Travel Break: Week 1

So my two week travel break has come to a close, and I got back to Copenhagen this evening. I visited Rome, London, and Dublin, and I had an amazing time.

When in Rome… eat gelato EVERYday (and sometimes twice a day)

So I spent the first 5 days of my break in Rome. Not too shabby, I guess ;) I went with my Classical and Renaissance Rome class (which is a 1 credit class that people take for the sole purpose of going on this trip) and our professor. There was about 25 students, and our professor named Thyge (try and pronounce that…none of us could. We restored to calling him Too-gee, which is a gross mispronunciation of his actual name but it’s the best we could do). Anyway, Thyge is an absolute Rome fanatic. He was like a walking guidebook and encyclopedia in one. He’s Danish, but he told us he’s visited Rome 37 times. A bit excessive in my opinion….but he clearly REALLY likes Rome.

So, while in Rome, we saw the Colosseum, the Vatican Museum, the Pantheon, the Circus Maximus, the Roman forum, the Trevi Fountain (most gorgeous/magical fountain ever), St. Peter’s Basilica, the ancient Roman port city of Ostia Antica, and MANY many more. Thyge had us on a pretty tight schedule during the day, and then we were free to explore on our own after 4pm. There’s no way I could have seen Rome like we did without Thyge leading us around, so it was tiring at times but I’m definitely glad I visited Rome on this trip rather than on my own time.

Me at Ostia Antica- the ancient port city of Rome

The Colosseum!

The Trevi Fountain *magical*

Rome itself is full of delicious food, overly eager and insistent street-market sellers, lots of amazing ancient/historical statues and buildings, lots of tourist stores and restaurants, and LOTS of tourists. Rome is strange because in one direction you’ll see ancient ruins, in another a majestic renaissance church, and in another a modern strip of stores...and everywhere in between you'll see tourists. The streets and public transportation are absolutely jam packed with people. I don't know how Italians actually live in Rome...and truthfully I don't think many do. I kept having to remind myself I was in Italy because I saw so few Italians.

The BEST pizza I've ever eaten

Of course though, the greatest thing about Rome is the GELATO. There’s a gelato place on every single corner of Rome and you really can’t walk more than 5 minutes without encountering at least 2. We ate gelato literally every single day, and on some days twice. There was one particular gelato place that sold 100 different flavors. It naturally because our favorite place… so much so that the workers there actually recognized us and actually made fun of us a bit for coming so frequently. But, our policy was when in Rome, right?? I mean really, when’s the next time I’ll be there? I had to stock up on the gelato when I had the chance :)

SOO much gelato :)

PLUS, we had absolutely amazing weather (apart from one day when it absolutely poured). Otherwise, it was 65* and sunny the whole time. We went to the beach one day (awesome) and another we all broke out our flip-flops and t-shirts. It was just gorgeous. Us Scandinavian kids haven't seen sunshine like that in a while, so we soaked it up for all it was worth.

Rainy day by the Coliseum

BEACH! On the coast by Ostia Antica