When in Rome!
Rome! We are both so excited to finally be here! Italy I'm finding is one of my favorite countries (if not my favorite) and I'm glad to be back. northern Italy and southern are so different and I'm really glad Grant is going to get to experience both.
We arrived at our Airbnb at like 11pm and pretty much crashed. We took RyanAir from Tel Aviv to Rome and RyanAir is a well known budget airline meaning the tickets were cheap but the flight was delayed like almost 2 hours, the planes aren't cleaned regularly, they aren't that nice, and there is Nothing complimentary. Not a big deal. If you can spare the extra time at the airport and it's a relatively short flight, it is actually very, very affordable.
Our first real day in Rome we kind of got our bearings more. We're actually on a cross street of Via Del Corso which is the main street in Rome off of which you can find things like the Trevi Fountain and the Pantheon. This road, Via Del Corso also meets at an angle with a street called Via Del Babuino at the Piazza Del Popolo right by the entrance to the Villa Borghese park. We are near the top of this triangle which arguably is the starting point of what I would consider the touristic center of Rome. So we are in an awesome location that branches out to almost everything and we also have an awesome Airbnb up here.
Here's a picture of the sunset over our balcony. Yes. We have a balcony. Boo. Yah. Anyway the cool thing is that this building, though built like 300 years ago, had an elevator built in about 70 years ago so we have some visionary to thank for that. We are on the 5th floor in a tiny little studio maybe 10' by 30' all included. It has a bed, a table, a tiny bathroom, and a fridge. But it's more than enough for us because just look at that view. The balcony is like more than half the size of the room haha but it's so wonderful to have it.
Our first day was spent exploring then just the area and also just people watching and taking in the sights. We've decided to not hold back on food here and while we're not going crazy overboard we are certainly enjoying Rome to the fullest. As it is only 5 euro I've been pretty much insisting that we get bruschetta every meal we eat and Grant is obsessed with carbonara and pasta Amatriciana which is basically red sauce and bacon. (Carbonara is closer, Amatriciana is the far one)
We visited the Trevi Fountain and enjoyed a coin toss for luck and of course got lots of pictures. We made a brief alliance with another couple to get that photo up there and then took photos for them as well.
Today we walked around decided to go shopping. I got a really cute shirt and a skirt and then we wanted to go out for Grant. We managed to be in an area without a ton of mens clothes stores. Real quick - Rome is literally covered top to bottom (at least in the tourist area) with shopping. It is unreal. There are SO many designer clothing brands as well as just tons of shops. Anyway, we finally see a mens clothing store and decided okay finally lets just go. It ended up being Valentino, which meant nothing to me, but I should've known from the fact that men in suits opened the door for us and then one followed us around the entire store that we weren't in a normal clothing store. He was our guide and escort on our "tour" of the Valentino shop, the largest in the world, which is so ridiculously ritzy that the entire staircase was marble. This is only one corner, but that was 3 stories worth. I felt like a peasant in a castle and completely out of place but Grant played it cool and tried on a really nice jacket (1500 euro) and a cashmere turtle neck (700 euro). Our "tour guide" was super nice and very flattering to Grant which was I mean all true (he is a model and all) but also just funny to hear because of how detailed and spot on he was with his critiques and compliments. We didn't buy anything (Obviously lol) and I was so glad to breath fresh free poor people air when we finally left. Don't get me wrong, it was cool, but man I can't imagine spending 700 euro (809 USD) on a paper thing cashmere sweater.
We also had plans today to go and see the Pantheon but it actually started pouring outside and there was a thunder and lightning storm. Grant was thrilled because he loves that kind of thing and I took it as a great day to have a chill day in. Grant has been thoroughly enjoying the cheap wine here and I am more than happy to indulge him in it while we're here. Here's some great photos of Grant showing off his wine, the clouds over Rome, and Grant wanting to take a photo in the pouring rain reading a book because "we're from Oregon and clearly we brought the rain."
After the rain cleared we sat outside and just enjoyed the view and the return of the sounds of the city. Grant was fabulously drunk at this point and was aggressively trying to feed the pigeons near us as well as shouting encouragements to the seagulls on neighboring rooftops. (Not in a belligerently disturbing the peace kind of way, in the cute way a child might try to encourage a dog). Anyway we finally made the connection that the caws of the seagulls sound identical to the way Grant laughs and that brought on a cycle of call and response between Grant laughing and the seagulls cawing that brought him to tears. It was hilarious.
Later he couldn't keep his cool around an overly bold pigeon who actually was so bold as to come up on the table on our balcony for food. He couldn't keep his cool and laughed so hard again that he cried and the pigeon got scared off as a result haha.
Needless to say that he passed out around 8:30pm and I've been having a nice evening to myself actually lol. I've been doing a bit of trip planning and we're going to see the Vatican and the Pantheon tomorrow, Colosseum and a cooking class the day after, and I've been looking into doing a Try Scuba Dive for Grant in Naples. I really enjoy scuba diving and I think he would to so we're going to give it a shot. I had originally thought Portugal but seems the diving isn't so fun there.
Lastly a quick note I feel like adding. Advance trip planning is so important haha, I just found out today that the Azore Islands off of Portugal, which I thought we could take a day trip from and was and still is my number one reason to want to go to Portugal, is actually a plane flight away not a 1-2 hour ferry. So, we will not be going to the Azores and I now have a new and compelling reason to come back to Europe some day. Besides getting mom out here. All Holly's friends, encourage her to finally let me take her on a trip to Italy. She keeps chickening out!
Anyway you constantly run into little mishaps when traveling. Whether it be your own poor planning (Azores) or things out of your control (RyanAir and rain in Rome), there will always be things that don't go according to plan. The big thing I think for me is how you handle them. I was planning in Portugal that we would do one day diving and one day at the Azores, now we have two days with which to figure out things to do in Porto. Any suggestions? Leave a comment, I will see it if it's posted relatively soon and I will respond if there are any direct questions.
Oh and lastly I will say, I love Italy, I think Italians are so sweet and hospitable, I think the Italian country side is the most beautiful in the world (that I've seen so far), I LOVE Italian food, its a great place. But I will say this, Italians are the worst drivers I've ever seen (haven't been to India yet). LA they're inconsiderate, Thailand they're self centered, Vietnam they're downright crazy, Paris they're just mean, but here I can say from my time this trip, they really are just bad at driving lol sorry Italy, I love this country but it is so true.