Rome, Party of One

    Today felt drastically different from any other day that I have spent here in Rome. It was actually incredibly relaxing despite the fact that I still visited a lot of different places and saw some amazing new things. The reason for the change probably has to do with the fact that I did it all by myself. Now before anyone starts freaking out over this fact, I will kindly remind you wonderful readers that I am currently alive while writing this blog post and that I was not mugged and/or kidnapped. But yes, I went out into a new city all by myself for the entire day. The rest of my travel group had planned a trip to go out to Florence for the day. For most of the week I figured that I was going as well. I have heard that Florence is absolutely beautiful and I was excited to see a whole new part of Italy. As I was getting ready for bed last night, I was overcome with a feeling of not wanting to go. It was so peculiar because I was actually pretty excited for the trip. I decided to sleep on it. When I woke up this morning I felt the same way. So while everyone else went to the train station to go off to Florence, I stayed in Rome to have a day to myself. (Due to the solo nature of today's adventures, most my pictures are scenery shots and selfies...so there).

    My day started pretty slowly as I initially started pretty slowly as I decided to read by the window. I've been reading a book that I rented out on my Kindle called The Bone Season. It's written by an author from London, and is set in an alternate history setting in London as well. I actually started reading it because I had seen it a many bookstores in London! I have been loving it, and so spent a good chunk of my morning enjoying a good read with the sun shining in to my room.

    When I finally got myself out and about, I went by my favorite gelato place to get a banana and chocolate flavored treat. I've always been a fan of chocolate ice cream, but the banana is new to me. The gelato is so fresh and it actually has little pieces of banana mixed in. Mixing the two flavors is like having a banana split! I ate my treat and then walked over to a large building that is actually right down the road from where we live. I see it almost every day as we walked to our metro stop, but I never knew what it was. I walked inside and found that it is a large basilica called Basilica San Giovanni. And suddenly I realized why our tube stop is called S Giovanni. The basilica was beautiful and quite large, and I was so pleased because despite the fact that it wasn't quite as grand as St. Peter's Basilica, it was pretty empty. These churches have always felt pretty spiritual, but the lack of crowds and noise really made this experience that much better. It's hard because you wish that they could preserve that reverent feeling in most of these churches, but have to realize that you wouldn't be able to see it if they decided to stop allowing tourists in. 

My two loves: Gelato and Roman Architecture 

Basilica de San Giovanni on a gorgeous day

Even these lesser known basilicas are so fancy and beautiful 

As I slowed down today I began to notice more and more things.This view is one I also pass every day. You know, just an ancient wall that is open to traffic. 

    After gawking at San Giovanni for a while, I made my way to the metro to seek out new places to visit. During my travels I have been trying to decide which of the underground systems are my favorite. I have now compiled this ranking for your viewing pleasure. Of the subways that I have traveled on, I would rank them as follows:
  1. London Underground
  2. Boston T
  3. Roma Metro
  4. New York Subway
The system here is pretty straightforward as far as the maps goes, but the lines leave much to be desired. It's really weird because they only really have the two main lines (red and blue) that go through the city. However, these lines only really over the Norther and Eastern parts of the city. If you need to go anywhere else and you suddenly have to plan out new routes. It's not bad, but not as handy as it could be. Also, the stations themselves are pretty...interesting. Most the train cars are covered with graffiti. I also saw a mouse! I named him Squishy.... Anywho...
    I traveled out to see the pyramid that they have in Rome. One thing that has really surprised me about this city is the number of Egyptian structures they have. Many of the main piazzas have an obelisk sitting in the square, and you see little hints of Egyptian architecture in the most random of places. I heard in my travels about this pyramid that was just a few metro stops away from where we lived, so I decided to check it out! Unfortunately the curse of construction decided to follow me once again. I show up to the site of the pyramid to find that they thing is almost entirely covered in scaffolding! The grounds surrounding it were closed off so I could only see it from afar. Fortunately it was still pretty cool, and in true Roman fashion, just across the street is another structure that looks almost like a castle. This place is bursting with history from all different times that are all just jumbled together.

The metro cars here sure have character

The Roman Pyramid and its neighbor the castle 

    My solo adventure continued as I made my way over to see La Basilica de San Paulo (St Pau'ls Basilica). Much like the Giovanni's Basilica, this one was pretty empty. It was such a fascinating structure though because the outside of the church was actually pretty plain. I almost thought that I had found the wrong place. Once inside I was quite impressed by the art and by how massive it was. The exterior was quite deceiving. It had a lot of great sights to see, including the resting place of Paul himself. There was a whole alter constructed around his tomb along with a display that supposedly had the chain necklace that he would have worn while he was a prisoner in Rome. The little treasures that you find! I made my way out to the cloisters as well as the back lawn and was quite surprised to see that while the front of the church was quite lacking in the beauty department, it seemed that all the attention went to the back where it felt like a garden. It was beautiful and like most of the church, wonderfully quiet and empty. I stopped by their café where I ate Focaccia (a warm flat bread sandwich filled with peppers, cheeses, spices, and green olives) and enjoyed some sun. It was all quite wonderful. I was expecting some rain today, but appreciated the sun and the slight wind that we got instead!

So large and so empty. I will keep it to myself thank you

The lighting was a bit funky, but here is Paul's tomb and just above it, that white square that is reflecting light is where the chain was kept. It's all under the central tabernacle. 

Oh hey! There I am! 

Now compare the front of the basilica.....

 ...To the back of the basilica. It sort of threw me off

The wonderful garden 

Focaccia and Sprite, because I decided to ween myself of coke

The Apse in St. Paul's. It was interesting, because the main room was pretty dark, but if you inserted 1 Euro into a machine, it would light up this apse for a few minutes. Random. 

     When I finished my exploration of the outer parts of Rome, I decided to head back to the more touristy places and see how I could do with navigating all by myself. I hopped off the metro by the Colosseum and made my way through the city. I am proud to say that I navigated it really well and did not get lost! I made a grand tour of it, and visited many of my favorite places again. I went to the Colosseum, the Vittoriano, the piazza de Popolo, the Spanish Steps, and the Trevi Fountain (my personal favorite) The crowds were even larger today due to the weekend, but I was surprised to find that most of the street vendors seemed to be leaving me alone. I guess since I was traveling by myself I looked less like a tourist or something. It was awesome. I bought myself my first gelato served on a cone and ate it at the Trevi Fountain. Also, I stumbled upon a Disney Store. Disney characters were speaking in Italian!

Strawberry cone, another of my favorite gelato flavors. Snacking at the Trevi Fountain

Disney Store Italy

  I took a little break as I made my way back to the Bed and Breakfast. I must admit that I hopped on Youtube where I watched clips from Sabrina Goes to Rome and The Lizzie McGuire Movie, both of which take place in Rome. I am such a 90's kid. I remember watching both of these movies when I was younger, and they were the movies that really introduced me to Rome. I was watching scenes to see what places I would now recognize. It was quite ridiculous, but also very fun. I loved being able to point out and name the places the characters traveled to and know how to get there myself.
    As the evening came I made my way over to the Villa Borghese Gardens. The Villa Borghese is a huge park in Easter Rome that I am surprised I didn't visit earlier. The park is quite different from the parks that you would find in London or America. The grass and nature is pretty much left to itself for the most part. The grass is growing wildly and there are weeds and dead leaves scattered around, but it still has a sense of beauty. Like the rest of the city, there are statues and historical sites scattered throughout. It was fun to wander through the HUGE area and see what I would stumble upon. There were ponds, statues, gardens, fountains, dogs (but no dog sanctuaries), and museums. The museums were all closed, which was a slight bummer, but it didn't stop my adventuring. The sun was starting to set and it was gorgeous walking through the park as night came. I took my Kindle with me and I found a secluded bench where I sat down and read for a while as well. It was absolutely perfect and I eventually had to force myself away. I didn't want to find myself stuck in some part of Rome after dark.

Another sight I see almost every day. This is just down the street from where I live

One of many fountains in the Villa Borghese 

There's Egypt popping up in Rome again

Love this pond

The sun starting to set in my new park

These trees really fascinated me. Can't really explain why 

Random fountain that also fascinated me.

The Borghese Museum. We were hoping to go here this week, but you have to make reservations way in advance. So instead I got to marvel at the building. 

In honor of my selfies today, here is Selficious, the very first selfie taker from Ancient Rome

Me again

Also, I wasn't alone all day. I made a friend....

A statue of Victor Hugo

Have I mentioned that I really love this new park?

    As it grew dark I made my way back home. I stopped by this little hole in the wall restaurant called Mariotti on my way back hoping to get a quick snack. I bought a really cheap pizza/sandwich hybrid that was incredibly delicious. It had pepperoni, pizza sauce, cheese, lettuce, and some mystery sauce that was served on flat bread and heated. The meal was only three Euro, but may actually be my favorite thing that I have eaten since getting here. How's that for ironic? I also made one more stop for some more gelato before calling it a night. Well, for the most part. I also took some time to explore our building a bit more. I played on our amazingly cool elevator, and discovered that I can go out onto the roof! Fun stuff!
    I can't believe that my time here in Rome has already come so close to the end. Tomorrow afternoon we will be boarding our flight to take us back to London. It's so strange, because I am really sad to leave Rome, but I will be heading back to London for more adventures as well. It's been so amazing an I am grateful to have seen and experienced so much in the Eternal City.