Roman Fever: Making the Best of it When in Italy

I was going to love Rome.

I knew it, I just felt it in my bones before I even made the plans to visit.  After all, why wouldn't I?  A beautiful city founded on ancient ruins and an ancient culture.  I was majoring in history, wasn't it obvious that this was the perfect city for me?  I had such a romanticized vision of Rome built up in my head; it would be beautiful, I would see Roman ruins, it would be perfect.  I should have known better, I should I have known I was in love with the idea of Rome.

Now before you think I'm bashing this city, that is indeed beautiful, it really wasn't all Rome's fault.  Yes it didn't manage to hold up to my unrealistic vision of what Rome should be after studying it and its influence for years (but they were quite unfair expectations).  I think instead my imperfect trip to Rome had much to do with the timing and my state upon arrival.

It wasn't just you Rome, it was me too.  I blame it on Roman Fever.

Relaxing in Spain

At the time of this trip I was in my senior year of college and between student teaching full-time and working a part-time job I was averaging about 55 hours per week.   I thought "wouldn't it be great to explore Rome while I visit my boyfriend over February break?" when I should have really been thinking "wouldn't it be great to have a nice, relaxing vacation visiting my boyfriend over February break?"  Silly me, why would I want a relaxing vacation.

The real nail in the coffin wasn't the work or the pre-graduation stress, but the fact that just over a week before leaving I had caught a viral sinus infection from one of my students.  Of. Course. I. Would.  But Rome waits for no one so I nursed myself back to normal, or so I thought, and continued on to my European plans.  The first few days in Spain were wonderful and relaxing so obviously I was healed, clearly our Roman adventures would be perfect.

Until we landed in Rome and oh...weird that my throat hurts a little...nothing to worry about.


So we wandered on and I really did fall in love with Rome; the food, the culture, the art, the streets, the buildings.  Our hostel was only a ten-fifteen minute walk from the Trevi Fountain and there was nothing I enjoyed more than walking around the area, sitting near the fountain, and browsing the local shops.  I was blown away by the Vatican and and the breathtaking view from atop Saint Peter's Basilica.   It may have been touristic, but eating dinner in the Piazza della Rotonda across from the Pantheon was a dream come true.  The Italian food was more delicious than I had imagine and I made it through the first two days only a little sore from all the walking.

But despite Rome's beauty I was taken aback by the amount of street vendors quite literally bombarding you to buy their goods or trying to have you let them photograph you for a charge.  It made me uncomfortable to have waiters call out to me from the restaurant and try and sit me at their tables when I was just trying to look at the menu.  That hadn't been part of my perfect vision of Rome; I had not expected that my musings of Rome while meandering through its narrow streets would be interrupted like that.  And then my throat started to hurt more as the medicine my boyfriend's mom had packed for me started to run out.  All of this combined started to chip away at my ideal Rome and my perfect plans.


It was the day trip to Florence that really finished me off.  To save money we took one of the cheaper trains with a travel time of around three hours.  I knew far less about Florence than I did Rome; that it was the capital city of Tuscany, birthplace of the Renaissance, had the beautiful Florence Cathedral (the Duomo), and was home to some of the most famous pieces of art in the world.  What's not love about that?!  Then it just so happened on this day that I ran out of medicine and my throat became so painful and swollen that I couldn't eat anything without feeling like I was swallowing razor blades.  Ouch.  And thus began our trip to Florence and made me start to think that maybe it just wasn't my week.

I pledged to try and stop my complaining to enjoy the city.  The architecture was stunning and was one of my favorite aspects of the day; never before had I been so stunned by the facade of a building than while staring up at the Duomo.  We saw much of the main sites like the Fontana del Porcellino, Ponte Vecchio, and Palazzo Vecchio and I managed to make it through to visit the Uffizi Museum and Academia di Bella Arti di Firenze to see some of the major art contributions displayed in Florence, the works of Botticelli being my particular favorite.  But I was still altogther in pain and miserable.  By the time we ate dinner at the Piazza della Repubblica I had to buy throat lozenges and pain relievers for the dreaded three hour train back to Rome and just wanted to go to bed forever.  Scrumptious gelato had a pleasant, albeit temporary, soothing effect on my throat but was not enough to make my sick and tired self any less miserable and unhappy at being so far from a bed.

Little Caesar was impressed

After Florence I thought to give up on my trip to Italy.  Roman Fever had grabbed hold of me and it seemed to want me gone for good.  Feeling so miserably sick had mixed with my unexpected findings of how touristic the city could be and unfortunately overpowered how beautiful Rome really was.  But my boyfriend had saved the best for last.  Maybe he somehow knew I would need the pick-me-up or maybe it was fate, or sheer coincidence... but he had planned our last day to be spent in the Roman ruins.  At long last I laid my eyes on the Colosseum and and Roman Forum I knew that for my love of history I could make the best of it for this special day.  After all, nothing cheers a history major up like some good old fashioned ruins.  I did my best to wander as much as possible; basking in the sun as we strolled through Palatine Hill and the remains of the once magnificent Forum.

When I officially left Rome to return home, I left exhausted and pained, feeling a little disappointed (and somewhat bitter), thinking the trip had been less than ideal, and that my expectations had not been met.  It took a while to separate these emotions from the city itself.  It wasn't Rome's fault I was sick or had built up wild and unattainable expectations.  It was then that I realized that deep down I had fallen in love with Rome despite everything.

So let's make amends Rome.  Maybe we can start over and try again next time?  I'll try to be less demanding of you.

Roman Forum

Have you ever had unrealistic expectations overshadow a trip?  Or been sick while traveling?

*No, I did not really have Roman Fever (a type of Malaria)

Italy: My Food Heaven

I love food.  If you know me even a little, that should be no surprise.  And while I have loved the food of all the places I have traveled to so far, my absolute favorite has been in Italy.  While a lot of the snack stands we stopped at for a quick bite were indeed average, every single restaurant we ate at was delicious.  Pizza, pasta, and Gelato (of course) to die for!  If you've been to Italy I'm sure you can agree that the food is pretty close to heavenly.  Here's a brief post on why I could live on Italian food for the rest of my life.

It started our first night as we wandered from our hostel to the Trevi Fountain.  As we wandered I was tempted by all of the gelaterias, or gelato stores, we passed.  My boyfriend has been lucky enough to travel to Italy quite frequently (the perks of being European) and was quite adamant I chose my gelateria wisely; nothing too fluffy, or too bright.  If you don't know what gelato is it's a dessert similar to ice cream.  It's much smoother, creamier, and has a richer flavor.  We finally chose a tiny place on a side street that was full; we selected the flavors of Nutella and Tiramisu to try between the two of us.  Needless to say I was in gelato heaven and may or may not have eaten some gelato every single day...and have no regrets.  I tried many different flavors over our week in Italy but Nutella was my favorite.  Whenever I am in Europe I am sure to overload on Nutella anything because it is not common back in the United States.

source

Is this not perfect? source

Another thing I try to overload on in Europe, is the presence of so many languages.  I always like to pick up at least a few words and phrases when I travel somewhere new.  I have never studied Italian before but I picked up the basic Italian words of: grazie, prego, scusa, etc.  Over the vacation though my most important, and most used,  vocabulary word was of course: formaggi, or cheese.   It's something I have been sure to learn the word for in the countries I've visited, because let's face it.  I can't get enough cheese!  Over our stay I had some truly delicious quattro formaggi pizza, pasta, and gnocchi.  If formaggi was in the name then I knew it was the food for me.  You only live once so why not eat everything I possibly can that is smothered with cheese!  In fact I loved the formaggi so much that I have been so disappointed in most Italian food since I've come back home, I miss the real deal.

For our meals in Italy we tried not to eat in the main areas because they would be the most 'touristic' and were often overpriced, crowded, and I'm sure not quite as tasty.  It was quite easy to find these off the beaten path restaurants in Rome because of all the winding side streets you find yourself on.  We found some truly delicious places for food while wandering around the streets of the city.  Only once did we end up sitting in a plaza for a meal, in Piazza della Rotonda, across from the Pantheon.  It may not have been as 'authentic' Italian but I enjoyed our meal and we had street performers serenading us so it was impossible to not fall in love with the atmosphere.  Not to mention I got to sit, and eat, in front. of. THE. Pantheon.  The history major in me died and went to heaven while the cheese lover in me followed suit with my quattro formaggi.

Caesar was pleased

We were only in Florence for a day and did not really leave the center of the city so it was much harder to find a restaurant that was not very touristic.  We tried wandering down different side streets but it was most shops and not restaurants.  Despite that we had some delicious pizza at our dinner in the Piazza della Repubblica but when we grabbed a quick lunch in the Piazza della Signoria it was, nicely put, awful.  Our waiter literally TOOK our table away before we could finish our coffee so he could seat someone else.  We sat there in shock as we held onto our coffee cups and what we had left to drink.  Needless to say it was a disappointing lunch, but you win some you lose some.  Overall, I loved the cuisine in Italy and was able to feed my ever-growing cheese addiction.  Good or bad, dining was always an experience!  And in Italy I have eaten the best pasta, gelato, and pizza in my life.  Luckily when I'm in Santander I can get my Italian fix at my friend's Italian restaurant that his family owns called Pizzeria l'Archetto.  He's half Italian so not only is it authentic, but he encourages (and feeds) my cheese love.  A win-win situation!  Now go out and find your favorite cuisine, buon appetito!

Hail Caesar!

Do you love Italian food too?  What country is home to your favorite food?