Currently Ryan and I are sitting on a train leaving the eternal city heading to Naples to see Pompeii. Rome was so exciting, and we definitely could have stayed four more days just to enjoy the Roman culture and cuisine! I love me some pizza & pasta! Friday morning our flight landed at 9:30 am. We were extremely tired, but headed the short five minute walk to our hostel. This was my first experience with hostels. Ryan has used some before. It was a very interesting time. I really saw the value of them and enjoyed our stay. However, sleeping in a private room tonight sounds a little bit like heaven. Bonus points for the hostel though – free AWESOME pastry and coffee breakfast every morning and free wine in the evenings. Our hostel was conveniently located near the train station, as I mentioned. However, we lucked out with the train station near us being Roma Termini – the hub for the city metro and direct line to airport and other cities.
It’s always a challenge figuring out another country’s transportation system. But it hasn’t been too bad just yet. (Fingers crossed). On Friday after freshening up a bit, Ryan and I headed out to the Sistine Chapel. We had bought our tickets ahead of time, so fortunately we got to skip a pretty darn long line. There really are no words. It was just beautiful. Our pictures of the museum didn’t even really do it justice. We sat in the chapel just looking at Michaelangelo’s painting for awhile. We listened to an explanation of all the murals and how Michaelangelo approached his work. It was awe-inspiring. You could definitely feel that it was a holy place. No photography or talking was allowed. So people were just everywhere staring at the walls and ceiling and taking it all in.
We went to bed pretty early that night, but woke up Saturday ready to get going! We headed to the Colosseum first thing. It’s huge, guys! I can’t wrap my head around the fact that humans built that with little to no construction tools. Standing amongst thousands of years of history – it made me feel very small. There are very few things that are still around from 80 AD. And we got to see it, touch it, and learn about it in person. We also walked through the Roman Forum, which is across the way from the Colosseum and where Rome did most of its business back around that time. Most of the landmarks and monuments are wearing down, but you can still imagine their grandeur. Also, let me take a moment and shout out to ole Rick Steves and his “Audio Europe” app. Ryan and I have it on our phones and when on wifi, we can download certain audio guides and use them the next day without data. We learned SO MUCH with his app – and it’s so easy and free and has maps and everything! We will be using it the rest of our trip and I can’t recommend it enough if you’re going somewhere in Europe too.
Speaking of Rick Steves, Sunday we went on a “Heart of Rome walking tour” which Rick had created himself. He provided a map and starting point, and talked to us about interesting parts of the city as we went along. We started the tour at Campo de Fiori which was this outdoor market. After grabbing some fresh strawberries, Ryan and I continued on. This “Heart of Rome” tour took us to Piazza Novona – an old race ground with 3 gorgeous fountains and lots of outdoor restaurants. We went to the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, and the Spanish steps. Rick also pointed out cool things along the way. Such as the coffee shop that Starbucks founder credits as inspiration to go back to Seattle and start a coffee shop. Each evening we usually spent exploring and walking around until we found a little spot to eat dinner. I love Italy in the evenings.
One thing I noticed that I really thought was smart and unique – while Ryan and I were sitting on a bench under a tree eating gelato, we looked up and there were TONS of oranges. As our eye went down the street, we saw that the entire block was lined with orange trees. The low hanging fruit was picked. It seems like the city allowed the homeless, or others to grab fruit off those trees to eat when needed or wanted. Genius! The city may actually come and pick it up themselves, we weren’t quite sure. But we thought it was really cool that they used orange trees to landscape the streets.
Yesterday was a rest day. We went to the oldest (and fanciest) coffee shop in the city and made some plans for the next couple of days. Ryan found out there were some Caravaggio paintings in this old church we had passed by the other day on our walking tour. So we went back to see the paintings. Sometimes I forget how much art speaks to Ryan. He’s a designer, but definitely a painter and artist at heart. As Ryan explained how Caravaggio used light in his painting to draw your eye and give depth and dimension and feeling to the painting – he was like a little kid in that church. So excited to see one of this guy I’ve never heard of’s paintings. I love watching him when he’s like that.
So here we are on the train, we got first class tickets thanks to our Eurail Passes. Ryan is asleep across from me with his sunglasses on and earphones in. I’m typing this up next to a massive window overlooking beautiful Italian scenery, listening to Hillsong Worship and thanking God for our safe travels and health through the first city on our Europe Journey.