Then We Explored

Once the initially shock and dread of finding out we were at the wrong station wore off we gathered ourselves and snapped into action. We exited the train station and entered what appeared to be the rougher side of Verona. We tried to find a taxi and thankfully ran into a group of adults who spoke enough English to point us in the right direction. Luck was on our side because Verona has a great taxi system, we found this machine where we push a button and tell the operator where we are and they send a taxi! We got in a taxi and made it to our station in plenty of time, especially since the train got delayed forty minutes…Finally the train starts and we are on our way to Rome!

We got into Rome at 6 am and hit the ground running, well more like walking because Rome has a lot of hills. The first stop was the Trevi Fountain, which was a HUGE disappointment. We walk up and find that they are cleaning the fountain, so the water was off. We were sad but we decided to come back later to see it with water. We leave to find the Spanish Steps and run into the Pantheon instead. There was nobody there since it was so early so we got some good pictures and went inside! From there we worked our way towards the Colosseum, where we also got to see the Roman and Imperial Forums and many other buildings. I opted not to go into the Colosseum because my parentals are coming over to Rome and we are going to go in! We also went back to the Trevi Fountain and it was completely drained AND they were taking all the coins out, we watched everyone’s wishes be swept into bags. I was pretty heartbroken and sad. After that we decided to go find our hostel because we were running off of three hours of sleep.

 

 

The hostel finding attempt was NOT smooth sailing. We go to ask for directions and it turns out the hostel is on the outskirts of town pretty far away so we need to take the subway. So, we buy our tickets and get on. We got off at the stop the guy told us and we were LOST. Tensions were running high. We couldn’t find anyone who spoke English well enough to help us and we have no wifi available. We make it to a McDonalds and ask for directions, the girl looks at us and says that we are very far away from where we need to be. We finally get a guy who was kind enough to help us and we make it to the hostel. The next day we went to the Vatican City and explored that a little. It was beautiful but sadly, I did not get to see the Pope. We went back to the Trevi Fountain and it was up and running with water again. It was completely beautiful and I loved it! It looks so much better with water in it, not quite the letdown we saw earlier. We left for La Spezia Tuesday night and had no problems with the train, but had more problems at 11 pm trying to find our hotel.

 

We finally got a taxi and found the hotel and it felt like paradise compared to the hostels. We had a nice bathroom and a pretty big room, we slept very well. We woke up to a fre continental breakfast and we ate like pigs. After that we set off for the beach where we spent the day sleeping, tanning, and eating gelato! The next day we explored the Cinque Terre area and saw the different towns. This was by far my favorite place. I about cried when I had to leave for Pisa. We made it to Pisa and saw some sort of tower that appeared to be falling over… Just kidding, I know what it was. The Leaning Tower was a sight to see and we got plenty of pictures. We eventually made our way back to Olomouc after the experience of a lifetime.