A few weeks ago I went to Rome for the weekend to visit my sister, who is studying at John Cabot University for the semester. As I have my Principles of Groundwater Flow class on Friday afternoon, I took the last flight out from Amsterdam with KLM at 8:30 pm. Upon arrival in Italy, I took a 30 minute train ride to the Termini train station in the city center. Gillian lives in a section of Rome that is not really connect by the metro system so I took the metro to the Colosseum where my sister met me at. On my way to meet Gillian, I met a pair of would be pickpockets - they attempted to ask me for help buying a metro ticket, which is unbelievably simple and then tried to surround me once waiting for the metro. Stupid guys...they really thought that I was not aware of what they were doing.
Because of John Cabot University and Italian policies, I was not allowed to stay at the apartment Gillian was living in. Therefore I had found a bed and breakfast (after an intensive 2-3 hour search two weeks before arriving) that happened to be a 5-10 minute walk away. Gillian though did give me a tour of her apartment, which is really quite awesome despite all their initial setbacks and spying neighbors. When Gillian and her 5 other roommates first arrived at the apartment, they found out both the tv and the internet was not working, the stove not reliable as it would start fires randomly and only 2 burners in working order, and both showers either clogging or overflowing with water...basically a mess. So from the start, they all experienced Italian lifestyle of things being broken and not necessarily being fixed right away and lots of red tape in order to get it fixed. Anyways...by the time I arrived on the scene, the showers were working, the stove replaced and all the girls had bought personal internet usb keys to get internet. Oh...they also do not have enough dressers and closet space...imagine 6 girls and all those clothes, but they make do with what they have and are bonding very well over it. As you can see from the photos there place is still really nice and its charm makes up for all the things they went through.
Saturday after sleeping at the Bed and Breakfast, we spent a whole day doing the tourist things: going to the market at Campo del' Fiori, the Pantheon, Piazza Navona, Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps, walking down Via Candelabra (the shopping street), the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, eating some excellent Margharita pizza, eating some of the best gelato ever at a place called Giolitti near the Parlament, eating dinner in Trastavere at a restaurant called Da Gildo and eating Roman-style Gnocchi and having an excellent bottle of wine called Morellino di Scansano and eating Panna Cotta for dessert!...and ending the night at an Irish pub! 
I really enjoyed the Roman Forum as it was the founding center of Rome and there were all these ruins everywhere of the main square and temples and palaces. We saw where Julius Ceasar was buried and the stage where orators would stand and make their speeches...the Colosseum was of course interesting as well with their maze of tunnels beneath the floor and the fact that the gladiators would have no idea who their opponent was and where he would appear.
Sunday we slept in until noon as Gillian (despite her protesting that I let her sleep so long) was really exhausted. We decided to spend the afternoon by walking up Gianicolo (a hill surrounding Rome) to get a good view of the city and then walked around Trastavere until we found a place to sit down and eat. Gillian had Eggplant Parmigiana and I had Veal Piccate. For dessert we had strawberries with whipped cream since the restaurant had run out of Fragolina de Bosco.
All in all, it was a really nice weekend and not too stressful at all so though I saw a good amount of Rome, of course I barely saw anything at all...I mean I hadn't even gone into a single museum or go to the Catacombs or all the churches and the list goes on...
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