When in Rome...

If you talked to me at all before I left the States, you probably laughed when I told you that my basic itinerary for my Italian adventure was to consume as much gelato, pasta, and pizza as was humanly possible.

Joke's on you because that's exactly what I did.

Me, every day I was in Italy.

My trip to Italy began with a quiet train ride to Newark Airport and an astonishingly quick and painless jaunt through security. My spirits sagged a bit when I realized that I'd forgotten my snacks and would have to shell out for outrageously overpriced food in the airport to keep from getting hangry on my 8-hour flight. My mood was not improved by the airport fire alarm going off right as I was getting in line to board my flight.

Despite the inauspicious beginning of the flight, I did manage to grab a couple of hours of light sleep on the plane, but I was still a tad cranky in the passport control line the next day. The police officer who checked my passport must not have slept much the previous night either, because he didn't say a word to me, just stamped my passport and sent me on my way. But he stamped it, and that's what matters. One short train ride later, I was officially in Rome!

As soon as I arrived, I met up with my friend Lauren and checked into the hostel. I just dropped off my backpack before we headed right back out again; I'd booked on to a free walking tour for the evening in the hopes that an informative walk around the city would keep me from succumbing to the jet lag. When we arrived at the Spanish Steps at 4:55, however, we found that our 5:00 tour had left at 4:50.

Lauren and I chalked it up to divine intervention and set off in search of gelato.

We meandered aimlessly through the city with our cones until we found ourselves at the Tiber River. As we crossed a bridge, Lauren and I spotted some sort of festival setting up in tents along the water. Naturally, we had to check that out. We discovered that there were quite a few temporary restaurants with tables set up right on the water. So we parked ourselves at a table with a nice breeze and a pleasant view of what we decided was either a very rich person's house or a fancy hotel. (It turned out to be a hospital.)

At 6:30 in the evening, it was far too early for dinner by Roman standards, but most of the restaurants were serving drinks and appetizers. Lauren and I ordered some fried calamari and shrimp to go with our virgin cocktails (having decided that alcohol + jet-lag would be a bad combination), and lingered until the dinner crowd began to arrive.

We had a long walk back to our hostel, and decided upon our arrival that we had earned another gelato. Lauren took me to La Romana, a gelato place a couple of blocks from our hostel, where I ordered a chocolate-filled cone with dark chocolate and coffee flavored gelato. YUM. I also sampled Lauren's salted pistachio gelato, which opened up a whole new world for me. Double YUM.

After a solid 40 winks to shake off the jet-lag, it was time for attempt #2 of the Rome free walking tour. We arrived at the Spanish Steps, the meeting place for the start of the tour only to find that our tour guide was sick and that the tour would be delayed in leaving until a replacement tour guide arrived. We should've heeded this obvious sign from the universe, because the tour guide who turned up 45 minutes later delivered a rather snooze-worthy tour of about 5 square blocks of the city.

Way more excited for more gelato than for the walking tour.

The one thing that was kind of cool was realizing that a lot of Rome's history is literally buried underneath the city; Ancient Rome was about 20 feet lower than modern Rome. This is why Rome only has 2 subway lines...every time they try to make a new one, they run into something of archaeological/historical value and have to rework the route.

Near the end of the tour, we split off from the rest of the group (who were Vatican-bound), and made our way into Castel Sant Angelo, where we found spectacular views of the city and no crowds.

Photo-bombed by a seagull...sigh. 

We stopped by Vatican Square on our way to Trastevere neighborhood, just so we could say, "We went to the Vatican," and after a long and slightly sketchy walk along roads that were clearly not meant for pedestrians, let alone stupid American tourists like us--thanks, Google Maps--we stumbled upon the perfect place for a late lunch.

Fried artichoke appetizer

Seafood risotto (feat. Laruen's elbows as she Instagrams her food)

Lauren's shrimp and lemon linguine (feat. my elbows as I Instagram my food)

We meandered back in the general direction of our hostel, keeping our eyes peeled for a likely location to catch the World Cup semifinal game between France and Belgium. And (of course) we stopped for gelato along the way.

The next day, I took a day trip to see Pompeii and Mt. Vesuvius. It was a three-ish hour bus ride from Rome, but I made friends with a fellow American elementary school teacher, which helped pass the time.

#teacherswhotravel

The ruins were super interesting, and way more extensive than I'd expected. Pompeii wasn't just some small town; it was a full-blown city, with restaurants and spas and crosswalks and everything...featuring a big ol' volcano as part of its skyline.

One of the famous Pompeiian frescoes.
Apparently, many of the frescoes from Pompeii are extremely erotic,
which is why the city was reburied after its original discovery in 1599.
The frescoes have been in and out of museum exhibits
since the city's rediscovery in the 18th century. 

Archaeologists are still at work excavating Pompeii, as they have been since the mid-1700s. 

Bet you thought I was joking about the crosswalks.
Well, when the streets double as sewers, you've got to get creative!

Fun fact: the arena in Pompeii has been a concert venue since 1972. (Obviously it was used for performances before Vesuvius blew its top, but you know what I mean.) The first band to perform there? Pink Floyd.

There's a documentary about it and everything.

After the tour of the ruins, it was time for lunch: pizza. The real deal.

oh HECK YES

The concept of putting things on bread has been around basically as long as there has been bread, but modern pizza was invented in Naples in the 1800s. Margherita pizza (tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil) was actually named after the Queen of Italy at the time.

Another fun fact for ya: Europeans thought that tomatoes were poisonous for a long time after the fruits (or are the vegetables? 😆) first made their way over from the Americas. It took someone very brave--or maybe just very very hungry--to be the first to eat one, proving that they were not in fact deadly.

Anywho, after enjoying the bejesus out of my real Italian pizza, I was sufficiently carboloaded for a trek up Mt. Vesuvius.

Mt. Vesuvius is still an active volcano; it erupted most recently in 1944. However, my tour guide assured me that Vesuvius was "probably not going to erupt today." Very comforting.

Being the dingus that I am, I was wearing sandals that day; luckily they were sporty sandals I'd bought from REI, and they were more than up for the job of conquering a volcano. I tripped a fair bit on the hike, but I don't blame my footwear; I chalk that up to looking at the scenery instead of watching my feet. Can you blame me?

The crater

Naples!

When I arrived back in Rome a few hours later, my feet were still covered in volcanic ash, which didn't stop me from meeting Lauren at Mercado Centrale for dinner, and to catch the Croatia-England game.

dirty feet dirty feet dirty feet

Having worked up quite an appetite conquering a volcano, I felt no shame in stuffing my face with risotto balls, pasta, cannolis, and tiramisu while I watched Croatia's comeback win.

Spaghetti with pecorino cheese and black pepper. Keep it simple. 👌

Tiramisu! 😍

The next day, it was time to say Arrivederci to Rome and to Lauren...I had to catch a train to Cinque Terre! 

Did you get as hungry reading this blog post as I did writing it? 

Me, when I see gelato. 

Veni, vidi, comedi. 

I came, I saw, I ate.