Adventures in Montpellier: Pizza, Pasta, Pope

This past weekend from Thursday to Tuesday was our fall break. So my mom decided to join me in Europe and we met up in Rome, Italy. I arrived on Thursday afternoon after a very stressful morning of travel. I had to take a train to Toulouse which is where I was flying from but halfway through the trip there were track problems but long story short my friends and I had to take a 160 euro cab ride to the airport in order to make our flight. The French transportation is continuing to let me down but at least I made it to Rome, unlike some of my other friends who had even greater transportation problems.

On my arrival in Rome, my mom and I headed into the city and we walked around Piazza Navona and had the first of many delicious Italian meals. (I’ll recap all the food at the end of the post because of course I took pictures of everything we ate.)

Fountain of 4 Rivers in Piazza Navona

Dinner on the first night in Rome

Church in Piazza Navona

On Friday we woke up early and started to hit some of the sites of Rome. First we went to Castel Sant’Angelo. It was a huge castle right on the river that included the mausoleum of the Emperor Hadrian. We walked all the way to the top and saw some amazing views of the city which was a great first site of Rome.

Then we walked over to the Pantheon and the Argentina ruins. The Argentina ruins are literally these old ruins in the center of a bunch of restaurants and piazzas. It is crazy because from these ruins you can see how much lower the city used to be. The Pantheon was great and so beautiful, it is definitely one of the highlights of Rome.

View of the Vatican from the Castle

Another Great View

Mom and I at the top of the castle

The Castle at night

Argentina Ruins

Pantheon!!

Inside the Pantheon

In the afternoon we went to the Basilica Santa Maria Degli Angeli, which used to house the Baths of Diocletian but has now been turned into this huge and beautiful church. You can still see some of the ruins of where the bathtubs were and it is amazing to see around Rome that they still have excavagation sites discovering new things.

On Friday night Nina arrived to spend the rest of our Roman adventure with us! We woke up super early Saturday morning to go to the Galleria Borghese which is the huge art museum in Rome. They only allow 200 people in every 2 hours so reservations are necessary like a week in advance. The museums houses hundreds of Bernini statues some of which he made as young as 12 years old. The museum is immaculate and used to belong to a family which showed off in their house all these beautiful pieces of art. It was definitely a memorable experience. After the Galleria Borghese we walked to what Nina’s guidebook claimed was the “weirdest attraction in Rome,” which was a church with an art museum where all the art was made out of the bones of 40,000 dead slaves. It was quite the experience. We weren’t able to take pictures in side but it was definitely one of the weirdest things I have ever seen. After that I had my first experience on the Rome subway and headed over to the Spanish steps. Of course there were a million people there so we couldn’t take very good pictures but it is one of the classic Rome attractions. The reason it is called the Spanish steps is because that is where the Spanish embassy to the Vatican is.

Gallerie Borghese

Garden in the back of the Gallerie Borghese

Nina pumped for the church with all the bones

Spanish Steps!

Nina and I on the Spanish Steps

In the afternoon after another delicious lunch, we went to the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel. I have never seen more biblical art in my life than I did in the Vatican Museum it is just room after room of art, or maps, or statues or tapestries and then finally at the end of about 20 rooms you get to the Sistine Chapel which as expected was amazing. I’d never seen such a concentration of impecable art in one room in my life.

After the Vatican we went to the Trastavere neighborhood. Which is a cute neighborhood by the river. We walked around through lots of delicious restaurants trying to decide where we would eat that night. There were so many beautiful side streets that I deemed typically Italian. Then we decided on a delicious pizza place where the pizza was only 3 euros what a deal!

Courtyard of the Vatican

On Sunday we went back to the Vatican to go to St. Peter’s Basilica because we didn't have time the day before. We waited in line for about a half an hour but it was totally worth it the Basilica is beautiful and I am so glad we came back and waited. There is some beautiful art including Michaelangelo’s Pietà which Michaelangelo completed when he was 24 years old. It is a sculpture of Mary mourning the dead body of Jesus. What was even crazier was inside the Basilica we ran into another kid who goes to Villanova also studying abroad and on fall break imagine the odds. That day the pope also greeted the crowd so the place was packed but it was pretty cool to hear the pope’s voice.

Pietà

St. Peter's Basilica

Island in the river across from the Trastavere neighborhood

Then the afternoon was devoted to the Colloseum and the Roman Forum. The Colosseum was great and it was crazy to actually see it in person. But by far my favorite part was the Roman Forum. I could probably spend a whole day there just exploring all the different ruins. There are 2 arches similar to the Arc de Triomphe in Paris but these 2 arcs were in existence over 1,000 years earlier and are actually where the inspiration for the Arc de Triomphe came from but no one really recognizes these as famous. We walked all through the ruins and up the hill and it ws gorgeous.

Colosseum

Roman Forum!

The first "arc de triomphe"

Nina and I at the Roman Forum

After that we hit up the Trevi fountain which was absolutely gorgeous at night. I had all these 5 cent euro coins so I just decided to throw all 8 of them in so hopefully all 8 of my wishes come true haha. The fountain was packed just like the Spanish Steps but it was so beautiful. For dinner that night I met up with a bunch of my friends from the program who were also in Rome for fall break and went out to dinner with them which was very fun.

Trevi Fountain

About to make a wish 1 of 8

Katelyn, my new best friend and I at dinner!!!

At this point we decided that we really had hit all the main attractions of Rome so Monday was our shopping day, a must in Rome, in my opinion. In the morning we went to Campo de’Fiori which is this open air market that occurs every day till noon and then we went to a stree that goes down from the Spanish steps through Rome for some more shopping! That night we decided to have a really good big dinner for our last night, and of course more gelatto!

Campo de’Fiori

Our waiter the last night who thought it'd be hilarious to get in our picture!

Rome was great and I for sure want to see other parts of Italy in the future. However, Roman drivers are INSANE, every single cab we were in was insane, there are no rules, no lanes, speed limits and traffic lights are really more like guidelines. I was scared for my life every time we were in a vehicle, but I guess that is why New York drivers tend to be bad because half of them are Italian!

Now for the food pictures…