If you visit Italy, you must visit Rome. So much of Italy history is here, seeped into the crumbling ruins that rise— crumbling yet majestic— amongst the bustle of a busy metropolitan city. It is hard to imagine how the Romans can live out their every day lives— heads down, rushing to work with all the small inconveniences and worries of life rattling around in their heads, amongst remnants of a civilization from thousands of years ago— and not constantly stop to wonder in amazement at their surroundings. But I suppose we all get used to the every day, like how cleaning up 5 loads of cum from the floor after shooting a gangbang is “no big deal” for me.

But I digress. You are not here to read about gangbangs. You are here for Rome. I had visited this city about 17 years ago with my father, but this time I brought my boyfriend, who had never been to Europe. So I was almost more excited to bring him back than I was to revisit one of my favorite countries. Rome is not only famous for it’s ancient architecture and history, but also for it’s fascinating culture, beautiful people, and of course, the food.

We flew into Rome’s main hub, Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport. Ahead of time I bought the express train to it’s main train station, Termini, where we would take a cab to our hotel. The airport is actually quite far from the center of Rome, so if you are staying in the city proper, you don’t want to get a taxi from the airport into the city, it will cost a fortune and take close to an hour. You can buy advance tickets from Trenitalia.com, but they do require you to choose a date and time. Our plane ended up being an hour late, and so I was concerned about our tickets, since I was expressly told that we HAD to get on the train for the time I selected (even though there was no mention of any specific time on my ticket after I purchased it). When we got to the train station, I went to the kiosk and the woman told me that they had abandoned the practice of forcing people who had pre-purchased tickets and were flying in to stick to an allotted time, because of the exact issue I had— the plane was delayed. So we were fine to get our tickets scanned and go on in. I saved the tickets to my phone AND I printed them out (I suggest always having paper copies of things if you can— just in case your phone dies, breaks, or God forbid gets stolen or lost), and since you do not have to get pre-purchase tickets validated, we were fine to hop on. You can also buy tickets at the station— from the moment of purchase you have 90 minutes to catch a train (they come every 15 minutes usually, sometimes 30). If you want more step-by-step details on how to purchase these tickets, read this blog— just one thing I found in my experience to be inconsistent from her account is the time-mandated issue I mentioned above. If there is no time specified on your ticket, then you do not need to worry about what time you take the train. But you do need to travel on that specific date.

So we were off to our hotel. A couple of things about many places in Europe— expect small rooms. Like, you can barely walk around the bed small. Also, bring your power converter with you. Keep in mind though that the electricity in Europe is MUCH stronger than America, so even with the power converter, some things won’t work. Like I thought my little clothing steamer was such a clever thing to bring, but no dice. However my hair curler worked and was hotter than it ever got at home, so I was able to finish my hair in half the time. Part of me is worried it’s going to catch fire, though.

Ok, so onto the tours. Last time I came here, the one place I didn’t visit was the Vatican. The line was so insane to get in that there was no way I was spending all day waiting. So this time, I booked a “Skip the Line” tour with The Roman Guy. We chose the fairly pricey “early entrance” tour which promises to get you in an hour before the regular crowd. Now, don’t be mistaken— you WILL still wait in line, because there are several tour guides that get the same early access. However, you will wait FAR less than if you just showed up on your own to buy a ticket. If you really want to see the Vatican before it gets so insanely crowded that you can hardly move through the halls, take this tour. It’s absolutely worth the extra money. What I did love about this tour was it took us to the Sistine Chapel first, and allowed us 15 minutes in there just to marvel at Michelangelo's work. It’s truly spectacular. It also takes you to St. Peter’s Basilica (by the way, don’t book this tour on a Wednesday if you can help it, the Pope holds mass and the basilica is closed).

But our favorite tour was the Colosseum, by Walks which also takes you to the Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum. Now whether or not a tour is great depends on the tour guide, and on this one we got Antonio, who is an archaeologist, no doubt doing tours to pay off student loans (he just finished his PhD). He was so passionate and an incredible wealth of information (now I know quite a bit about Roman history, the Colosseum and gladiators because my father is a bit of a Roman scholar, having spent a decade writing his book about the emperor Nero) , but there were myths that even I didn’t realize weren’t true that he quickly dispelled. It was so interesting!

Sadly, we didn’t make it to the Borghese Gallery, we only had two full days in Rome. But that’s another site you’ll probably want to book a tour for. But there’s also so much more to see that you don’t need tours for: the Trevi fountain, The Pantheon, and more. But those two I just mentioned are some of the most popular sights that you’ll definitely want to book ahead— if anything, just to skip the terrible lines.

So onto the second best part about Rome— the FOOD! Even though I stuffed myself with pasta, bread, and gelato on this trip, I never got bloated or felt sick. This is because Italians make almost all their food fresh, and they don’t usually use refined flour, or put all the crap chemicals and preservatives into their food like we do in the States. You don’t realize how badly processed our food is until you come to a country like Italy. The first place we ate was OperArt Caffe, about a block away from our hotel— they had live music, with a saxophone player doing renditions of popular songs (you haven’t heard “Sweet Child O’ Mine” until you’ve heard the saxophone version, let me tell you). I’ll admit I was not expecting much since I’d done zero research on this place before we walked in, but I was thrilled that the food was incredible and the waiters were SO nice. We sat down around 8:30, but in Italy, they eat quite late— so the restaurant didn’t start filling up until about 11pm, with people coming in from the show at the Opera house across the street. I was fascinated by a group of older couples that sat near us— they’d obviously come from the Opera, and the women had to be in their late 60s or 70s, but they were dressed and made up to perfection. In particular, one of the women had bleached blonde hair and wore a red strapless gown that normally I’d say was not even remotely age-appropriate, but here in Italy, where the women age with confidence and grace, where they don’t get so much plastic surgery that they end up looking like aliens, this woman— with her deep-set wrinkles, her speckled, sun-damaged skin, and her bright red lipstick that sat slightly crooked on aging lips— was absolutely beautiful. In Italy, the standard of beauty is so different that what we expect in my hometown of Los Angeles, and it’s incredibly refreshing to see.

It took us until our last night in Rome to find the perfect neighborhood for walking, eating, and people watching. The area near Piazza Navona— specifically around Piazza del Fico— was our favorite. We ate at Cul de Sac (thanks for the recommendation Vic!) which has some pretty impressive charcuterie plates, and then strolled down bustling, cobblestone streets until we came across a really funky speakeasy named Mons that lured us in with lindy hop music drifting through their open doors. We stayed for a few drinks and then wandered over to Cybo, where a jazz band led by a sultry female vocalist played in an arched patio doorway. My boyfriend was happy with both these bars because they had top shelf liquor, but for me, I was excited to see the mocktail options on the menu at Cybo. Ultimately, we wish we had found this place on our first night— we could have gone back time and time again to try all the different restaurants and bars in the area.

When it comes to pasta, we probably had the best dish at a very nondescript, tiny family-run restaurant in Travestere called Trattoria Da Enzo. We got lucky getting there right when they opened— there was already a few people waiting for the restaurant to open it’s door to the public, and when we left there were several people standing in the rain in what looked like could easily be an hour’s wait. The cafe is small, with tables right up against each other, and the menu is simple, but the food is fresh and really good.

All in all, pretty much everywhere you eat in Rome will be good, though you’ll find yourself constantly upping your standards as you come to expect more and more from Roman cuisine. But looking back, I could probably say that even our worst meal in Rome was better than 95% of the Italian restaurants in Los Angeles. I don’t think I’ll ever look at pasta the same way again, after tasting the magic that is authentic Italian food.

Travel Blog: Rome, The Eternal City

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