Day 12: Vienna to Rome

Beginning this post makes me realize what a long day today has been. We started out at 9am, getting around in our Vienna hostel, making sure everything was ready for another day of travel. We found some brunch at the train station (a delicious chicken and bacon sandwich with some sort of cream cheese spread...yum!) and  eventually caught all the right trains, arriving at the airport around 11:15am. As usual, check-in was a breeze and we were ready to board an hour later. The plane took off and we had no idea what awaited us.

At first glance out the window of the plane, the expanse of green and stiff, upstanding trees said Classic Italy. Already we were excited. But we weren't even in Rome yet. Also, we were held in the airport for much longer than we would have liked since the Rome airport has some serious problems with baggage return. They had 5 flights scheduled on the same baggage carousel and they were all spewing out at the same time essentially. My bag came out with the Warsaw bags, and many passengers on my flight--including Brandon--were left waiting for 45 minutes before there was any sign of their bags. It was scary for all of us but we waited through it together, and finally we found them all. Anyway, with all our luggage in tow, Brandon used his awesome new Italian skills (for the first of several times tonight) to get us two train tickets into the city. We rode through Trastevere, the small area across the river and south of the Vatican which we had planned to go see tonight, but realized it wasn't what we thought it would be. So we scrapped that plan. We got into the city and found our hostel--we are lucky we did with the tiny amount of signage they have! We got in and learned all the rules and by 5pm, we were ready for some Italian dinner! We found a nice little restaurant on the street and got a pizza and a half liter of wine, all for 16E (~$20). We ran back to the hostel to grab some laundry since we are halfway through our trip now; 7E for a wash and dry (and he folded it too!), and now we don't have to worry about stinking for the next half.

Then we began the real evening. We decided to just walk around and get lost in the city. Every road we looked down was a new, beautiful sight with old buildings and incredible history. We took a TON of pictures because every time we saw something new it was a great photo op. So we'll post a selection of them below. Though our wanderings, we ended up on the north side, seeing Augustus Cesars Memorial, Trevi Fountain, Piazza del Popolo, and many little plazas and churches. Both Brandon and I were speechless  many times at the sights we are able to be seeing.

So now we are home for the night, ready to recharge for more awe-inspiring events tomorrow.