French Summer Camp

Backpacking Blog Entry: Rome

When we first got into Rome (by train), we left the station and headed to our hostel which, fortunately, was walking distance from Termini station. We checked in at the hostel made our way up to our room, which was actually quite comfortable even though we were sharing it with 4 other people. We washed up and made ourselves presentable before heading back out into the city to go exploring!

The first thing we did was head to the Coliseum and the Forum. We went later in the day, close to closing to avoid that crowds and that definitely worked out. We practically had the place to ourselves. After that we, headed over to the famous Pizzeria Baffetto, which is down this narrow alley, but we found it anyway. There was a line out the door, but we happily waited because everybody had told us that we had to try it. We opted for the Vittorio (fresh tomato, basil, mozzarella, and Parmesan) since for some reason the signature pizza Baffetto just sounded like too much (it has an egg on it).

The next day we decided to take the train out to The Vatican to check out St. Peter’s Basilica and the Vatican Museum. If you plan on going to St. Peter’s Basilica, make sure that you dress appropriately, meaning your shirt needs to have sleeves and you can’t be wearing shorts, or else they wont let you in. Fortunately the guy at the front desk of our hostel gave us a heads up about this before we headed out. While we were waiting in line we ended up talking with these French girls that were teaching at a French summer camp just outside of Rome, but had the day off and were doing some sightseeing. Talking with them was a little rough since their English wasn’t great and neither was our French. We decided that we would really have to sit down and learn French in Switzerland when we got there.

Once we got through the line, we made our way up to the claustrophobia inducing dome at the top of the Basilica. The long narrow spiral staircase up there is a bit strenuous, but I thought it was worth it. After that we headed over to the Vatican Museum. The line for this was fairly long too, and definitely wasn’t moving as fast, but once we made it in it really was incredible and I recommend it to anyone. We stopped by a gelato shop on the way out then on the way back to our hostel we decided to go hang out at the Spanish Steps. It was great to just relax on the steps with the locals and we made sure to grab some food before we headed back to our hostel to pack up for our trip to Zurich tomorrow! I’ll post again once we get there.