Roman Holiday!

So after London, Emily and I flew to Rome to finish our long Labor Day weekend.  I promise we do work too!!

When we arrived in Rome it was warm and sunny.  Emily and I found our hostel and were happy we made the choice to pay for our own room with a private bathroom (which is a luxury in a hostel!).  First order of business was to find food!  Which is not a problem at all in Rome because Romans love good food!  We found a pizza cafe down the street which we could sit outside and enjoy the warm day!  Being a couple of young American women in Italy means you get lots of attention from Italian men, including waiters, and today that meant we got free bruschetta (Emily and I like to call this the "cute girl discount"!).  Haha!  So that made for an interesting meal!

Spanish Steps

Tossing my coin into the Trevi Fountain so I will return to Rome!

Trevi Fountain!

Pantheon

Our view of Piazza Navona during dinner.

Dinner at Piazza Navona!  I'm glad I'm finally old enough to
a decent meal in Italy!!!!

After a power nap, Emily and I decided to see the sights since this was Emily's first time to Rome.  I've been here a few times with both my study abroad trip and post-grad eurotrip, but it's still a great city!  We got some gelato, went to the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, and Piazza Navona.  It was really nice to walk around the Piazza Navona because it was early evening and all of the artists were still out seeing their stuff.  We decided it was time to eat again.  This time we went for something a little nicer over looking the picturesque piazza.  We had pasta, red wine, and an old dude lip singing opera in the background.  Emily and I joked it was one of the most romantic settings to a meal we've ever had, even if it was only with each other. 

Later that night the boy externs (Adam and Ketan) met up with us, since they had been in Naples all day.  We got some wine and hung out in the hostel and just talked about travel adventures!

So this started as a normal picture, with the auto-take feature on my
camera.  Then right before it took the boys squished us.  It just makes me laugh!

The next day we were rather lazy.  We got food and walked around a bunch.  Andrea flew to Rome and went with Emily to the Vatican to see the Sistine Chapel.  Since I had seen it, the boys and I made an attempt to go see the catacombs. After a failed attempt to find the correct bus going in the correct direction we gave up and went back to the hostel for naps.  So that was a fail!!  However, I'd seen it, and they didn't care, all we wanted was to rest!  That night we walked by the Colosseum when it was all lit up, went to an AMAZING gelato place, and had a nice sit down dinner.  Naturally, I got pizza, because that's all I ever want to eat in Italy, since no where else compares!!!

Roman ruins near the Roman Forum.  I think the Palatine Hill,
but not sure.  Guess I forgot everything from the Roman Archeology class.

Colosseum at night!

It was a short little Rome trip, but it was cool because all 5 of us got to hang out for a day!  I really do like Rome, but it's definately a city that takes some serious energy to survive!  It's loud,

pushy, and kinda dirty, but of course it's got it's special charm!