At the beginning of October our school went on break for the Muslim Feast of the Sacrifice, which was convenient for us since we were going to have to take off for the Feast of Tabernacles anyway. They didn't align perfectly, though, so we wound up with a few days free before the FOT. The closest FOT site we knew of was Sabaudia, Italy, so we decided to go explore Rome on our extra days.
Our first day in Italy was a little...hectic. After getting through the airport and being fleeced at the currency exchange kiosk, we made our way to the train station. Things were going okay, but then we changed to the second train, which passed right by our stop! We got off at the next stop, but by then we were about 10 miles away. Thankfully, there were some Mormon missionaries at the train station who told us which train to catch to get back. Finally back at our stop, an Italian lady told us that our hostel was close and to wait for the next bus...but 10 minutes later she got a phone call telling her the buses were running late. At that point we decided to walk - with our luggage down a busy road with no sidewalks. The hostel was actually less than 1 mile away, and we got checked in without incident.
For the next three days we got up early and caught a bus/subway into town and explored for 12 hours or more.
Day 1 we started out at the Roman forum, explored nearby, then headed north for the Spanish steps, etc.
 |
| Pantheon |
 |
| Plaza Navonna |
Day 2 we went out to some Christian catacombs, then explored the Jewish sector, Trastevere, and the Janiculum hill.
Day 3 we explored a little more of Rome, then visited the Villa Borghese art museum before taking our train to Sabaudia.
