GEJA DAY 1: When in Rome.

Buonasera from Rome, Italy!

I'm sat in a hostel common room scrounging free Wi-fi to keep my promise to update you on the trip throughout! Although it probably won't be every day (we'll be taking a night train to Venice tomorrow night, for example), it's important I blog as I go because I know that if today was anything to go by, a LOT is going to happen and i won't be able to remember it all! 

So this morning I bade goodbye to my family and took the train to Bristol to catch the flight to Rome. On arrival, after a long session of walking backwards and forwards to find the correct bus (as I was being told different things by different Italians), I finally met up with Simon at Termini station. The poor guy was waiting for me for an hour (my plane was an hour late - bloody annoying as i had to rush my Burger King to make the gate) and when I asked him why he didn't have his phone on him, he said he did, but didn't want to use it unless it was important. We were meeting up from different countries ffs! Surely one text wouldn't totally break the bank! But at least we met up, and then after several hours exploring the glorious city at night, we returned to the station to meet Itzel.

Before I talk about where we went tonight, I must say I'm very happy with the hostel. For 11€ a night, it's not that shit! Although I haven't tried to sleep yet... Unlike the Italians at Roma Fiumicino airport, who were even more rude than the French, the people here are very helpful. So yeah, I learned a valuable lesson today: hostels aren't ALL bad! 

I also learned to trust Simon's sense of direction more, because I'd been used to him having the bearings of a goldfish in an oil slick. But in Rome, where he stayed for Christmas, he actually knows his way around, and he's picked up the language rather well (as he studies in English after learning it for one year, this didn't surprise me - he's a linguistic genius!). Due to his surprisingly adroit navigation, we got to see several Piazzas (Simon I'll need you to add the names in a comment or something, because to me they were all Italian blah blah), the Pantheon and of course, the Colosseum, all at night. And how beautiful the buildings are! My jaw dropped as I would walk down a seemingly normal street with a Zara and a McDonalds and around the corner was this colossal medieval architectural masterpiece, and this happened several times!

As you could guess though, I'm shattered, and I know that even if I tried to describe the majesty of some of these buildings, no words in my vocabulary could do them justice. So here's some photos! Simon however has taken better photos, one of which was of me pulling a pose on top of a fancy-looking building, imitating the statues. According to the policeman, it was the Italian Parliament building...... I'll upload this and the others after we return to Rennes.

Tomorrow? The three of us will explore the city in more depth. We will enter the Pantheon and Colosseum, as well as go to the Vatican city (we have a date with Michelangelo) and the magnificent Trevi Fountain. Is it a bit ambitious? Earlier, I would have said no, but Simon and I saw an awful lot in a couple of hours this evening, so I'm pretty hopeful now!

Buonanotte tutti! 

Declamazione oltre

Ollie

The old meets the new. This is true in France, but it's another level in Rome!

Even the Christmas lights are quintessentially Italian!

Dunno what this building is, but it looks AWESOME

(Crappy camera) view of Rome and the Vatican from the highest point of la Piazza del Espagne

Just one of the displays inside the cathedral at the top of la Piazza del Espagne

The Pantheon - it's well lush!

One of the piazzas. Incredible Roman architecture and structures!

Gepetto's toy store (I think)

This building was my favourite, near the Colosseum. Dunno what it's called though :P

And it had a Christmas tree too!!!

My crappy camera can't handle the awesomeness of the Colosseum!