Day 16 – Rome

As everyone knows, Rome is full of history and  so I made sure that we got up early to do a long day of sightseeing. Walking down to the tram stop, we visited the shop opposite, ordered croissants after a diabolical display of Italian from my girlfriend and got the tram into the centre. From there we followed my perfectly crafted tour route starting at the Trevi Fountain. This was all my girlfriend wanted to see and I had actually confused it with the large one near the roads in Paris (it was in some movie I watched) but when we arrived, it was empty and replaced by people in white clothes hacking away at the sides. No water and surrounded by barriers, it was being renovated. I’m pretty sure my girlfriend’s tears could have filled the pool again though – she had to through her penny into a temporary bird bath! We actually noticed many of the places we visited were half open or the outside was being refurbished (tip: don’t go just before tourist season).

Nevertheless, we made great time and covered a lot of the city and thought we should have a rest at one of the panorama viewpoints of the city. By sitting down, we had basically invited over all the selfie stick sellers and bracelet men who we politely told to go away. One man in particular was very forceful though. He gave my girlfriend two roses and then both of us an Indian bracelet which he blessed in his own language. I don’t think he caught on to the steady chorus of no thanks that we were giving him. He then gave my girlfriend another rose and looked at me and hinted that I should be romantic and pay him for it. No I thought. I never asked for this. I said I had no money but he saw the €50 in my wallet and said he would give me change. I gave him the money (Yes, I know) and he gave me back €40 and walked off. My girlfriend was furious and didn’t talk to me for 15 minutes as we walked towards the Spanish Steps. I thought he would give me back less change than that so I was actually happy with it but I dare not say that. My girlfriend said about being romantic and buying her roses – well 3 roses and 2 bracelets in Rome for €10 is a bargain. Again, I thought i would word it better than that and eventually she forgave me and moved on. I hope.

With more walking and sightseeing, and a full stomach from lunch, we got in the queue for the Coliseum and only had to wait 30minutes to get in. Not that bad. Both of us thought it would be a bit better than what it was but we did only get normal tickets (upper and lower levels were only accessible through a tour). It was still good to see it and tick it off but I doubt we’ll be back. We did actually see our ‘trip friends’ in the Coliseum when we were there – the ones on the boat to Bari and on the train to Naples? Yeah, you remember. We haven’t actually talked to them but it was fun seeing them.

Our tickets let us ‘roam’ around the roman ruins surrounding it the Coliseum but my girlfriend said that most of the ruins just looked like houses from home and it was hard to actually look at them because we were too busy looking at our feet and navigating through the poorly paved paths without falling. There are only so many ruins you can look at without a proper guide to explain what it was.

More walking and sightseeing led us to the final part of the tour – a fountain. I left this last because it was a bit far away and my girlfriend loves fountains. I don’t know why, maybe she just can’t hack the heat. The map didn’t really show where it was or how to get there but using my instinct, we walked up a very long and steep back road. My girlfriend had no faith in this way but I kept telling her there would be a fountain at the top. Of course she just panted like a dog. We got to the top a few ‘hours’ later and I was right. We were greeted with a lovely fountain rivalling the Trevi (mainly due to the fact it had water) and a fantastic view of the city during sunset. It was here where I received my university results and I did better than I thought. My mum told me to go celebrate and I thought that that was a great idea (better than bringing the jeans idea).

Coming back into town, I eyed a restaurant with great prices and portions of food. I knew this would be the one we would go to but my girlfriend likes to window shop a bit. Every restaurant was just not as good as the first one and of course we went back to it, much to my satisfaction. The food was cheap and good but we decided to go elsewhere for some drinks. As we were looking for somewhere, it started to rain, heavier and heavier until we were forced to just jump into the nearest bar/restaurant. Of course we happened to enter a very posh restaurant but I didn’t care. It’s only every year that you find out you passed your year and I didn’t want to come home with pneumonia from being in the rain!

We got a cheap bottle of wine (the cheapest was €22) and they served us a massive portion of bruschetta, although we were stuffed from dinner. The wine was very easy to drink and we enjoyed watching the selfie stick sellers quickly change their ‘stalls’ to umbrellas everytime a rain shower came. The restaurant even charged my phone for me! It was still raining so we thought we would try some cocktails we have never had and the alcohol made my girlfriend emotional and she started crying over nothing. Typical. It looked like I had just broken up with her and people stared at me with disappointed faces. Thankfully both the skies and the tears dried up and we started walking home.

We were intercepted by another bar where we couldn’t say no to a litre of Mojito at a reasonable price. We had some deep conversations that none of us can remember and then we actually left for home. We passed a buzzing piazza where a man was throwing a rocket in the air that lit up and it fell down like a helicopter. I don’t know if it was the alcohol but I was amazed. He tried selling it for €5, then €4 and eventually down to €1. I told him he should keep it and sell it for his real price and he thanked me for that. How considerate am I. When walking away, I stopped my girlfriend so I could watch it more. Of course he saw me again and came running over. I was laughing, he was laughing, we were all laughing and having banter as we ran away from him in stitches.

On the tram back, my girlfriend facetimed her uni friend but as we were nearly home she said we would ring back in the hostel. We didn’t because we had new roommates – a Spanish couple who apparently enjoyed the heat and kept the window closed, and with no air conditioning, we were in for a warm night.