Rome: November 25th-26th

When we arrived in Rome early Sunday afternoon, we were immediately amazed with the size of the Termini Train Station. Anything and everything was situated in the station – grocery store, a Nike store, Sephora, Post Office, a UPIM Department Store, restaurants, bars, Tabacchi mini mart stores, etc. For our first day in Rome, we started at Piazza della Repubblica and Santa Maria degli Angeli. We’ve seen massive churches in Europe over the past two months but this was MASSIVE. Gosh…we won’t know how to describe St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican later! After Santa Maria, we made our way to the Spanish Steps and Piazza di Spagna. Even with the damp weather the Steps were packed with tourists. It was a sight to see! The sky was a gorgeous dark purple and pink color at dusk. To follow was the Trevi Fountain, also another huge tourist site. At the fountain, we made our wishes and threw coins from over our shoulders. Following the fountain, we enjoyed small cups of gelato from the famous Gelateria San Crispino. Liya had honey and cinnamon-ginger flavors while Ben had his usual, Pistacio and Hazelnut. We walked around the city for a while longer and came across another gelateria called Il Gelatone and there, we concluded, had the BEST gelato. The lady working behind the counter was kind and generous. She gave us two incredibly large scoops of gelato each on a cone for 2 Euros each (one heck of a deal!) and we were in HEAVEN. Ben had biscotti and chocolate while Liya had coconut and banana. Il Gelatone was the real deal! We went to bed that evening, two very full (of gelato) and happy travelers!

On Monday (day two) we visited Santa Maria Major, the Roman Forum, the Vittorio Emanuele II Monument and the Coliseum. We started at Santa Maria Major which was located near our hostel. Now we know we mentioned that Santa Maria degli Angeli from yesterday’s visit was massive, but Santa Maria Major was enormous and awe-inspiring! Following the cathedral was the Roman Forum. We walked for another 10 minutes and were instantly impressed with the former center of Rome. There were Roman ruins everywhere. To the left we saw the massive Coliseum and the Palatine and to the right was the towering white structure and monument dedicated to Vittorio Emanuele II. For lunch, we had a couple of tasty pizza slices at Pizza Art where pizza was priced by the kilogram. On the way back to the Forum we made our way into the Jewish Ghetto where Ben bought a few pastries, including warm challah. Back at the Forum, we were amazed with the grandeur of what ancient Rome and its civilization used to be like. Next stop of the day was at the Coliseum. Unfortunately we didn’t get a chance to go inside because the lines were too long but our views of the structure from the outside were just fine. One could imagine what took place inside the Coliseum during the ancient times. For dinner, we had a free pasta dinner at the hostel which was convenient; however, it was not the best pasta. But what can we say? It was free! For the rest of the evening, we enjoyed hanging out at the hostel with other travelers and keeping it low key.