Thirsty?

If you're in Italy, don't worry about paying ridiculously high prices for bottled water. Instead, bring your own bottle and fill up at the one of many ANY fountain in Italy. Because yes, they are all (mostly...) safe drinking water. 

If it's in the Vatican, does that automatically make it holy water?

Please be prepared for bottle leakage. I suggest having bandaid's on hand. Not terribly effective, but you can still pretend. 

Of course, not ALL fountains in Italy are drinking water.... 

the day we saw a lot of old stuff in Rome.

I don't know if I mentioned this or not, but anywhere you go in Italy there are lines everywhere. Sometimes you can just stick it out, but after a while it just gets old.

waiting in line is F-U-N! 

There is always an alternative... for the right price, that is. Anywhere there is a line in Italy, there is a tour group willing to offer you a guided tour plus a free pass to jump the line. Usually for about double what you would pay normally. Of course, being the cheap people that we are, Matthew and I opted for the slower, more economic virtue of patience.

Until our last day, that is. What I dubbed as "old stuff day" was scheduled as our day to visit the Colosseum and Forum (aka old stuff). And since neither of us knew much about the two, we decided if we were going to blow our money anywhere, we should do it here. So we cashed out the 28€ (as opposed to the normal entry price of 12€, I believe) for a combined tour of both the Colosseum and the Forum and waited for our tour guide. 

don't I make a great gladiator?

this was right before we lost each other for the next hour or so. Oops. 

Let's just say the tour of the Colosseum left us wildly unimpressed and feeling a little embarrassed of the scam we apparently just bought into. But it was still an amazing place. 

When it was time for the second part of the tour, though, things started looking up. We got a new tour guide and had a tour that, by itself, was worth the 28€. 

So in the end, the paid tours can definitely be worth it if you're up for it! 

alimento (yes, I do speak Italian) (not really)

I don't know what you think of first when you think of Italy... but I'm not gonna lie, my first thoughts are "WINE AND PASTA!" (and yes, I do think it in all caps). But unfortunately, Rome being a pretty very touristy city, food/wine prices can get unreasonably high. Luckily, after a good tip from our Hostel lady on the first day, Matthew and I found the secret gem of Rome. 

In this little are of the city (just across the river) food and wine is a plenty, and all for completely reasonable prices! I don't think we ever spent more than 10€ on our dinner and drinks for any one meal! 

Oh, and a tip... if you order a tomato salad, that is exactly what you'll get. 

Of course, on the nights we didn't feel like making the trek out there, we paid a visit to the grocery story across the street. 

26 Hours

Last weekend I left the office at 12pm on Saturday and did not return until 3pm on Sunday. For those glorious 26 hours I did not do one single school related thing! Instead I packed up and headed to Atlanta for the night to head to a concert with a friend! 

For the record, if you ever have the chance to see Ingrid Michaelson in concert, you should drop everything you're doing to make it happen. I've been to one concert before and this one did not disappoint either. That girl can sing and puts on amazing show! To say her live performances are infinitely better than her [already amazing] CDs would be a bit of an understatement. 

Although we bought the tickets for the first act, the headliner was Rufus Wainwright. I don't know much by him, but man, what a performance from him as well! So much talent and awesomeness in one night. And that guy is truly a fantastic performer. 

A great show by everyone, and a lovely weekend with a good friend! So I'll leave you with a clip from what was, for me at least, the absolute highlight of the night. Ah-mazing. 

The Dress Code

So now that my couple of posts have made you all desperately want to go book a flight to Rome and visit the Vatican, here is something you should know before packing:

There is a dress code!

Since Italy gets pretty hot and all - you know, most the year - the thought of traipsing around the Rome and the Vatican in your Sunday best is probably not the most appealing idea. So what is the dress code exactly? Well according to this sign, it pretty clear, right?

Of course, if you don't speak Italian cartoon... just know you can't wear your short shorts (I think we decided covering the knees was the trick) or your spaghetti strap tops. I managed to follow the rules swimmingly while still maintaining a breezy comfort on that hot day. 

There is actually a dress code for most of the churches in Italy. Of course, for the bigger, more touristy ones, instead of denying you entrance, the just give you a giant paper dress to hide your shame in.

My new favorite artist

I don't know if you caught this from the last post - but the Vatican has a big Wow-factor to it! And while I was walking around the halls and halls of amazing art, I realized I was kind of in love with Renaissance painter Michelangelo!

Maybe it had something to do with the fact that I remembered learning about it when learning about the Renaissance in 8th grade, or maybe just because it's an amazing work of art. But I could have craned my neck all day looking at the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. 

Of course, my favorite work of all was nestled in a front corner of St. Peter's Basilica.

If anyone wants to call up the pope and see if he'll give me Michelangelo's Pieta for Christmas, I'd really appreciate that. 

Holy mother of big churches!

Ok, so maybe "church" isn't the right monicker for likes of St. Peter's Basilica, but seriously guys - whoa! 

After heading back to Rome, Matthew and I knew we wanted to dedicate a whole day to the Vatican. We figured the Vatican museum would take up a large portion of the day - which it did - and heard that it's full of amazingly awesome art, artifacts, and what I generally refer to as "old stuff" - which it was! We Spent no less than 3 hours in that museum (and actually, it was probably quite a big long than that), and to be honest, it never really got boring. 

And we high-fived the Swiss Guard.... Not really. But I wanted to. 

But we new we had to make our way out to get into the Basilica. And man did we get our timing right! Not only did we walk in the middle of a mass (don't worry guys, the place is so massive, you could have about 15 different masses in there without anyone realizing it), which meant live choral music was floating ethereally throughout, but we even had the sunlight on our side, creating this wildly impressive trick of light as we walked in. 

so for the next, oh, probably good hour, we just walked around with mouths agape, impressed by the overwhelming awesomeness of it. And I, for one, could not get over just how massive it was! I think I just kept taking pictures hoping that one would capture the sheer size of the place. 

Matthew and I concurred afterwards, if you have only a short time in Rome, you definitely have to make it out to the Vatican!