Ostia Antica, Rome, and PARIS!

Since I haven't updated this in a while it's going to be a fairly long post... I'll start with where I left off.

Saturday, June 6

The night before we went to the Trevi fountain with some bottles of wine and it was a great way to say goodbye to Natalia. Our friends from the hostel (John, Vanessa, and Tony) joined us and we had a great time people watching and enjoying how BEAUTIFUL the Trevi fountain was. We even got to see a proposal there, which was really neat! Just as we were about to leave and head back to the hostel we started talking to a group of professional rugby players from the UK. Natalia wasn't ready to go home at this point, so our new friends from the hostel headed back and Jessica, Natalia, and I stayed to hang out with the 'Stoner Pups,' which was the name of their rugby team. After hanging out at the fountain for a bit we left to find a nearby Irish Pub... so fitting. We ended up making it home around 2, even though we initially wanted to make it an early night, so Natalia definitely had fun waking up the next morning for her 7:35 train ride.

On Saturday Jessica and I didn't have any big plans, so we decided to head to an old Roman port city called Ostia Antica with our friend John from the hostel, who is also from FL. It was only about 30 minutes away, so we took the train and made it there in great time. The city itself wasn't very big, but according to our Rome guide book it's one of the top three most preserved ancient Roman towns. We got to see the ruins of the city, including the forum, all of the sailors apartments, and a huge amphitheatre. Funny enough, I ended up running into my friend Daniel MacNamara from LHS at the almost-deserted amphitheatre and it was a real treat! I can't believe I have now randomly run into two people from high school while on my trip... it's such a small world.

After visiting the ruins we grabbed lunch and gelato and took the Metro to the beach in Stella Pontale. It was really neat to see the ocean, but it was overcast and ridiculously windy so we didn't stay for long. We headed back to the hostel after a long day and Jessica and I made a delicious dinner... orecchiette pasta with pomodoro sauce, balsamic drenched onions, and lots of veggies. It was probably one of the best (and cheapest!) meals I've had since being on this trip... the food here is so fresh it's really easy to make great meals! We had lots of leftovers so we were also able to feed two other people in the hostel, which was fun. After dinner Jess, John, Tony, and I walked in the direction of the Pantheon to a famous gelateria called Gelateria della Palma. The gelateria is known world wide and it has 100+ flavors... so delicious! We did have gelato twice in one day, but the gelato at Gelateria della Palma was by far the best I've had in Italy so it was worth it.

Sunday, June 7

This morning Jessica and I woke up early, got ready, packed our bags, and headed to Mass at the Vatican. Mass started at 10:30 and even though we were only 5 minutes late, San Pietro was PACKED by the time we got there so there was only room to stand. The service was in French, but it was really crowded and we were so far away that it was really difficult to understand anything. After a while of standing two seats opened up so Jessica and I pushed our way through the masses and got to sit for the majority of the hour and a half mass. Even though we had already visited San Pietro and the Vatican, I was still in awe of how beautiful the church was, especially during mass. The acoustics in the church were amazing and I'm so glad we got to experience it. Jessica also was able to take communion, so that was really neat!

After we left San Pietro we were surprised to discover that the Vatican City was PACKED with people. We had no idea what was going on, but it didn't take us long to find out that the Pope was about to come out to speak to the crowd! We were so lucky to be able to catch his speech from a tiny window in a building beside San Pietro... definitely a memory of a lifetime. Even though we could only see a tiny white blur from a distant window, it was amazing to be able to hear the Pope's voice echo throughout the Vatican in at least 10 different languages and to see the thousands of people there for him.

Once the Pope was done speaking we left to get lunch and then headed back towards Ivanhoe hostel to retrieve our bags. Jessica and I each have a backpack and two huge bags, so it wasn't fun hauling our 60 lbs worth of stuff up lots of stairs and through ridiculously long and crowded Metro and train stations. It was a very stressful and exhausting trip, but once we finally got on the plane to Paris it was a huge relief.

We made it to Paris last night around 10 PM and Jessica's cousin, Rachel, and her husband, Xavier, were there waiting for us. They carried our bags all the way to the car (Xavier even asked if we were carrying dead bodies because our bags were so heavy) and then gave us a quick driving tour of beautiful Paris. When we finally arrived at their apartment in Montmarte we were in for a huge shock. It is definitely one of the nicest places I have ever stayed and it is HUGE, especially by European standards. Jessica and I have our own room and bathroom and everything is so fancy and new... it's amazing! Rachel and Xavier are so generous and they gave us a bunch of maps and Metro tickets and even our own sets of keys and a cell phone to keep in touch with them while we're here. We definitely have the hook up with this place...

Monday, June 8

Last night Jessica and I had the best night of sleep (especially after being in the hostel) and we finally feel rested and ready to explore Paris today. It was a relatively slow morning (mainly because our bodies ache so much from hauling luggage), but we're off to get ready and enjoy the city! Au revoir mes amis!