Rome.

Rome, Italy.
June 27th - July 1st 2019.


Finally I've been to ROMA!
For as long as I know its been on my Bucket List for forever. So me and my best friend Cam booked up for a long weekend, when Ryan was on his lads holiday, as I couldn't stand to be on my own all week. After extensive research, through blogs, reviews and obviously re-watching Angels & Demons and The Lizzie Mcguire Movie, we decided where we wanted to go. Pretty much the usual tourist spots.

We were booked into the Hotel Emona Aquaeductus, but there was a problem with our room so we had to go to another hotel for the night, so the taxi driver came for us dropped us off at the Porta Maggiore, which looked posh, not too shabby to stay for one night, they had no mention of us coming, the taxi driver had only took us to the wrong hotel! Went back to the Emona got another taxi to the right hotel, when in Rome you have to pay a 6 Euros city tax per night.

We pre-booked a night tour of the Vatican after hours, through Viator to save all the queues with the tourists, at the airport we bought transport tickets that allowed us to get all buses, trains and metros for around 30 Euros.
We got off the metro and headed for our first Italian meal, which had to be Carbonara, which I have like every week aha. I don't know if it was the restaurant we went to or not but I was so disappointed and to be fair I didn't feel at all well with be exhausted from work all week and the heat it all knocked me off. I just couldn't do the tour, thankfully Cam felt the same, so we headed back to our hotel and slept right through the night, was absolutely gutted I didn't do the tour but I physically couldn't go on, but we had to stop for ice cream on the way back to the hotel 😂


Day 2:

Woke up all refreshed and headed down to breakfast and there wasn't anything that we liked, so we decided to eat out after we had gone back to The Emona as our room was ready. First place we visited was the Spanish steps, came out of the metro station and straight away seen the expensive shops such as Hugo Boss, Gucci etc.
I was underwhelmed with the steps tbh, they were nice to look out. Looked on the other side of the street and we seen the Holy Grail of shops, SEPHORA, *bows down*.
Why don't we have one in the UK!
May have went overboard and spent around £80 on make up, I look at it as I'm on holiday I deserve this, I'm going to treat myself, I've longed for a decent foundation which I finally got. Cam also bought some stuff she loves miniature things, handbag sized items so she treated herself too.
We explored some more, bit depressed that I wasn't rich looking at the luxurious shops, a girl can dream, we popped in to NYX and Kiko spending more money on makeup!
Had to go in the Disney Store we bought our nieces some cute Jessie outfits.
 Consulted google maps to see which attractions we were close to, next stop was the Piazza Navona, The fountain itself was beautiful.
 A lovely couple took our photo beside it, I didn't expect it to be as big as it was.
Before I left the UK Ryan asked for one thing, a Roma football top the store wasn't too far away so we went there and typical they didn't have the one he wanted. We stopped for refreshments, even though it was closed we still went to visit the Pantheon, such big crowds outside of it.
One shop close by made fresh fruit slushes I chose an Orange one, it was amazing best I've ever had. The day was getting on and we hadn't yet seen THE attraction, it was on the way to the metro station and it was worth the wait.
 The Trevi fountain was beautiful, you hear stories about bloggers and influencers getting up at the crack of dawn for photo's I was like we aren't gonna get close enough to it but thankfully we did.
One thing we were always told before we came to Rome was watch out for thieves, we never once felt worried or the need to watch our bags especially in such a crowded place like we were, perhaps we were just lucky.
Had a cheeky visit to McDonalds on the way back to our hotel and they do TOFFEE SUNDAES!! I was so happy.






When we were in McDonalds we looked to see where else we wanted to see and see that we could stop at the Colosseum on the way back so we could explore a different part of Rome the next day. The metro station was literally on the other side of the road to the Colosseum, the day we went it was free to get in but we paid for a group tour guide, he showed us around but he talked soooo much. I get that, that's what they do talk about the history of the place but he never shut up and kept going on and on about politics and our ancestors.
Once the tour was over we headed back to the hotel instead of staying on to do the Palentine Hill tour we had walked all day in the blistering heat, our feet were killing so we called it a day. For tea, the reviews on our hotel said the receptionist gave tourists brilliant recommendations for food, so we asked and she gave us a map and led us to one of the shittest restaurants I've ever been to. Imagine the roughest estate in your home city and that's where it was, safe to say we didn't hang about, we ate and quickly walked back to our hotel!








Our last day:
Our last full day, we ate ice cream for breakfast as you do, once we licked that off our lips we got the closest metro to Castel Sant Angelo, it was about a 10 minute walk from the station, on the way there we seen a street of shops, had a look in a few then I looked across the road and my heart stopped. It was fate, there it was Tiffany's. When I was in New York I wanted to go but never got the chance I was gutted. Following on from treating myself the day before in Sephora I had to treat myself again, obviously. I seen some necklace charms, I asked how much and they were like 200 Euros, I looked at Cam and was like I may not be treating myself, so Cam asked the lady which was the cheapest one and said she'll have that one. I looked at Cam and was like thank you 😂 
When in Rome as they say!

 Castel Sant Angelo, was amazing, ever since watching Angels and Demons I've always wanted to see it, like the Piazza Navona it's so much bigger than I expected. Outside there were musicians playing, little vendors selling trinkets, with the hot weather it was just perfect.




Our last thing to see was The Vatican and St Paul's Basilica, which was literally along the street! A drunk Spanish guy approached us asking us to take a photo of him then he took one of us. Approaching the Basilica this was honestly the first time I felt uneasy with our bags as there was plenty of hustlers on either side of the road selling bags and things. 
When we got there the place was cordoned off as it was free to see the place you still needed to wait in a queue for 2 hours and in the blistering heat that was definitely not going to happened so we took photos and walked around, then maybe headed towards McDonalds and Sephora again aha. We didn't actually buy anything from Sephora this time just stood near the door for the A/C whilst trying to load google maps for the closest station. Google maps is a God send.



Once we packed our cases it was time, we needed food, instead of getting another brilliant recommendation from the receptionist, we decided to go to a hotel restaurant on the front street Porta Maggiore it was so nice as it was set on the roof top, the cocktails were so tasty. Cam had the carbonara which was a rip off I think it was like 17 euros, and I tried the Calzone pretty bland but meh it was food and I was hungry. 



For me Rome was perfect, Cam loves to shop and I love history and architecture, so it was well suited for the both of us. A weekend away with your best friend, it was every girls needs. Money wise we had enough I spent around £400, would've been less if I hadn't of went to Sephora and Tiffany's 😂
I would 100% go back to Rome when it is much much cooler.

Ciao!
Safe travels.






12 comments

  1. How lovely Rome looks! I've never been to rome but if I did I'd visit the Colosseum too. Glad you had a good time! xx

    Geraldine | https://geraldinetalks.com

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    1. Thank you, it's so beautiful in real life xx

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  2. I have never been to Rome but it is on our bucket list. We are still exploring US. Love the pictures they are all so much fun. Glad you enjoyed your trip :-)

    Via | http://glossnglitters.com

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    1. Thank you, wow I'd love to explore the US more. I've only been to New York.

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  3. Omg soooo jealous! I've always wanted to go to Rome, its such a beautiful place and sounds amazing. The Vatican sounds awesome, definitely need to book some time away! That's great you enjoyed your trip, it really does sound like a good one.

    Jordanne || thelifeofaglasgowgirl.co.uk

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    1. Thank you, it really was. You should definitely go, long weekend there is perfect.

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  4. Rome is such a fab city, I had a great time when I went! Glad you loved it. Melis

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  5. Rome looks like such a great place to visit!

    - Laura // afinnontheloose.com

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