Rome Part Two: A Lizzie McGuire Tour of Rome
On Saturday, July 13th I woke up late. I grabbed my phone and found a text from UCI Delta Gamma Swamp Squad member, Aleah Cornwell. She told me some stuff I really needed to hear that day. Hehe thanks for making my day girly. After I got ready, I walked to the Forum and hung out there for like three hours. I could have hung out there all day. There’s something magical about those ruins. I’m telling you that place is absurdly inspiring. It is truly my favorite place in Rome. This came as kind of a shock to me because I was sure that my favorite place would be the Trevi. Even after three hours I didn’t want to leave but I got really hungry so I abandoned my perch. I walked around the alleys behind the Forum for a while until I found my white whale.
THIS WAS THE RESTAURANT I HAD BEEN SEARCHING FOR. Ristorante Vecchia Roma. The food was incredible. The wait staff was attentive, kind and funny. My pasta was a fettuccini with a fresh chopped tomato sauce (think bruschetta topping kind of a sauce). It was wonderful. There was so much sauce left over after the pasta was gone that I mixed in some balsamic and threw it on my left over bread slices. It was a little expensive and ended up being my lunch and dinner but it was well worth the price.
After lunch/dinner I went home took and nap. When I woke up I decided I was going to explore Roma in the dark. I got ready and made my way to the Spanish steps for a second time. Did I make sure I passed the Frigidarium on the way there? Absolutely. Two scoops of Frigidarium flavor (caramel, Nutella, cookie crunch (yeah thats one flavor)) dipped in dark chocolate? Please and thank you. Unfortunately, the Spanish steps were still full at sunset so I decided to take a stroll down the row of fancy shops and head to the Trevi (again). I arrived at the Trevi right as the sun was reaching the hortizon and the sky was an deep blue. I didn’t think it was possible for the Trevi to be more beautiful, but with the lights on and the deep blue backdrop she was breathtaking. I threw on a playlist and took a seat dead center. I witnessed two proposals in the two hours I spent people watching. I was listening to my Dean Martin playlist when the song “Arrivedarcci Roma” came on. I am not going to lie to you guys my eyes got a little leaky. On the walk home, just before the Pantheon there was a violinist and saxophone player doing duets to popular songs. I heard Beyoncé, Ed Sheeran and the Game of Thrones theme song covers. They were such talented performers that I stayed to watch their entire set. I finished my walk home and re-packed my backpack. Every time I get that thing to zip it is like witnessing a miracle.
On Sunday, July 14th I woke up at 5am so I could get my shot on the Spanish steps. Again, I was not impressed by the steps, but it is a Lizzie McGuire Movie landmark so I had to do it. Ran by the Trevi and Pantheon on the way home. As soon as I got back to the apartment, I grabbed my ‘Sing to me Paolo’ sweatshirt and ran right back out to get the annoying kind of photos only a crazed fan would want to take. I walked all the way to the Colosseum (the place where Isabella said those iconic words 16 years ago). Generally, I have to ask between 10-15 people to take my photo before I get a good shot. This means that I stood in front of the Colosseum, in that black sweater, in the middle of the day, in the Roman sun for about 30 minutes. I am genuinely shocked I didn’t suffer heat stroke. I WAS DYING. But, like it was worth the shot. During my photoshoot, every 20-something white girl that walked by was like “I LOVE YOUR SWEATSHIRT OHMYGOD”. Once I got a shot that worked for me, I walked back towards the apartment. I made a pit stop at YOU GUESSED IT! Another Lizzie McGuire Movie landmark. The market where Paolo took Lizzie. I bought two apricots because I am obsessed with that movie. (Unless you’ve seen this movie 172637289738 times like I have, you wont get the apricot thing. Just accept that its an obscure reference and that I am coo coo for this film) Once in the apartment I FaceTimed Aleah and realized how long it had been since I had actually spoken to my friends. While on FaceTime I tried to figure out how to eat an apricot. I didnt know if it was a apple kind of a bite or a peel or if I should be looking about for a big seed. Filmed a little for the vlog and moved my stuff in to the living room. Shoutout to my Airbnb host, Viktor, for letting me keep my bags in the apartment until I had to leave at two.
I only had about two hours left in Rome so obviously I returned to my perch above the Forum. On the way there I grabbed a cone of gelato. It was expensive and not very good (BOOOOOO). I went up to my perch and put on some Dean Martin and tried to soak up as much of it as I could before I had to leave. After I said goodbye to the Forum, there was one last place I had to hit. Of course, I went back to Ristorante Vecchia Roma to have lunch with my main man, Georgio. Georgio spent the majority of dinner trying to convince the other younger waiter to ask me out. He was like “Shes beautiful! Isn’t she beautiful? You’re beautiful.” They were talking in Italian but I could understand because of the language’s similarity to Spanish. The whole time the little voice in my head was chanting “ASK HER OUT! ASK HER OUT!”. HAHAHA. Anyways the younger waiter ended up deciding against it because we didnt speak the same language (BOOOO). I would have learned Italian for you son! He goofed. ITALIAN BOY I LOVE YOU (Click here to watch the vine that I am referencing).
After dinner I walked back to the apartment for the last time and loaded my bags up. I looked like a mule. I think I have a picture I can throw down there. Lol it looked funny for sure. I walked to the bus stop and barely missed the bus. I was gonna have to wait 12 minutes. The sun was KICKING and I wasn’t thrilled about the wait but oh well I can manage for 12 minutes. THIRTY-FOUR MINUTES LASTER, the bus arrived. Ya girl was looking like a BURNT CHICKEN NUGGET. (Click here to watch the vine that I just referenced) By the time the bus arrived it had been so long that there were 15 people waiting to get on. We squeezed in there like sardines. I could barely breathe, not to mention I have a twenty pound backpack on, a smaller backpack on my front and a fanny pack. It was so crowded I couldn’t even look at my phone to check what stop we were at. I was starring out the window looking for anything that resembled train tracks. When we finally got to the station I hopped off the bus and ran to the giant board to see where my train would be departing from. There’s like 20 tracks. I couldn’t find my train listed and I was getting stressed. I kept checking my ticket then searching the screen. This went on for a few minutes before a worker came up and asked if I needed help. Which I definitely did. I showed her my ticket and pointed to the screen. She lead me over to a machine and had me switch to a different train. At this point I thought my train had been canceled so I had to get on another one. So I changed to an earlier train and my ticket printed from the machine. She swiftly grabbed it and then refused to give it to me unless I have her a tip. Which was SUPER frustrating. I gave her the stupid 1.60 Euro and ran to my track only to find that this train was going to Venice. The panic began again. I ran to an employee who explained that Florence is a stop on the way to Venice. My train was never canceled it was just listed under Venice which is why I never saw it. Lesson learned. The train to Florence was nice. I had my own row, a little tray for my iPad and a huge window. I ended up having to close the blinds because the high speed was getting to me. The train was averaging 140mph. I arrived in Florence an hour and a half after the doors closed. It was really cool (temperature wise) which was really nice for the 15 minute walk to the Airbnb. At first, I was worried about being so close to the station as in Rome the area around the train station isn’t a great neighborhood. However, my walk went by the Duomo, Gucci, Channel and a Nespresso and I figured I was pretty safe.
Sorry for taking so long to get this post up! As always, thank you for reading and giving me a reason to catalog my trip. I love writing these little blogs and I hope y’all enjoy reading them! Florence blog/blogs might be broken up. We shall see how much I end up writing lol.
PS IF YOU ARE MY ONE LOYAL READER FROM POLAND PLEASE DM ME ON INSTAGRAM LOL @ALLIEMEEGAN
My analytics shows that you read every blog and I’ve just got to know who you are LOL.
Ciao,
Allie **pasta emojis**
Do you love my sporadically released ramblings? Want to be the first to hear about my fabulous life abroad? Sign up for blog updates! I’ll shoot you and email when I post and add a cute little meme. Just CLICK HERE.
