Colosseum, Beach & Lasagna

Rome, rome, rome.
such an adventure. crazy. let's see if I can remember it all.

It all started by getting in the train towards the airport in Hannover after picking up Renee and saying goodbye to Cecilia and her mother. It was the first train that had two levels that we had been on, so we rode on the top part! When we got to the airport, we checked in an went through security. At security, they took away my sunscreen, which was a bummer since I had barely used it :( but oh well. We only had our backpacks with us, so there was no way I could put it in my checked in bag. We waited at the gate for a few minutes, filled up our empty water bottles that we got through security with tap water and started our flight towards Rome! for the first time, they were going to charge us for the drinks at the airplane! We flew Germanwings by the way. So we were glad we had our waters. The flight was short and just amazing. We got to see the Alps from above! I was so overwhelmed, I cried. I just couldn't believe my eyes. Something I had never even dreamed of. When I first knew I would be going to Germany this summer, I never even thought that I would be able to go to Rome! And now beautiful Alps from the sky, overwhelming joy. I just felt God's immense love surround me and I just couldn't help but cry. Two verses came to mind.
 "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him" 1 Corinthians 2:9
 "I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it would move. Nothing would be impossible." Matthew 17:20
God reminded me of his immense love and power to build such an amazing creation and of the strength of faith. Me and Ariel were filled with joy. Praise God! 

(Renee was sleeping, she had woken up at 4am to catch a train to Hannover and missed the tram from university to train station, so she was exhausted from running in the rain to the train station, she was glad to have made it thou!)


When we arrived in Rome, we took a bus to the main train station "Roma Termini." We proceeded to check in to our hostal....which at first seemed really sketch. Everyone in Rome just stares. We later learned than by walking fast makes everything safer in Rome, such as don't getting hit by a car and not getting pickpocketed. Anyways, our Hostal was actually really nice. It was called Coconuts and was on the 7th floor of a building. It was only for girls, which made us feel safer, since Rome seemed really sketch. They lady gave us our locker with the four keys to the elevator, hostal, main door building and locker key. We changed into summer clothes and headed out to explore the beautiful city. 





Everything is within walking distance, which is nice. Right away, we went to a nice church that had a statue of the pope pretty big. Renee and Ariel had to cover their arms and legs to be able to go into the church. We thought it was funny that I didn't...but we reasoned it was probably bc my dress was long enough and you couldn't see my bra straps since my dress wasn't completely spaguetti strapped. At first we thought it was bc I looked Italian lol but prob not. The church was pretty big and very detailed. pretty for sure. After we headed to see the main attraction, The Colosseum. I was the only one of us that went in. Renee had already been inside and Ariel didn't feel like paying to go inside. So I did, I was amazed by the inside of it, it looked like a maze with really big walls on the lower level and the top level was just old style seating stadium style. I thought it was interesting that there was a cross on one of the sides. Later I read that the cross was placed there in recent years. Also, In one of the explanation on the wall about the Colosseum, it said that there was no "evidence" that Christians had been martyred there. I have been to the Concentration Camp Buchenwand and this was kind of like that too, why not just admit it? but oh well. people have the freedom to believe what they want. Colosseum def reminded me of what the early Christians had to go through for their faith and what some people nowadays go through in other countries. The ticket that got me into the Colosseum that I purchased was also to go into Palentine Hall and the ruins of the Roman Forum, so I did that as well. Since my friends didn't go in, I tried to hurry as much as I could, but it was so huge! So many things to see, so many things to take in. So many left over ruins. That is where the main people and where everything happened. It was great speeding and enjoying it all!
Campo de Fiori & Plazza de Navona & more cute patios and plazas everywhere. very italianish. cute cute. people everywhere. like a painting!! Did I mention that Rome is shadytown yet? haha
anyway, in one of the plazas we ate some pizza. We learned the hard way that in Italy, you don't eat pizza at the tourist places, so yeah the pizza was horrible! But we got to enjoy the pretty plaza and take the moment in that we were actually in Italy! From the people, to the streets, to the buildings, windows, trees, flowers, everything screams Italy! After eating, we kept exploring Rome. Everywhere we turned, there was amazing, pretty, fancy buildings that seemed important. We were looking for the Parliament building and at first we found one that had flags and a clock and we thought that was it, so we took a bunch of pictures by it and then we decided to go inside. And I never do this, but I asked the lady in a window that told us it was close, what the building was used for, like what was the building for. And she said for the newspaper! hahahaha
So we turned one more street and we found the actual building for the Parliament, which was also great! with more flags and decoration haha.
After that, we went to the Pantheon and yeah we did find the right one, you can't miss something like that. The columns just added the beauty to this monument. We took pictures with the columns and the big door and of course the Pantheon itself! It was around sunset time, which is around 10pm so we headed towards the Fontana di trevi and got some nutella GELATO (ice cream) and enjoyed the big fountain and a gorgeous sunset and a great afternoon! We were so tired from all the walking and it was so nice. There were of course tons of tourists there but we found a place to sit and relax! When it was time to head back to our Hostal, I noticed that two guys were following us in the middle of the crowd. So I tried not to freak out my friends but I just told them that we should get lost in the crowd and loose the guys. I was praying so hard this whole time. When we finally got to the other side of the crowd I told them what I saw and tried to calm down. After a bit, we headed towards the Spanish Steps and everything was good. The Spanish Steps by night is so pretty. Rome is SO PRETTY at night! The lights add to the painting-looking buildings. It was great to keep on relaxing on the steps and just taking the moment and the whole day in. Since Rome seems kind of shady, we were just smart heading back. We would walk always behind other people and walk a somewhat fast pace. We had to take a bus and this is when we learned that transportation system in Rome is nothing like the German transportation. We now appreciate how beautiful Germany truly is when it comes to transportation and cleanness! We made it safely to our Hostel that night, thank the Lord! 

The next morning we woke up super early and headed towards the Vatican. The Vatican has walls all around it and has a ton of treasure. We waited abt an hour to get in but it was worth it. The Vatican has probably been my least favorite place so far. Don't get me wrong, it is really pretty. We went into the museum that is SO BIG but everything is pretty and placed together, that you can't really appreciate one thing, is overwhelming with everything being gorgeous. You go in room after room of just more gold and pretty paintings and statues. The last room is The sistine Chapel where the famous painting of Michaelangelo is in. I expected it to be huge and kind of by itself, but is not haha. Is in the middle of a ton of paintings and in the middle of the ceiling. The room is huge and paintings everywhere! And you are not allowed to make much noise but then this guards kept on screaming "Silencio" or something like that. Regardless, I really enjoyed watching the paintings on one side of the room. I figured that it was about Moses liberating the Israelites! It was great to see how the author had interpreted the story and put it on a wall. After this, we ate at the museum's cafeteria place and it was ok. At this point, I was kind of getting dissapointed in Italian food that was supposed to be the best in the world...
Then, we walked all the way around and went to the open area in front of the Vatican. A ton of people were there and there was this huge line to walk a ton of stairs to go to the very top. We were tired and running out of time so we just took a few pictures and left towards the Hostel. It was around 2 and we needed to catch a train in 20mins. We made it to our Hostel, changed into our swimsuits and ran towards the train station to catch our train towards the Beach! When we bought our tickets, it didn't say which platform or train to get on so we tried asking this suited men to help us but this random guys out of nowhere told us that it was platform 14. So we ran there being weirded out how some guys knew where we wanted to go! haha. The time that the train was leaving matched the time on the ticket we bought so we got on. The train took us to Fondi Sparlonga city and it took an hour and a half. On the way, the landscape was gorgeous. I love the big windows and just the beautiful scenery. God blessed me by seeing a whole field of sunflowers out the window! My mother loves sunflowers!!!!! It was so pretty!!! I couldn't believe my eyes :)
When we got there, we knew we needed to take a bus to the actual beach from that train station but no signs, kind of empty small station. But there was this group of students also there wanting to go to the beach so we talked with them and they said they had ask the office and bus was coming in about an hour. We didn't really want to wait that long. We asked this other tourist ladies and they told us that they were going to a different beach. THey had a local from there guiding them and the next bus that came was for their beach called Anastasia, so we decided to just go with them and the big group of students came with us as well. The ride was about 20minutes but it was worth it! It was so nice to get away from a ton of tourists and enjoy the warm beach :) The weather wasn't exactly perfect for a beach day but it felt like summer, so we were happy! The beach wasn't crowded at all and we felt safe and happy.
After a few hours, we wanted to head back for some decent dinner back in the city, so we tried to look for a bus stop but we were late for the bus and the next one came in an hour or something like that. So we took a taxi to the train station and headed back to Rome! We wanted something delicious but so far, nothing. So Ariel talked with her friend that she had made at the Hostel that had lived in Rome for a while and she told us it was nice to walk by the river at night. So we headed that direction and she was right. Gorgeous view! Stars, river, pretty buildings at the distance and cute restaurants by the river! We decided we were done trying to find a good pizza so we wanted lasagna, so after a while of looking for a good lasagna place, we found one that looked pretty chill and welcoming. It was the best way to spend a fourth of july evening in Rome. The view was something I never even imagined. For once, the customer service in Italy was great, we had an old men as our waiter and his english was great and treated us with elegancy! We ordered some lasagna and some wine. It was delicious! Best lasagna I have ever had! It was such an special evening, we were in Rome.


Thank God for keeping us safe those two days. Rome was such an adventure. But the adventure wasn't over, we still had to make it back to Erfurt!
Woke up super early, catched a bus from the train station to the airport. It turns out we were already running late, the bus took longer than we had hoped for. So we were flying RyanAir and we had already printed our Boarding Pass, and since we had no bags to check in, we went straight through security. I had a water bottle, halfway filled in my backpack but I had forgotten about it. So we go through security as fast as possible, Thank God there was not a big line. I go through first and no trouble whatsoever. Renee goes through and I tell her to wait for Ariel while I run to try to stop our plane to not leave us. So I run to the gate and the lady with an attitude tells me that I needed a stamp from the check-in desk. And I ask if she can hold the plane, but she said no because she didn't think we were going to be able to make it. I asked if we could leave our backpacks there, so it will be easier to go through security but she said no. She had an attitude for no reason. Anyways, I ran back and found Renee and Ariel along the way also running and I told them we had to go back, so we all ran back. We told a security guy that we needed the stamp, so he let us back out from security and we were still running and cut the long check-in line to the first window that got open. Thank God the lady did not see us cut. Renee, in a hurry, told the lady we had to catch a plane so please stamp our boarding passes. And the lady overreacted and told us to be quite and to give her our passports. So she signed them and we ran towards security. This time, I opened my backpack and threw my water bottle away. Got through security really fast, got patted down by some lady at security since I beeped when I went through but at least it didn't take long. So I ran to the gate with Renee and Ariel not that far behind and the ladies there told us to get on the bus to the catch the plane. So we did and our heart was beating so far, we could not believe we had gone through security twice and checked in, all within 5mins (or it seemed like it). So once on the bus-kind-of vehicle we waited for the guy to take us to the plane but he seemed to be waiting for something. Then one of the ladies from the gate got on the passenger seat and they just started talking like good old friends for what it seemed to be forever. Renee, sweet Renee, got so frustrated, she got up and knocked on the window that divided the drivers seat and the section where we were. She signaled let's go to them. But the lady turned around and gave her "shhhhh" nonverbal sign with a finger over her lips. Renee came back and sat down and after a few minutes the lady got off and left. Finally, the bus got us to the airplane and we made it! :)

We arrived at Frankfurt Hahn Airport. Not the main airport in Frankfurt. So we had to take a bus to the train station to catch our train back to Erfurt that we had already paid for. We had been told by one of our friends that the bus ride takes around an hour and a half, so we thought we had plenty of time to catch it. But the bus that was there when we arrived was already full, so we had to wait for the next one, which was in an hour! But according to our calculations, if the bus takes exactly an hour and a half and leaves when its supposed to, we would have 5minutes to catch our train and since we are used to that craziness, we were okay, or so we thought. So we had lunch at the airport and waited for the next bus. It did leave on time, but we were counting the fact that the bus stopped at the main airport in Frankfurt before taking us to the train station. So we arrived to the train station 10 minutes after our train left! We still ran there hoping that by some miracle the train was delayed, since that has happened before. But no, it was gone.
We went to the Deutsche Bahn (train company) and asked for the next train and if she could help us get on it. She figured out the next time and gave us a couple of options. The next fast train was going to be 80 Euros for all three of us and if we take the regional train it would be a bit less but we wouldnt arrive in Erfurt until night and with 3 or 4 transfer of trains. We had to make a concert at 7pm from our roommate Miho! By this time, we had no money, literally, we had spent our last Euros in our lunch and the bus, we weren't planning on missing a train. So I told the lady that it wasn't our fault we missed the train since the bus company from the Airport Hahn took longer than expected and they didn't have enough seats on the earlier bus and it was our only way to get to the train station. She explained that if the bus would have been part of their company, she could just get us on the other train for free since it was their fault but because it wasn't part of their company, she could not do that. She told us to pay and then file for a refund from the airport. We coudn't even do this, since we had no money! So we just stood there in silence for what it seemed to be forever. Then the lady filled out the back of our ticket, stamped it, signed it and told us to get on the next train! We were so amazed and thankful!
When we got out of her office, Renee said, "we are so lucky!" and Ariel replied, "no Renee, it was God!"
:)
And she was right, the whole trip God was everywhere. He took care of us so well, I have never felt so protected by His love and care. 


We made it to Erfurt on time to change and make it to Miho's concert! :)
She did great! She plays classical music on piano! She is so good. She played songs from Bach, Chopi, and all these other famous classical music masters.


Rome was definitely the adventure that showed us how much God takes care of us. Rome was fun! did I mention it was shady?




Cynth