I’m back from seven days of traveling (and thus my hiatus from writing) and blogging about my adventures and blogging about Rome is high on my list of priorities; it comes before sleep, unpacking, grocery shopping, and even doing my homework right now, in fact the only thing beating it was skyping my mom.
Flying over the Swiss Alps to Italy.
Rome was my first destination, and I headed out on my own on Monday morning. I arrived around one, found my way to my hostel and nervously checked in, trying to understand the Italian/English mix spoken at me. I had decided to travel to Rome by myself because no one in DIS wanted to go the exact same dates as me, and I was set on making it to two other cities where I had free places to stay lined up.
Roma
I headed out immediately with a map in hand, but one thing on my mind: Pizza. I’m a major foodie, and I rarely get pizza in Copenhagen because I try to make the majority of my food to save money, and I simply can’t make pizza.
Deliciosa
After that I continued exploring, and noted with frustration that Rome is extremely difficult to navigate because none of the streets are completely straight, so the typical city grid is a bit warped, the hills only add to the difficulty. Despite this, I managed to wander to the Coliseum.
A couple approached me and asked in Spanish if I could take a photo of them, to which I responded “por supuesto” and asked if they’d return the favor.
The amount of Spanish being spoken was actually a bit of a relief because of it’s familiarity. So I choose to respond to hagglers selling kitschy things mostly in Spanish.
Later I wandered into a Restaurant for a plate of pasta (that I forgot to photograph, but I promise it was fantastic) and met another girl, an Immunology PH.d candidate from Boston, who was also traveling alone. She invited me to eat with her and we discussed all the sights of Rome, and then went to the Trevi fountain.
Truly impressive
Tossing a coin for luck
Insanely crowded at all hours
It was nice to have someone to chat with, because as I discovered over those three days, traveling alone is lonely, exhilarating, exhausting and liberating all at once. I headed back to my hostel around eight, mostly because I wasn’t keen on the idea of walking around a city alone late at night.
The next day was dedicated to Vatican City. I walked the two miles across the city, crossing the river, pausing to sit in the square by the Parthenon to write postcards home and listen to street performers.
Parthenon
I crossed the river and got into the ridiculous line for getting into St. Peters, Luckily the weather was relatively nice—a mild 55 F, about 15 degrees warmer than what Copenhagen usually is.
Fortunately I got inside about the time that it began to drizzle outside. I marveled at the details of the Cathedral for a solid hour before climbing the Basilica
View from the top of St. Peter’s Basilica
After I headed down, a rainbow a beautiful rainbow had formed, and I snapped a shot before heading to a coffee shop for Tiramisu and coffee, which I decided was an entirely suitable dinner, rather than eat my 5th slice of pizza for the day.
The picture doesn’t do this rainbow justice
The best Tiramisu I’ve ever had.
Walking back over the river towards the center of the city was breathtaking.
Rome at night.
Crossing the river
On my third and final day in Rome, I dedicated my time to seeing the Roman Forum, Palatine hill, and the inside of the Coliseum (which I had missed on the first day)
Roman forum
My gelato moment
Tourist-y inside the Coliseum
In the late afternoon, I headed towards Termini, the central station of Rome, to catch a train to the airport. When I got there, I realized that taking one of the shuttle buses for 4 was a much better deal than the 14 train that I had taken to get there, so I took that instead, and headed for the airport to catch my flight to London.
My three days in Rome was exciting, but also exhausting and a little lonely, so I was happy to be headed to my next destination.
***COMING SOON (tomorrow): London & Berlin, a girl’s gotta sleep sometime.
Molly's Mishaps 
I went to Rome with my girlfriend last month for the first time and it was unbelievable! That pizza looks fantastic! Nice post 🙂 – Greg from “Meals and Reels”