Two weeks ago I decided to take my last voyage outside of the city limits. I traveled to the manmade Marmore Waterfalls. As part of a tour we were able to hike around the waterfall and see some breathtaking views. On our return to Rome, we took a brief stop at the Carsule ruins. Unfortunately, as study abroad students who had already seen numerous other ruins throughout Europe, most were not interested in seeing this unheard of, remote hillside.
Later in the week, to alleviate end-of-year stress, Sarah and I decided to make cookies for a bake sale in the piazza outside of our apartment building. Unfortunately, the only thing we made was cookies and a lot of them. Although we didn’t sell any, we ate many and enjoyed our last weekend.
I know many are curious as to whether I attended the beatification of Pope John Paul II. I did not. Instead, I enjoyed the crowd in our piazza at our highly profitable bake sale. My friend David attended and his comment regarding the event was: “It was crazy – and not in a good way.”
I got lucky during finals week and finished with all of my exams on Tuesday. This left me with the rest of the week before I left on Friday. I spent Wednesday morning at the Vatican museum (Yes, it did take me almost four months to finally go inside of the Vatican). Here are two tips I suggest to anyone traveling to the Vatican:
1. Buy your tickets online. Online = No line. I was able to walk by a line that covered a city block.
2. There is no need to pay for a tour. Casually trail behind one of the school tours. If that tour guide is dry, choose from one of the countless other tours.
3. Hidden beneath the gardens is the garage housing the different Popemobiles throughout time. Not many people realize this is located here, but the carriages are definitely worth seeing.
Wednesday afternoon I traveled back to the beach one last time. I decided to visit a different area that I thought was a public beach. I quickly found out I was wrong. After being chased down by the receptionist, I asked if I could simply walk the beach in which I was granted permission. As I reached the sand I conspicuously avoided the lifeguard by walking in a complete circle and found a spot to lay down my blanket behind a boulder where I thought I was out of site. About five minutes later I was startled by Damien, the lifeguard, who was unfolding a lounge chair for me. He informed me that I was on a private beach and if I did not have a chair by the time the next lifeguard came, I would be kicked out. After asking how much the service cost, he graciously told me I could have it for free. I learned on my way out that having an umbrella was 80 euro for the day.
