9. Rome

We met up with IBK, Austin, and Lois in Rome. Our first day was packed with all the things we wanted to see, we went to the pantheon which was incredible and learned that to find out how they built the roof, they hired expert rock climbers to climb it because they didn’t want to damage the building with scaffolding. Then Austin, Corey and I went to get gelato and walk around the Piazza Navona. The gelato from Frigidarium is incredible. It is hands down the best gelato I have ever had. Not only do they give you huge scoops they dip it in melted chocolate that hardens and put a cookie in it. It is divine. We were only in Rome for 2 days but we ate at that gelato place 3 different times and by the second day the cashier recognized me. We saw the Spanish steps, the Roman Forum and the Piazza Venezia as we headed to the Colosseum. The Colosseum really was breathtaking, it was probably the most crowded place we went and I can’t imagine how busy it must be in the peak tourist season. We had the most amazing dinner at Abruzzi, my roommate had studied in Rome for a semester and told us they had the best Carbonara in all of Rome and she was right. That was one of the best dinners I have ever had. And we had the sweetest waiter, his name was Carlo. He brought us free limoncello (and milk for IBK) He had to have been 65 years old and he messed with us so much, he even took pictures with us at the end of our dinner.  On our way back to the hostel we stopped in this little bookshop that actually had English books, I can never not buy books when I go to a bookstore, and i found a real gem called "The Invention of Nature" about a German polymath no less. The next day we headed out of town to see the catacombs. Then we were headed over to the Vatican for our 1:30 tour time, we were on the bus when Austin looked up what time Frigidarium closed, and it said 1 pm, we knew we couldn’t leave without having the gelato again so we looked at the bus schedule and saw that if we got off the bus and ran to Frigidarium we had about 10 minutes until it would get to the stop by the Frigidarium and we could get back on. So here we are, 7 of us, RUNNING through the streets to get gelato. We made it and it was 100% worth it until Austin looked at his phone and realized they closed at 1am not 1pm. (It was still worth it though) We made it to the Vatican and went through their museum and saw the Sistine Chapel.  Then we headed back to the Forum and spent the afternoon there until it closed, the forum was one of my favorite places in Rome because it is crazy to think of all the people who lived there at one point in time and how different their lives were from ours, meanwhile you’re standing in the ruins of someone’s house and neighborhood, it’s a very surreal feeling.