When in Rome...

As the end of my year abroad came into sight, my housemate Charlotte and I decided we wanted to go on a trip together to end our year on a positive note. And where better to go but Rome?

So on Friday 13th (ooh!) May we set off to the airport for our weekend adventure, and it's safe to say we were very, very excited.

(until we realised that flying with a budget airline means that bits inside the plane are fixed with duct tape...)

But we arrived safely in Rome and took the half an hour train to the city centre. Our hotel (Hotel Seiler) was about a ten minute walk from the main train station, and very close to the centre of the city too, so we were in a great location. 

On Friday evening we headed to the region of Trastevere in Rome, which we were told was less touristy and had some great restaurants. After a rather cramped and frankly scary bus ride, we decided we'd probably walk back to the hotel after dinner. We found a little pizzeria (of course, we were in Italy!) for dinner and on the walk back to the hotel later on we found a gelateria and bought the most amazing ice cream! 

Rome at night was beautiful!

Saturday, our first full day in Rome, was unfortunately very rainy...

...however we bought umbrellas and tried to make the most of the day!

We went for a walk into the centre area of Rome, where we saw parts of the Roman Forum, the Colosseum and Piazza Venezia.

We stopped for lunch in a lovely little cafe by the Colosseum and although it was raining, we were able to sit outside in the sheltered area. It was such a shame seeing so many tourists getting soaked (as we were) by the torrential rain and we tried to decide what we could still do.

We decided that we would try doing a bus tour of the city, as at least that way we would learn about the area and see some of the sights. So we bought our tickets, which included entry to the Roman Forum and Colosseum, and got on the bus. Unfortunately despite the rain, the company had put up the roof but no windows upstairs, so sitting by the 'window' meant that you got absolutely soaked. By this point I was feeling quite uncomfortable, and we decided we needed to have a change of plans.

We got off the bus at the Trevi fountain, and the rain had eased off a little. 

After that we thought that shopping in Rome might be a good way of being inside, dry and still experiencing the city. So we headed off around the corner to Via del Corso to do some shopping and it was very successful. 

We also found La Durée, a famous Parisian tea house, so we had to go in and try!

The hot chocolate was literally just melted chocolate in a mug - amazing!

On the way to the hotel on the Friday we'd seen a lovely little restaurant in a little alley that we really wanted to try, so we got back on the (rather wet) tour bus and headed back to the train station to find it. And we weren't disappointed. At Alessio Ristorante we had a lovely meal, with traditional bread, wine and, to quote Charlotte, 'The best panna cotta I've ever had!'

After dinner, we headed back to the hotel to watch Eurovision and although I understood pretty much nothing of the Italian, it was great fun, especially to watch with someone from another participating country.

On Sunday the weather was a lot better, and we tried to make up for lost time. One thing I learnt is that two days is not long enough to see Rome. You need at least a week I'd say! But we enjoyed it nonetheless, and I would love to go back one day.
We started out at the Roman Forum, as we had to pick up our tickets here for the Colosseum and Roman Forum. As we couldn't get into the Colosseum until 2.30pm we took our time in the Roman Forum, learning a bit about the Roman civilisation that existed such a long time ago.

At around 1pm we'd still only seen about half of the Roman Forum, but we were pretty hungry by then, so we decided to go back to the same restaurant as yesterday and have some lunch before heading to the Colosseum.
As we arrived at the Colosseum, we were a little confused. We'd bought 'skip the line' tickets, but couldn't see a way in other than an extremely long queue. It turned out that this queue was for the 'skip the line' tickets (ironic!) which was ridiculous...so we asked a tourist information worker for advice. He said we could take part in an English tour (of course for more money) and then we wouldn't have to queue. We thought this sounded like the best idea, as then we also get information about the Colosseum and learn something, so we joined the tour group.
I did get a little freaked out when the tour guide told us we had to pretend not to have a ticket to get in, and then after the metal detector we could just head on through as though we did have tickets (which we did), but we couldn't go as a group because it wasn't 'official' and that he would meet us in there...eek! But we trusted him, and it paid off, because he did appear and the tour was fantastic, informative and I learnt a lot - definitely worth that little extra money for a tour and skipping the queue!

As we were headed back to the hotel to drop our bags off before dinner, it started pouring with rain...

We sheltered in a couple of shops and popped into a supermarket to buy some traditional Italian food to take home with us, and eventually made it back to the hotel, completely soaking wet (I had to throw my poor shoes away!)

Our plan was to head back to the same restaurant at the day before, but we decided that because we were now soaking wet, we'd have a picnic at the hotel instead, and it was totally worth it!

Early on Monday morning we flew back to Austria. Despite the weather, I had a wonderful time in Rome, and it was a great way to end my time living with Charlotte. She's been an amazing housemate, so generous, helpful and fun - a friend for life!

Thanks for reading!

Laura

"It's amore"!

Hi everyone!

This week we had a week off school for the semester break, and so I made the most of the time off work to explore a country I've never been to before: Italy!

On Tuesday we hopped on a train at 9.30 in the morning, and arrived in Venice at 6.10pm. It was a long journey, but it went fairly quickly with a good book and beautiful scenery. I'm always amazed at how easy it is to travel from Austria!

The hotel was about ten minutes from the train station, and luckily I'd looked up directions before hand because Venice is just full of little winding streets, canals and bridges and it would have been impossible to find otherwise! The hotel was nice, basic but nice :) And naturally when in Italy, pizza and gelato was on the menu for dinner, at a nice little pizzeria just up the road from the hotel.

Wednesday was the first full day in Venice. We headed off on foot to St Mark's Square (Piazza San Marco) via the Rialto Bridge (Ponte Rialto). In St Mark's Square there is St Mark's Basilica and the Doge's Palace, and so we spent the morning exploring these two. Here are a few pictures from this:

The view from one of the many bridges we crossed to get to St Mark's Square

The view from by Rialto Bridge

The view from by Rialto Bridge

St Mark's Basilica 

Unfortunately you can't take photos inside the Basilica or the palace, but they were absolutely beautiful, full of paintings from brilliant Italian artists, and the Basilica was unlike any Church I'd ever seen before.

After lunch at the palace cafe, we went for a walk along the sea front in Venice. The sun came out for us, and the view was phenomenal. I'd not realised how much I missed the smell and the feel of the seaside, and so I was in heaven.

Venice seaside

One of the many canals in Venice

An obligatory selfie with a Venetian canal and gondola!

Wednesday dinner was at 'Osteria ae Cravate' which I would recommend highly to anyone visiting Venice. It was a quirky place with ties from all over the world hanging from the ceiling. The owner and waitress built up a great rapport with all the customers, and the food was amazing. I also managed to convince the waitress I spoke more Italian than I actually do by ordering in Italian...this did come back to bite me in the end though, when she started asking questions in Italian...

Sea food pasta

Panacotta with caramel and warm chocolate pudding

Thursday was boat trip day, and we were luck enough to have beautiful sunshine! A website called viator.com advertised a boat trip to see three islands near Venice called Murano, Burano and Torcello for €18. It was great! The tour guide switched seamlessly between four languages and gave lots of information on the sites we were seeing. The first stop was Murano, an island known for it's glass making. We watched a glass blowing demonstration and then walked up the canal towards the centre of the island.

The second island, Burano, is known for it's leaning church tower, multi coloured houses, and the lace produced on the island.

Some of the bright coloured houses on the island of Burano

The third and final island, Torcello, was my personal favourite. It was quite, scenic and beautiful.

We had a ten minute walk along the canal before we reached the main part of the island

Part of the beautiful island Church

Our return to Venice was just as the sun was beginning to set, and so the view from the boat was stunning.

After our boat tour, we headed off to the train station and got on a train to Verona. We arrived in Verona at around 6.30pm, and after a slight panic that we couldn't get into our hotel (no-one answered the doorbell, it turned out the owner didn't live there himself, but I managed to find a phone number so we weren't stranded!) we got in and the hotel was lovely.

Our one day in Verona was Friday, and so I wanted to see everything! I'd heard great things about the town, and having studied a lot of Shakespeare and loved the film 'Letters to Juliet' I was extremely excited!

We started off with Castelvecchio, a castle and bridge from the Middle Ages.

After Castelvecchio on the agenda was the Arena, a Roman Amphitheatre from the 1st Century and the third largest in the world, and which is still used for performances today.
We were able to get a 'Verona Card', which is €18 for students and gets you into all the tourist attractions in the city for free or for a very reduced rate. You can buy them at all the tourist attractions and it was really worth it, so I'd recommend that too.

Another obligatory selfie in the Roman Arena!

The beautiful fountain and park outside the Roman Arena

Next was Juliet's House, which features the symbolic balcony from Shakespeare's play, and a museum of the history of Juliet. There is a wall, like the one that features in the film 'Letters to Juliet', and inside the museum you have the opportunity to write a letter or email to the secretaries of Juliet, who answer questions on love.

We walked through the Piazza delle Erbe to the church of St Anastasia, which was beautiful. The design of Italian churches is different from Austria, very elegant and often light and airy.

After lunch, we headed over the river on the Ponte Pietra to the old Roman Theatre, which is now in ruins but was built here in the late 1st century BC. This location was chosen due to it being beside the river on a hill, so was easily visible. 

What is left of the Roman Theatre today

The view from the Pietra bridge (Ponte Pietra)

The ruins of the Roman theatre

The duomo (cathedral) of Verona was amazing. In some areas, there are some archaeological excavations which show what the original cathedral might have looked like. It was destroyed in an earthquake, and the Romanesque church that is there now dates back to 1187.  

The striking pink marble columns of the cathedral

After all the exploring, I decided it was time for (more) gelato! A lovely gelateria on the Piazza delle Erbe served waffles with the huge selection of ice cream, and English Breakfast tea, so I was happy!

The final stop of the day was Juliet's grave further outside of the main city centre. This grave is believed to have been Shakespeare's inspiration for the tragic death scene of Romeo and Juliet.

The story of Romeo and Juliet in picture form.

We headed back to Linz on Saturday, exhausted after a long week of exploring, but I had such an amazing time! I loved Verona, and Venice, and the beautiful islands we visited. My first trip to Italy was a great success, and I cannot wait to go back!

Thanks for reading!

Laura :)