Gelato, Pasta and Ruins in Rome

Now I'm not sure why the first time I was in Rome I didn't really enjoy it. It might have been because I had no interest in its history or architecture, only its food and shops... Needless to say that this time I had a completely different look about it as I had studied its building in Classics and actually knew the difference between ionic and corinthian columns.

So as our bus arrived and we were dropped off at our campsite and found our that we didn't have to put up our tents as we would have those incredible permanent tents that we had in Florence, I knew Rome would be amazing!

Once we had sorted out our tent buddies – as 15 of the group were leaving in Rome because their tour had ended, our pairs had shuffled around a bit, we got the metro into the city for our walking tour, which would be a couple of hours long...

On the walking tour we saw everything – the Trevi fountain (which was under construction annoyingly), The Pantheon, the place where Caesar was stabbed(!!!!) the Colosseum (where we had gladiator fights with wooden swords that Kiki had brought for us). We had dinner just down the road from the pantheon, and then stopped in a gelato shop for dessert, where we had the impossible task to choose three scoops from over 150 flavours... It was probably the hardest choice I've ever had to make...

The Spanish steps, I walked half way up and then stopped because I didn't fancy passing out because of heat stroke

I literally have dozens of photos of columns... Spot the inner classics freak.

Just incase you didn't believe me. This was like 1/4 of the counter...

Where Caesar was stabbed. It's now a pile of ruins and home to dozens of cats

La Familia after our gladiator battles

When we had finished sorting ourselves out for long enough to get a family photo in front of the Colosseum, we headed back to the campsite on the metro and basically went straight to bed!

The next day I had a rare sleep in, and then tried to do some washing, but 7euros later, my clothes were wet, but not clean, so I wasn't impressed. I headed into the city with Rachel, who was meeting her sister later that day as she was leaving the tour, so once we had found her hotel for the night, we said our goodbyes and then I made my way into the city. I had decided that all I wanted to do that day was go inside the Pantheon, as I'd seen all the other sights before and I didn't fancy rushing around like a loon trying to see an entire city, so I got off the metro near the Trevi fountain because I remembered that they weren't too far apart. I thought it would take me 10 minutes to walk between the two, but after 30 minutes of being lost and no matter what way I walked, always ending up back at the Trevi fountain, I decided I'd stop and ask for directions.

When I eventually found the Pantheon I went inside and just sat there for nearly an hour taking it all in. When we were in Rome last time I remember Chloe going on about its history and how interesting it all was, and sitting there I could finally appreciate the beauty of the building that had caused me so much stress during exams last year...

When I had finally taken in as much of it as I could, I left and found somewhere for lunch because I was starving. I had the best pasta ever for lunch, and I was even hit on my an Italian waiter ;) when I had got some souvenirs I walked to the metro, and again got stupidly lost, but it wasn't that bad because I stumbled across the Altare Della Patria (an amazing building/museum), and then after another 30 minutes of being unable to find the metro station, I found a taxi and asked him for directions. Turns out if i'd kept walking for about 50meters I would have seen the metro sign....

This was lunch. It was incredible. Italians really know how to do amazing simple pasta!

When I finally made it back to the campsite I had a chilled afternoon, because after all the walking i'd done while I was lost, I didn't feel like doing anything else.

We had our last dinner as the original La Familia, and then I had a drink with Carin who was also leaving the next morning to go back to South Africa. That night the bar on the campsite had a crossdressing themed party, and we all went hard out for it. The boys were borrowing dresses and complaining about mascara and lipstick, while us girls were in footy shorts and singlets and making the most of not having to do our hair and make up. It was also the first night our four new members were with us, but I'm sure they wouldn't forget it in a hurry! (the first thing I said to one of the new guys was “Hi, I'm Chanelle, here borrow my skirt.”...

Footy players don't smile in photos, which is why I look like I'm in pain because I was trying not to laugh..

The girls, but for the sake of that night, The Guys...

It was a great last night for the 15 that were leaving us, but it was also really sad..

The next morning when we had packed up and were getting onto the bus without the others felt so weird and there might have been a few tears on both parts...

But while we were all guttered to see the others go, we were all super excited to be heading to Greece!!!