Okay, so I have to admit I think I did something really, really stupid. I sent out 8 postcards last weekend and I tried to write about different activities on each one, but I know I mentioned the Colosseum and Sistine Chapel on quite a few. I wrote the majority of the postcards when I was sleep deprived in the airport during that 14 hour wait. The next day I came home and Elly noticed I wrote Sicilian Chapel on Facebook instead of Sistine Chapel!! oops…
I was well rested for Facebook error (can’t even find an excuse for my stupidity), which means there is a good chance I also wrote it in 4 or 5 postcards which had already been sent by the time I discovered my mistake! Not sure how I got ‘Sicilian’ into my mind, because honestly I don’t know much about Sicily outside of what I learned from Sophia on the "Golden Girls".
I’m not ashamed to admit I spent many sick days and summer mornings in high school zoned out in front of the TV for 2 hours straight of the "Golden Girls", but I do feel really frickin dumb about messing up the name of the SISTINE Chapel!! Maybe the postcards were fine, I really can’t remember, but I figured I should just warn you all beforehand… try not to cringe if you get a postcard with such an error!
Okay, now that I have come clean I’ll finish writing about Rome:
Overall Rome was amazing! It was definitely the coolest city I’ve visited and I love how rich the history is, you just feel immersed in it throughout the entire city!
I’d love to go back to Italy one day to see Naples, Pompeii, Florence and Venice, but I don’t know if I will ever return to Rome. I saw almost everything there is to see! There were a couple ancient ruins and an area an Italian hostel mate described as "the cute district" which I missed, in addition to the main square of bars and pubs that Marco recommended, but otherwise I saw everything I wanted to. Elly, Vanessa and I picked up a tourist map from our hostel upon arrival with all the sites illustrated and we spent many hours walking to the vast majority of them. I’ll write down everything I saw below, so if you have been to Rome (or want to go) feel free to mention your favorites to me.
Vanessa, Elly and I saw:
Piazza della Repubblica
San Carlo Quattro Fontane
Fontane del Tritone
The Trevi Fountain
Villa Medici
Palazzo delle Esposizioni
Castel Sant Angelo
Piazza Navona
The Vatican Museum
Santa Maria Maggiore
Mercati Traianel
Arco di Costatino
The Sistine Chapel
St Peter’s Basilica
Palazzo Montecitorio
Palazzo Madanta
Piazza del Pompolo
Camplo de Flori
Isola Tiberina
Mouth of Truth
V Monte Savello
Colonna Traiana
Area Sacra
Chiesa del Gesu
Palatino
Pantheon
Giolitti – Best gelataria according to Marco, Natasha and Mike J
Elephant Obelisk thing behind Pantheon
Colosseum
Spanish Steps
First McDonalds ever to be built in Italy – inspired slow food movement
The Jewish District
Marco’s favorite pizzeria
~Okay, the McDonalds was on accident and we only later found out that it had any significance…I know, shame on us, but we were starving! It was by far the grandest Mickey D’s I have ever seen though and it was packed!! Also noted that there were McDonald’s everywhere – counted at least 8! ~
If I had to choose, I would say St Peter’s my favorite. I have never and will never see anything so ornate – c’était vraiment incroyable!
I also enjoyed the company of my fantastic travelling companions Elly and Vanessa! We laughed so much and shared many quotable moments. I love those girls and I can’t wait to travel with them again! Vanessa is very sarcastic and a ton of fun. Plus every once in a while her Ohio heritage comes out in a quote such as, "I just wish we coulda seen Rome in it’s hey-day ya know," which I love to mock! Elly is an original too; picture a dirty hippy, that is very religious and was the valedictorian in high school, but isn’t afraid to dirty her vocab with low class slang and cuss words. One of my favorite memories from the trip was when Marco was describing how much he loved eating rabbits and she casually mentioned she ate a squirrel once. Vanessa and I couldn’t stop laughing and Marco looked terrified!
"You ate a what?"
"I ate a squirrel. We were camping and my brother killed it, so my dad said, ‘In this family, we eat what we kill’ so we put it over the fire on a stick after skinning it and ate it."
"Did you use any seasonings?"
"Nope, just plain squirrel"
I’ll be going to Ireland for a week in March with Elly and hopefully somewhere else with Vanessa. Can’t wait to travel with them again!
All in all, Rome was worth the horrid trip home. It may have been the most memorable trip of my life! I have a few other stories from it, but I think I should take the blog back to French life, so if you want to know more, ask!
Also, a few notes to my readers:
1) If anyone who went to ECHS reads this, you may or may not have heard Peter Feldstine had a heart-attack. He was definitely a character and I will always remember my interesting discussions with him, Nathaniel and Christina after school. It is always so tragic when someone so young dies, if you knew him, I’m sure you’re keeping his family in your thoughts and prayers.
2) Grandma and Grandpa Beckes – If you read this could you send me your AZ address please, I have a postcard to send you
3) And to end on a happy note, congratulations to Jessie for getting an internship in Kodiak, Alaska! She’ll spend this summer working for the coast guard. I’m not sure exactly what her job entails, as she told me the description was “bear-wrestling and teaching people to drink”, but I’m sure she’ll be great at whatever it is she is actually doing ha-ha..
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