We were in for a serious travel day but we were excited to be getting out of Split to head into Italy. We had a great time, but being still for a month really had us starting to miss home. We're still excited to get back home to friends and family but now that we're on the move again it is easier to distract ourselves. We boarded the ferry on pretty much the first rainy day we saw all month at 7 pm to arrive in Ancona at 7 am. One hell of a ferry ride but we managed to catch a little sleep and were close to the front of the line getting off once morning came. Plus we got a couple bonus pictures of an Italian sunrise, awesome.
We had about an hour from when we got off to make the walk to the train station so we weren't rushing hard, and we got there with plenty of spare time. 12 hours on a ferry quickly followed by 4 hours on a train, Woohoo! Not really tho, it was a little rough. Definitely our biggest travel period so far but we were heading to Rome so whatever. We arrived in good order and managed to figure out the metro system pretty quick. It doesn't go to much of the city center, but it was going where we needed to go.
On a real note though public transport in Rome kinda sucks. There are 2 metro lines that basically run the edges of the city center, and a lot of bus lines that were packed shoulder to shoulder even in early October. I would hate to see the madhouse that must be peak tourist season. In any case we managed over our 3 days well enough.
Anyway, we got to our hostel (first time since travelling that it was cheaper than airbnb) and were told that the cleaning lady was late so it wasn't ready blah blah blah. We ditched our packs for a minute to go get pizza nearby because at this point we are starving and were thinking it can't be much longer. We get back and read for a couple hours and finally just ask to put our packs in our room so we can go see a little of Rome before it gets too late. Good thing too, we decided to check out the Coliseum and found out that it's free the first Sunday of every month. Lucked out there, the girl at the hostel didn't say a word about it.
It was Michael's first time at the Coliseum and he was slightly giddy. It is crazy to imagine just how old the Coliseum actually is, especially when it is amidst the bustling metropolitan areas of Rome. We explored it for awhile in awe of the tunnels beneath the arena area and the beautiful architecture. One thing we both really enjoyed imagining was where the people sat at the Coliseum. It was hard to discern due to the weather erosion but nonetheless we were quite awestruck. (Also so many damn selfie sticks! Very annoying when people would just whip around to take a selfie not being concious of us walking by. Although it was entertaining to watch these narcissistic people taking multiple pictures of their faces :p)
Post Coliseum tour we decided to explore the Roman bathhouse nearby but sadly they were about to close because it was nearing 7 PM. Between our walking around to the bathhouse and back to the Coliseum area we got to see a bride and her groom with an entourage of 3 photographers taking multiple pictures in front if the Coliseum. A little excessive but still really cool to witness. The bride seemed kind of unhappy but we think she was just ready to begin the celebrations.
Feeling a little grody from 15 hours of traveling, we decided to head back to our hostel but not before Karmen got her self some Gelato of course. Cheaply priced we enjoyed some strawberry and tiramisu Gelato on the curb of a very flamboyant section of town. With rainbow flags in bar windows and interesting tshirts we found ourselves amidst a gay pride area. It was fun to explore that side of Rome and that is all that can be said. :)
Tha evening after we recouped and washed ourselves and went hunting for a bar. Although there were some in the vicinity of our hostel we were excited to stumbleupon an entire craft beer store! It felt like home to us with the employee asking us what kind of beers we like and him choosing what we would enjoy. Needless to say we happily enjoyed a tasty Italian I PA. We were so happy! Post craft beer session we found ourselves quite hungry and yes you can judge us... (we ate Mexican! ) ahhhhh! We haven't had Mexican food in 2 1/2 months and this place was delicious! We ordered a chicken burrito with fried plantains in it and some beef nachos. Nothing like the commercial americanized Mexican restaurants back home, no this felt more authentic. In house they made their own tortillas! Giggling and enjoying some tasty food, we found ourselves in bliss that first evening in Rome. The crazy kids who ate Mexican food in Rome.
Day 2 we did some more full scale exploration. We took the metro close to the river and began walking around. We had a general direction but weren't super worried about what we would see along the way, we were just trying to get a little lost. We saw a lot of cool graffiti and some old italian streets and eventually started to get a little tired so we sat down for a beer and to read a bit and regroup with some WiFi. We had gotten a good cheap panini to split walking around and took some pics of their awesome looking pizza too. We were saving our full appetite for some Appertivo dinner at a place a friend recommended to us. $25 for a bottle of wine and unlimited appetizer buffet for 2? Uh, yes please it sounds awesome. After that we finally headed back home because we were super tired. Michael fell asleep early reading but woke up later to go get Karmen some Gelato.
Our final day we did a little more sightseeing. We went to the Spanish steps, the Trevi fountain was under construction, the pantheon, a church, then we got lost trying to go one way but accidentally went the opposite direction. We eventually just had to sit down in a square and completely regroup before finding our way back to our hostel. We took some time to relax before showering and grabbing a few beers to do a little drinking with the hostel buddies we made. They were all very nice and we ended up staying up way too late, got yelled at twice by the guy running the night desk (oops) and finally went to bed around 3 am to wake up at 9 am for checkout. Brutal.
Until the next one, be excited because Terni was awesome
