Friday, September 23rd 2011 – Day 3 in Rome

Once again we slept in until noon. As a result, we missed the breakfast again and with our flight out at 6:50 AM the next day, we would not have a chance to take advantage of the only complimentary breakfast that was available to us during our stay.

Our only real agenda was to visit the Vatican Museums and find the fountain from the movie When in Rome. The first item on our list though was to eat lunch. There was a charming and inviting restaurant I had spotted close to our hotel and despite originally wanting pizza, their lunch menu was too tempting to resist. We settled on more seafood, pasta, and wine.

After lunch, we took the metro to find the Trevi Fountain. It was much grander than how it was depicted in the movie. It was packed with tourists throwing coins behind their shoulder for good luck and for finding true love. We joined in on the fun. It’s reported that 3000 Euros are thrown into the fountain each day! With the amount of people we saw at the fountain that certainly seems true.

Our next stop was the Vatican Museums. The security to get in was akin to airport security measures – except for our experience at Rome’s airport! Anyway, we only perused the gift shop before deciding to leave. With only one day left in Rome, we weren’t willing to spend 2 hours inside a museum and decided it would be more worthwhile to experience the culture of Rome.

The best thing about a metropass is that you can jump on and off buses easily. Another great thing is that it is almost impossible to get lost. Buses will always take you to a main station and once you hit the metro, we could easily get back to Termini. With that in mind, we ended up at Piazza di Spagna, a popular shopping area and home to the Spanish Steps.

Craving dessert, we settled in at a cute gelataria. In Barcelona, despite many places selling gelato, we refrained as we wanted to experience the gelato in Italy. We ended up eating gelato every day in Rome and it was absolutely delicious.

Our last night in Rome had to be an early night because of our flight out the next morning, so we made a stop back at the hotel (and this time avoided the 3 hour long nap) before heading out one last time for a meal in Rome. We decided to go to Via Nazionale where we settled on a pizzeria that had been around since 1938. The pizza once again didn’t disappoint, and accompanied with a bottle of Rosé, it was another great meal.

Reflecting on our time in Rome, we realized that our biggest accomplishment was savouring Italian cuisine. The food was absolutely delicious, especially the pizza!

Arrivederci Rome!

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Up next for the ladies are Nice and Paris, where a long train ride results in an upset stomach, appetites call for croissants and couscous (oddly enough), and language barriers create problems for Shiv and Lil at the cinéma. Read all about their adventures in France in Part Four of Europe on the Fly with Shiv and Lil.

– Kiana Amirpour