Roman holiday
Monday, February 4, 2008 at 2:27PM | 2 Comments 
Location: Rome, Italy
What a long day.
I started out by heading to the laundromat to do a load of laundry. I put the clothes in the washer, went to the train station to figure out which train I was going to take to Rome (there was a free 5:09 PM train that looked perfect), and then went back to put the clothes in the dryer. From here I walked the 20 minute walk down to the jewelry store where I had googled that said they had the Florentine Puzzle Rings. I get there, and of course, they are closed. Great idea to go shopping on a Sunday, Abs.
I walk back towards the laundromat and am stopped by a huge group of people. Low and behold, I had walked right into the path of the Carnival parade!! It was really fun (but I didn't have my camera, so I took some on my phone, but it may take me a while to upload those). It started with a really cool old band that was dressed as jesters and then there was a section for each culture represented in Florence. There was a Chinese dragon, some polish clogger people, some gypsies, an african drum band, a mariachi band, and some other stuff. Then at the very end there was this huge bus with people dancing and playing drums and all the kids were silly stringing each other and throwing confetti everywhere and they were all dressed up. It was so much fun!
After the parade, I got my clothes, checked out of the hostel (bye Leonardo and Ricardo!!) and walked to the train station. I got on my train and after about 40 minutes, it still hadn't left. I found some other Americans and we determined that the train was broken, delayed for at least another hour, so we decided to go run and try and catch the other train leaving just before 6. We literally ran up to it as it was pulling away. The conductor waved at us and everything. It was like a scene from a movie. So we went back in the station, found a train that left at 7 and got some pizza and waited. The train took forever to get here, we didn't get in until about 11.
From there, I checked into my hostel and then met back up with some people to go watch the Superbowl. We went to this really neat bar called Abbey Theater and it was standing room only. So, we stood, for the next 5 hours (at this point, I think it's fair to mention that my feet are still soaking wet from the rain in Florence, and they are REALLY starting to hurt). The game was great, although I really didn't have a preference as to who won. I picked the Giants b/c of RW McQuarters (good enough reason in my books) even though the Giants beat the packers and so I kind of hate them. Eli is pretty cute too. Anyways, it was fun, even though we were watching it on Sky so there were no commercials and no half time show :( I heard Tom Petty was great, but we did not get to see him.
Got home after the game close to 7, went straight to sleep (after letting my feet unwrinkle and thaw - they're still dead this morning - Had to ditch the cute boots and pull on the Meryl's for the first time on the trip) and now I'm not sure what I'm doing. I met a guy from LA this morning who wants to go to the Vatican so I think I'll head there. I need to try and get a ticket for Ash Wednesday Mass on Wednesday so I need to see if that's going to be a possibility.
Anyways. I think I am going to like Rome :)
XOXO
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Now playing: Ryan Adams - To Be Young
via FoxyTunes
Reader Comments (2)
Rome is really a nice place to visit. I would probably stay in hostel to save money.
@Jasper - I would too, Jasper. I stayed in a nice place near the train station that I found on Hostelworld.com. Definitely a great idea, even for a spammer.