Day 37 2/18/12

2/18/12

I got to sleep in a little bit later (8:45am!). I learned that I do not sleep well in any hostel. I also learned that a glass and small bottle of wine is probably a little too much for me. I think I woke up drunk. Lesson learned. We all got ready and were planning on eating breakfast but turns out everyone else at the hostel ate all the food and there was nothing much left for us. Oh well. Then we decided we were going to do a bus tour for the day to see a few sites. We were walking down the street when a man (doing those type of promotions) talked to us and gave us a decent price the bus tour. It was a hop on, hop off type of tour which was nice. We had to walk very fast to where that bus tour stop was at. Turns out it did not matter since we had missed that bus. We saw this little food place that I think may have been called bar and I got this little croissant type of thing with cream and chocolate chips. It was delicious. Then we went back outside to wait for the tour bus to arrive. It was not that bad of a wait and the weather was actually nice for the day. Nice as in I did not have to wear my winter jacket! We went on the bus tour and the first stop we went to was something I am unsure of to be honest. If I remember, I will try to add in the name later. To be honest since I had no idea what it was I did not really mind going there. Let’s skip to when we went to the coliseum. Now that was amazing. Such a historical place that I’ve heard about in school and from the media. Originally, we did not want to do a tour but we decided we would. It was funny since we turned down this one guy wanting to give us a tour but he just kept badgering us. We didn’t want to spend 23 euros for a tour. Then after talking about it we thought it might be a good deal so when that guy found out we changed our minds he started hounding us about why we did that and blah blah blah. It was just awkward for him on his part. We took the tour and I personally was not that fond of it. I felt like we could have done more by ourselves then with that tour guide but we did get a second tour for free for the Roman Forum. Now that was a tour that I liked. It was amazing. I defiantly liked that tour a lot better. At the end of it we all had to go to the bathroom. Turns out the bathroom didn’t have any toilet paper. Thankfully there was a boy with a cold (not thankful for the cold part) but he brought with him toilet paper for his nose. Yes, its random but it helped all us girls since there was no toilet paper or soap in the bathroom. Turns out the boy and his mom and sister are from Israel. I thought that was extremely cool. After that whole bathroom scene we were on our way back to the tour bus. We got side tracked by an artist who was spray painting pictures. It was just like in NYC and the work was beautiful. I was tempted to buy one but did not. Then we went back on our way to get to the bus. Turns out we had missed it so we just went to the next stop which was not too far away. It was where all the chariot races took place. It was a nice view to see the buildings but the area for the racing was just mostly grass and dirt. The pictures in the book used on the tour were a lot prettier. Then we got back on the bus. Apparently there seemed to be a bit of confusion since three of us wanted to see the Fountain of Trevi while the other two wanted to go to the Spanish steps. The confusion was that two of them were getting off and the rest of us didn’t realize it until we saw them standing in the aisle. That caused some minor frustration. But whatever it’s over. We got to the Spanish stairs an it was very crowded. While we were standing there some guy came over to us with flowers and he said they were free and then he walked away. They were pink roses and I was excited because I love receiving flowers and I rarely do. Then the guy ruined it by walking back after walking away asking for money. We all handed him back the roses. I really wanted to keep mine. I should have made a run for it…… Next time! Well, that did happen a few more times and we refused. We did not walk up all the way to the top of the stairs since it was extremely crowded but we did sit on them. Then we headed to the fountain. On the way we saw this (expensive) but cool shoe store. They had heels that were neon green! Can anyone say heaven? Shoot, I would have bought them just to stare at the colors. They had pink and yellow as well it was amazing! However, I did not and we all just looked because they were extremely expensive. Now back on our way to the fountain. It took a few minutes but we found it. It was beautiful. Yea, it was crowded but who cares? It was gorgeous. Now I can say I know where half the movies filmed. I even made two wishes. I threw a coin for me and one for my sister since I can imagine how stressed they are due to the funeral that is happening on Sunday. I still feel bad I cannot be there for them. After taking some pictures at the fountain, we went on the hunt to find a cheap restuarnt. We found this little place called the bar (its different from the first place) and it was decent. The food was not amazing but it wasn’t bad either. Then we went back to this place by the fountain to buy some gelato. It was delicious. I got pistachio and tartafo (chocolate with cherries) on a cone. Yes, it was yum. Now all of you people can do what they say these days, nom nom nom. That was the first time I said it and very much so the last. After that three of us (me, Shelby and Michelle) took a cab back to the hostel since it was getting cold and we did not feel like walking five miles. It’s suppose to be a 30 minute walk but everyone in Europe walks extremely fast. The cab was cheap and the ride was pretty fast. It was funny because this lady tried to steal the cab from us as we were speaking to the driver but the driver told her no. She made it look it was our faults. She was being a bitch. Excuse my language. I think after hearing about peoples time in France I think i understand the saying "excuse my french". When we got to the room we were chilling out a bit waiting for the other girls to see if they wanted to do anything else. While doing so two girls studying in Belgium and from Chicago heard our accents and asked if we were American. That's just what Americans do. They told us they were going to a pub and invited us. Finally the other two arrived and we asked what they wanted to do since they were getting up early to go to mass and the Vatican in the morning. We decided to go to the pub with them. We went to one called the Fiddlers Green arm (something like that). It was a nice Irish pub. I got a pear cider and it was decent. After that Jordan and Sarah left early since they wanted to get ready for bed. Michelle, Shelby and I went with the two girls (Maddie and Kelly I think were their names) to find another pub. It took a while since we could not find it. We finally found it and it was sketch. You had to ring a bell and then they looked through a peep hole before they let you in. We went in to find out it was a private pub and they were trying to convince us to sign these papers with some info to have on record since apparently the law required them since its a private pub. After a few minutes of that we all decided it was probably the safest idea to left. After that we went back to the hostel since it had been a bit of walking/pub hunting. It was a nice adventure and lessons were learned. Then we chilled out at the hostel then went to bed not long after.