because I am not Catholic or even Christian or even religiously attuned, the Vatican probably did less for me than for others. However, discovering it through the historical and cultural lens was also quite powerful. Everybody knows that the only thing anyone wants to see in the Vatican museum is the Sistine Chapel. "Everybody" also includes whoever designed the museum. Thus, we found ourselves on a very dragged out walk through exhibits that weren't so interesting before arriving 45 minutes later at the Sistine Chapel. Funny thing was, they kept putting signs that said "Cappella Sistina" like it was just around the corner. Could not have been further from the truth.

Look at all dem frescoes

Famous painting with Aristotle and Socrates in it

I'm going to rag on Rome and Italy one more time. I'm not surprised that they are having huge debt problems. They simply don't work. The construction workers who were fixing the side of Pat and Brians apartment worked from approximately 8am to 9am. This was real cool especially when we had been out until 4 or 5 the previous night.

We hit up all the regular tourist sites. My favorite was probably the Trevi fountain. I of course threw in a coin. Not really sure where this tradition comes from but hey, why not

Make a Wish!

One thing that I really liked about the Trevi fountain is that they collect all the change that tourists throw in and donate it to local charities. We also visited the Spanish steps and Pantheon, some other famous Rome sites.

Spanish steps in all their glory 

view from the top of the Spanish Steps. Cool except for all the other tourists

I don't have any pictures of the Pantheon because my camera died. I swear this camera sucks. That's a story for a later time though.

Going out in Rome was a lot of fun. Pat and Brian were gracious hosts and showed us a great time around Trastevere. Rome is the most confusing place in the world. Granted, I have zero sense of direction. All the streets wind and change names every block. There is seriously no rhyme or reason to how this city was designed.

I feel like I have given Rome a bad rap in this entry. Its really not that bad. Let's just say I'm glad I don't study there for an entire semester. It also was the second half of a ten day trip. We were both real tired and definitely happy to get back to Brussels. After ten days together, Rachel and I were definitely ready to never talk to each other again. 

best friends?