Dani, Chels and Joco do Italy - Day 9, 10 & 11 - Rome

Upon arrival in Rome we were met with CROWDS. And More CROWDS.

We headed to the Colosseum, where we paid for a line-skip tour and then promptly ditched the tour once inside. I was suffering from a severe hangover, and not dealing with the heat very well, so Rome Day 1 is kind of a blur of crowds and feeling nauseous in my head. Damn you, wine.

Colosseum

Gladiator Parade for Italy's culture week

We went to see Trevi fountain and made wishes, we saw the Pantheon and Mussolini's statue. We contemplated the fact that Italy is not as highly blamed for the war as they should be, considering they sided with Hitler. We found the World's BEST Gelato (for real) at Della Palma in Rome (seems like a tourist trap as there are a ton of gelato places, but totally worth finding this one).

Trevi Fountain

Then when the day was over, and the hangovers could no longer be ignored, we headed out to our cabin in the woods. We stayed at a private campground that was so cool. It was a bunch of cabins (looked like it would have been a party in the summertime).

Drinks in our cabin in the woods!

We went out the next day with a singular mission - FIND THE POPE.

We toured through the crowds and headed to the Vatican. Very worth seeing. We searched and searched for the Pope, but when we couldn't find him, we gave up and headed back to Della Palma to eat away our misery with the World's BEST Gelato.

Chels in Vatican City at St Paul's Basilica

Wandering Rome

Our third and final day in Rome we laid on the beach and read books and got so extremely sunburned that none of us could bend any of our joints by the end of the day. Awful! They are now at the peeling stage and it feels itchy and great.

A thought: the crowds of Rome bothered me a lot, and the crowds of Paris bother me a lot, but the crowds in London do not, so I had a long think about what it is about London that does not bother me. And I think I figured it out. London is extremely crowded at all times, but everyone just leaves you the fuck alone, ya know? They just do their own thing and leave you alone. The souvenir shops know you will buy their pointless Will & Kate paraphernalia whether they hunt you down or just sit there, so they just sit there. In the crowds of Rome & Paris I just feel like I am being constantly bombarded with people trying to sell me things, or draw a picture of me, or get me to take a picture with them and then charging me €5 for it. Just leave me alone! Let me do my thing. My appreciation for Londoner/British leave-you-alone crowds really grew in Rome. Not my favourite spot.

This leads me to a song I felt like singing at the end of my trip:

"Another summer day has come and gone away in Paris and Rome, but I wanna go home..."