I’ll admit. This post is a little overdue. In fairness, I
when I got back from Italy around two weeks ago, I came home to an extremely
full week at school – 30 hours of class, three papers, and a group
presentation. But finally, I am posting
about my super cool (I’m serious. It was freezing…) spring break.
Around
three weeks ago, we had our spring break here.
It started out very quiet.
Everyone left on Friday and it felt like Toulouse and the residence that
I live in were strangely empty. I spent
Friday evening in town with my two lovely girlfriends from Denmark and
Ireland. We did a little shopping and
then had dinner at an Indian restaurant.
I spent the rest of the evening and most of the next day hanging out at
home. I actually really enjoyed being
lazy by myself for a little while.
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| Our Lovely Group at a Cafe in Rome |
Don’t
worry though. I didn’t spend the whole
break lounging around on my couch.
Sunday morning, I woke up bright and early and caught a train to
Bordeaux with two friends. After
arriving in first class (student discount rail cards really pay off!), we
caught the bus to the airport where we met another friend and departed for
Rome! We flew round trip on Ryan air for
only fifty euro. It was an interesting
experience flying with Ryan air for the first time. I had been warned that it
was not the most hospitable airline.
While my friend humorously noted that we were being “shuffled around
like monkeys” as the flight attendants rather brusquely demanded over the
intercom that we continue moving to the back of the plane when we boarded, the
flight was not that bad. It obviously
wasn’t ritzy, but it was cheap and in two hours I was in Rome.
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| Trevi Fountain |
One thing that Ryan air is famous for is its
strict luggage restrictions. You are
only allowed one carry-on bag (yes ladies, no purses) that fits rather
stringent weight and size requirements. One
of my friend’s bags was over the maximum of ten kilograms and resorted to
wearing something like 5 pullovers to get his bag under the weight limit. In order to avoid the hassle and extra
expense of checking a bag, I brought only one backpack for the entire
week. This required me to bring only
lightweight sundresses and rompers as they didn’t weigh much or take up much
space. I didn’t expect this to be an
issue. I mean, it’s Italy, right? Always warm and sunny. Wrong.
Very wrong. It was in the 50’s the entire week. Not exactly sundress weather… Nevertheless,
traveling with one backpack makes getting around much easier.
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| Make a Wish! |
Our
first night in Rome we freshened up after a long day of traveling and headed
out to find some food. Before we found
food, we found the enchanting Trevi Fountain.
It was lovely. After waiting for
a spot near the fountain to open, we threw coins in the fountain and each made
a wish. After our wishes and about a
thousand pictures, we found dinner nearby, and beautiful week of pasta and
pizza began. Afterward, we stopped for
gelato and spent the rest of the evening in the hotel.
The next day we got up early and
headed out for an ambitious day of sightseeing.
We started at the Roman forum. It
was so cool walking around and seeing it! My only complaint is that there
wasn’t more information about the ruins unless you were on a guided tour. We still had a great time and had a relative
idea of what we were looking at most of the time. We stopped at one point to read about the
ancient art of making glass and its evolution over time. As we were reading, I noted to the group “I
am such a business major... As I am reading this, all I can think about is product
diffusion…” to which my engineering friend replied “All I can think about is
the chemical components of the glass.” It was a lovely nerdy moment.  |
| In the Coliseum |
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| Gelato at Piazza di Venezia |
After the forum, we proceed to
Palatine Hill which was somewhat of an extension of the Forum. It was absolutely beautiful with views of the
Coliseum and the rest of the city. It
was also beautifully landscaped among the fascinating ruins. We continued on to the Coliseum after. The line to get in was enormous and very cold
as we were in the shade for most of the wait.
When we finally got inside, we all ran straight into the sunlight to
warm up. The coliseum was
incredible. I really enjoyed the visit
although some of the history involved with the ancient sporting venue kind of
grossed me out.
After the coliseum we went to the
magnificent Piazza di Venezia to meet our friend from Milan and of course get
gelato. After that, we tried to go to the
Pantheon, but it was closed for observation of the Easter holiday. We then went down the main shopping street,
Via del Corso. Even though we didn’t buy
anything, it was a fantastic afternoon shopping and drooling over the beautiful
designer brands. We ended at the Spanish steps and then returned to the
hotel.
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| Via del Corso |
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| Drooling Over Dior |
That evening we went to dinner at a
restaurant recommended to us by our concierge.
The pizza was fantastic! Afterward we went into town to get a taste of
Roman nightlife. Our receptionist had
told us where to go when we had arrived the day before pointing out the best piazzas
for dinner, nightlife, and men. We
thought the idea of a “Piazza di Men” was hilarious so we went to check it
out. When we arrived, the square was
dead, and the only men we could find were statues.
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| St. Peter's Basilica |
The next day we went across town to
St. Peter’s Basilica and the Vatican. When
we arrived the line to get into the Basilica wrapped all the way around the
square. Surprisingly, however, we didn’t
have to wait that long to get in. St.
Peter’s was unreal and probably the most beautiful church I have ever
seen. Afterwards we stopped for lunch at
a nearby café before heading to the Vatican Museum.
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| One of the Many Art Galleries on the Way to the Sistine Chapel |
The Vatican was beautiful, and the
museum was immense. I have never seen so
much fantastic art in my life. Frescos,
paintings, tapestries, sculptures. There
was so much that it was a little overwhelming.
We explored the first art gallery and then started our journey to see
the Sistine Chapel. At first we were all
fascinated by everything, reading everything we could set our eyes on (that was
in English of course..). I’m generally
the type of person that can spend hours in a museum and loves reading every
plaque, brochure, and information board there is, but after about the tenth
gallery, we all began to wear down. That
day, all alternate routes to the Sistine Chapel were closed and we had to take
the longest route available which wound through literally gallery after
gallery. Each gallery was filled from
floor to ceiling of magnificent art, so much so that it became overwhelming and
difficult to take it all in. By the time
we got to the Sistine Chapel, we were all exhausted. It was however pretty sensational. All of the famous Michelangelo frescos were
exquisite.
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| The Spanish Steps |
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| Best Gelato in Rome (Cinnamon, Oreo, and Dark Chocolate!) |
After the Vatican, we took a break,
did a little shopping, and got some gelato before heading back to the hotel to
rest. That evening we had a great dinner
finished with tiramisu and met up with some new friends we met in Rome. We hung out that night with them in their
amazing apartment and rooftop terrace overlooking the Vatican and the
river. It was such a fun evening with
good friends!
On our last day in Rome, it started
to rain. We went to the Pantheon and
then had the best gelato in Rome at a place suggested to us by our new friends. It was amazing! I had cinnamon, dark chocolate,
and Oreo! Afterwards, we walked to the
Spanish steps. We were busy taking
photos when a torrential downpour began.
Totally caught off guard, we ran for the nearest Metro stop. That evening we said goodbye to our Danish
friend as she went to meet some friends in Paris for the rest of the week, and
the rest of us boarded a train for Naples.
