Rome to Florence: July 14th

Monday

Vattican City: the world's smallest country!

We got to check out St. Peter's basilica! It was decked out with incredible statues and murals!

After a nice walk near the cites in Vattican city we went back to our place, packed up our bags, and with our backpacks went to a Japanese buffet before catching our train. It's sad to say, but to me the Japanese food was the best food I had in Rome! Pretty strange! It was also a cheap price for a lot of food... So that also could've been a factor. 

The other night we went to a nice, little restaurant that had good prices for the food, but when we got the bill we were pretty confused as to why it was so expensive! When we asked he said it was €6 for each of our drinks and also a €2.50 service charge per person. What?! Where were those prices on the menu? Annoying. It made us a little sick to think our little can of soda cost us 6 euros, which was half the price of our food. Our waiter wasn't even nice or polite. And that's saying something because Alex and I are pretty easy to please and aren't picky at all. Oh well, live and learn! We check drink prices and service charges wherever we go now.

Train to Florence:

The beautiful streets of Rome and entrance to the metro system!

Alex and I had reserved tickets for our train from Rome to Florence. When we were at the train station it was only showing one train going to our stop and it was leaving about 20 min earlier than our ticket said. Strange. We waited to see if our train would show up before the other left, but it didn't. So last minute we do some major speed walking/ run to the other train. We assumed that the time just changed since it had our same destination and everything.

The ride was supposed to take 2 hours. About 2 hours and 20 min later we start to get a little worried that we haven't made it yet. We found a map on the train and notice that we are going the right way, but we weren't even half way there yet! We were so confused as to how that was even possible! I'm assuming that it was the wrong train and more of the normal metro train, compared to the faster trains that go longer distances and make less stops. It was just a weird situation since our other train never came up on the departing board. 

Then we start stressing a little because we realize we are going to get there much later than planned and will be really late meeting up with the lady who was hosting us that night! In those situations there's really not a whole lot we can do though because we have no way of contacting her until we have wifi. We ended up gettin to the train station in Florence two hours later than we were supposed to. Then we get on a bus our host told us to take and it was supposed to be 5 minutes away from the station and be the first stop. Well, that was not the case. She must have given us the wrong bus number. Hahaha! We kept waiting stop after stop for at least 20 minutes hoping one of the stops would be hers. It never came. The bus was also SUPER crowded and I was standing in the isle way with a ton of other people, with my heavy backpack the whole time. I literally couldn't move and was trapped. Luckily the stop never came because I don't think I could've squeezed through everyone to get off with my backpack. It was pretty funny. I can't help but laugh in situations like these! 

We were eventually able to weasel our way through the crowded bus to get off at a mall. Then we asked some nice Italian lady at the grocery store if she could call a taxi for us. She hardly spoke any English, but understood enough to help us out. What a sweetheart! This was our first time resorting to calling a taxi. We were desperate because our host had plans and had to leave in about 15 minutes from that point. In the taxi it only took us 7 minutes to get to the place we were staying at. The lady was so nice about us running late and was very understanding when we explained what happened. #gettinglostinEurope #ourfavorite 

Best Italian dinner!!

Throughout this trip we've been using Rick Steve's Best of Europe book. It has been very helpful! Rick suggested a hole-in-the-wall Italain restaurant called Craltoria da Giorgio that we decided to try.. Alex and I were in love with everything!! They served three courses and had one overall price, including both water and soda. That made us extremely happy! (Especially after dinner in Rome the night before). I ordered gnocchi, meatballs, and a salad and it was all amazing!! We walked away claiming that as our favorite meal in Europe so far! <3

Rome, Italy: July 13th

Church in Rome!

Alex and I had quite the adventure getting to church! Rome does not have a good metro system and really utilizes busses. Confusing! We got on the right bus and got off when it said the name of our stop and started making our "10 minute" walk to church. Well, we started questioning things about 20 min into our walk and not hitting the street we needed to find. Luckily I had the map app on my phone with the church still programmed! Even without wifi your phone will show you were you are and the point you had previously looked up! WHAT A BLESSING!! So we realized church was still pretty far. We decided to take our chances and get back on a bus and ride it for a while. Little did we know that each stop basically had the same name we were looking for and that's why we had gotten of earlier. So strange! The map on my phone showed us as the blue dot so we were able to figure out where to get off and how to walk to church from the stop. We probably wouldn't have made it if the maps app didn't still keep track of where you are without wifi. Being in Europe without a data plan and cell service has made me really grateful for this feature and also for free wifi spots. Haha!

Alex and I made it to church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, only 20 minutes late and  just in time to take the sacrament! I love that wherever in the world you are, the LDS church is the same. Different people, cultures, buildings, and language... But the teachings and doctrine are the exact same. The first speaker actually spoke English, which was really nice! A missionary translated his talk into Italian. Everything else was in Italian. A sister missionary gave a talk in Italian and I had no idea what she was saying besides catching the word Jesus Christ sometimes. I remember while she was bearing her testimony I felt the Spirit so strongly. It's hard to describe, but it was like a warm rush along with a really comforting feeling. The thought that accompanied the feeling was that this is God's church. The Spirit was there and I could feel it strongly even with a language barrier. Without knowing what she said, I can know it was true because the Spirit testifies of truth. My eyes well up a little just thinking about it. Such a cool experience! I remember feeling similar when I was at church in Mexico last summer as well. 

The congregation was pretty small, maybe 40 people or so. There were so many missionaries! At least 10! That was really cool! Overall it was a great experience and I am very grateful we could attend church!

Pantheon:

The Spanish Steps:

Alex and I had a funny/ annoying/ gross/ uncomfortable experience at the Spanish Steps...

A man came up to me and said something about being pretty in Italian (Bella? My Italian roots don't help my Italian vocabulary.) and also gave me a rose. At first I didn't take it because I didn't want to pay for it. He said, "It's a gift because you are so beautiful!" So I took it and then he suggested we all get a picture together. (Sure, why not!) I handed my camera to someone to take a picture and our buddy gets between us and puts us in a headlock!! He was so excited about this picture so I was laughing along... Until he kissed us both on the cheeks!! (Gag! Not again!) At least the people around us watching got a good laugh. He was a happy camper after that, or so we thought...

About 30 seconds after we walk away from him he follows us and asks for money for the "gift." I tried to give the rose back but he wouldn't take it and kept asking for money. (Internal dialogue: Wasn't letting you get away with kissing us a good enough payment?!) I eventually gave him a Euro just to get him off my back. I'm a sucker. Alex didn't have any change and I was all out so he took Alex's rose away. Hahaha! Sad! But then I gave my rose to her, so it was all good. Not that she really cared at all. Haha! 

 #nothinginlifeisfree #twoforonespecial #thatsamore

While we sat on the Spamish steps we made a really great video of us singing "That's Amore" and "Evening in Roma" by Dean Martin. Both of those songs are very fitting for being in Rome and have been stuck in our heads since the moment we landed in Italy. :)

If you haven't heard these songs then you should probably follow the links!

That's Amore: http://youtu.be/-jbqyPzbjOQ

Evening in Roma: http://youtu.be/7IEHc33agZs

Tonight we also solidified our plans for how we want to spend the rest of our trip! It's about to get even more crazier with switching cities more frequently and constantly being on the move. This trip is intense, but we wouldn't have it any other way! #ajandjjtakeEurope 

Barcelona to Rome: July 12th

Saturday morning we hopped onto the plane from Barcelona to Rome!! We took an airline called Ryan Air that has cheap flights to different countries within Europe. 

From the airport we took a train to the metro where our host came to pick us. It was a little weird because he knew what Alex looked like from her airbnb.com profile, but we had no idea what he looked like. Luckily Alex stands out quite a bit in Italy with her fair skin and red hair so he was able to find us! He walked us to our place that was only a couple minutes away from our metro. We got situated into our room and hit the streets running with everything we had on the agenda for the day!

The Colosseum:

We started our Rome adventure with a tour of the Colosseum! It was very interesting to learn about! A lot of the things that happened in the colosseum were really sad. People would watch Gladiators fight to the death and sometimes men would fight packs of starved animals. The men who would be fighting were mostly criminals. I was pretty shocked bt a lot of the information he shared with us. This is somewhere I want to do more research in now. It's also unreal to me that it was built around 80 AD!! AMAZING!!

There are so many incredible artists!

The Forum:

This tour talked a lot about Roman history. Our guide was a volunteer doing his PHD in Roman history and I'm pretty sure he shared with us every fact he has learned in school. Most of it went right over my head! I thought it was just me but then I noticed everybody else zoning out and Alex said she was starting to get a migraine. Haha! I do remember him talking about Brutus and Caesar and their relationship and why Brutus killed Caesar. This was their stomping ground!

Trevi Fountain:

We were really looking forward to the Trevi Fountain and were slightly disappointed when it was under construction and there wasn't any water coming out of it. This was a let down. Still cool to be there though and see it in person. 

As we were wondering around the streets we ran into a Hard Rock sponsored concert in the plaza! It was fun to be there with so many people! I have no idea who the singers were though. While we were there they passes out free gas water and I tried it for my first time. One word: nasty. 

Alex and I ended the night with by taking the Dolce Vita stroll down a cute street in Rome. We had a great time soaking in the city, watching the street performers, and enjoying our gelato! :)