Ciao Italia! (New Entry #1)

The group of us finally stumbled into our flat around 3:30 this morning, wearied by the cold temperatures that sprang up in England while we were away and our seemingly endless travel. I'm finally up and loving my own bed and, as promised, here begins the account of my Spring Break in Italy, which I'm splitting up into chapters of sorts so they look less menacing.

I've seen 3am at both ends of our trip, and let me tell you, it looks much better on the optimistic not-yet-exhausted-by-everything side of things. Katie, Meg, Paddy, Erin and I caught a bus to where our coach to Luton was supposed to pick us up, but by 4:05 when it still hadn't arrived, we were forced to hail a cab so that we didn't miss our flight out. I must say, I really miss the convenience of having someone who can drive you to the airport. Saves money, that's for sure.

The flight was quick and painless, though it took a little getting used to Ryanair's constant bombardment of announcements. From the window, I saw us cross the Channel into France and later the Alps! It was pretty exciting. We were greeted with relatively warm weather when we stepped off the plane at Ciampino airport, took a shuttle to the general area of our two hostels and found them without too much consequence (and the help of a postman because piazzas are confusing).

After settling in, we went to Old Bridge Creamery for gelato on the recommendation of someone who works at the hostel. I got arancia (orange), limone, and crema with whipped cream - a TON - all for €2!! Mmm mmm. It was right outside the Vatican wall, so naturally we headed over to St. Peter's Basilica. Everything about Italy is gorgeous and amazing (except Naples, but that's later), so just a warning, those words will probably come up a lot. The Basilica was gorgeous and amazing. We spent a fair amount of time wandering around inside and then down some streets and near the Tiber River and pretty much everywhere, just taking everything in and loving the random ruins strewn about. We went up to the Piazza del Popolo, again on a recommendation, to see the sunset over Rome and it was beautiful. Katie, Meg, and I headed back to our hostel to rest up before free dinner (Salad! Pasta! Wine!), which was delicious, and then taking sometime to stroll around Rome.

Recognizing our love affair with gelato, we stopped into a gelateria near Santa Maria Maggiore. We sat outside and ate our fancy gelato, thinking nothing of its fanciness and enjoying the near hour we spent eating and talking. The bill came and, needless to say, we were surprised to find that the tasty gelato we had just eaten cost us €8.50 each (particularly because our friend Old Bridge gave us more and tasted better). Not hiding our disappointment, the manager quickly discerned that we were Americans and, in a lacking effort to make us feel better about our $4/scoop ice cream, offered us each a free drink at the club next door. We were tired and annoyed and not in any way dressed for a club, so we complained all the way back to our hostel and went to sleep. Oh, gelato.