Roaming Through Rome

Everyone would laugh in our faces when we told them we were going to see the Vatican and the Coliseum all in the same day. It happens in almost every city. We usually have a billion things we want to see within a limited time, and so far I believe we’ve been quite successful. I forgive all of those people because they underestimate us. Not only are we running from place to place (with blisters on our toes) but we rarely sit down to eat (if we eat at all). The secret is to drink A LOT of water. Rome is the best city at providing water because all of their fountains are powered by ancient Roman aqueducts that brink fresh water into the city. We are constantly on the lookout for these fountains because the heat of Rome drains the body through layers of sticky sweat.

We were advised to get to the Vatican early in the morning before it opens at 8:30 am. We tried. However, we underestimated the Vatican. We got there at 8:29 am and stood in a 2-hour line. We were both too cheap to buy the “line skipping” pass. This would have been the worst part of our trip if it hadn’t been for the great conversation we had with some sweet, awesome Russians. They were so kind; they even bought us a bottle of water!

In addition to our 8€ student pass, we spent an additional 7€ to get an audio guide of the Vatican. We had no clue there was a museum in the Vatican. The popes collected ancient artifacts over many centuries. The Egyptian artifacts were fascinating, especially the dried up, dehydrated mummy the Vatican bought a couple hundred years ago.

Before we entered the Sistine Chapel, Susanna, the Finn we had met on the train traveling to Southern France, embraced me. What a coincidence! Her two friends had already flown home, so she joined us for the rest of the Vatican tour. Of course, the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Cathedral were the two highlights of the Vatican.

Senatus Populus Que Romanus

After three days without showering and homeless, Nick and I were beginning to reek. Staying with the Ferrini’s provided us the cleanest showers we’ve used thus far as backpackers. The showers in the hostels (if they have showers) are usually quite disgusting. Staying with this faithful Latter-day Saint family, I was reminded of my two glorious years spent in Finland as a missionary. The Finns would have to travel by bus to Switzerland to attend the temple before the Stockholm temple was built. I’m sure these long “temple trips” give members much time to ponder and reflect on life—something I definitely need to work on.

Simona quickly drove us back to the train station just in time for our connection to Rome. We rode a high-speed train to Rome arriving around 12:45 pm. The 2-hour trip was gorgeous most of the way. At times, I only saw field after field of nothing but matured sunflowers.

Nick and I didn’t know what to expect in Rome. Having no plan at all definitely has its pros and cons. However, we’re starting to really get the hang of what we need to do once we arrive in a city. A few things MUST be done at the train station or time will be wasted. These include: finding a place to sleep, finding the tourist desk, grabbing a good map good map of the city, finding out about public transportation, etc. The idea is to quickly do all of these things so we can see as much as possible. Our turn-around time in Rome was by far the quickest. We found a GREAT place to stay for a reasonable price (our own room with WI-FI within a random family’s apartment) in the heart of Rome (about a five minute walk from the Spanish Steps), which gave us quick access to everything.

We started wondering the streets in Rome around 1 pm and didn’t get back to the apartment until 11:00 pm. I love Rome because the cobble stone streets we walked along would likely be in a museum if found outside of Rome. However, there are just too many ancient remnants of the Roman Empire to store all of them in a museum. The highlight of today was the Roman Forum. Nick’s brother and sister-in-law recommended downloading a few podcasts done by Rick Steve, which took us on a free audio tour of the sites. Thank you, Oliver & Heidi!

Walking Rome at night was a blast! In the neighborhood of Taverini, I enjoyed a delicious meal, which included a margarita pizza, Italian orange soda, and a deep-fried rice/mozzarella stick treat. After dinner, Nick and I made our way back to the apartment stopping often at the numerous sites dotting the city.

Homeless to Royalty

Sleeping last night in a train station, Nick and I awoke to the early morning chaos at the Florence station. 

Florence Train Station

With less than three hours of sleep, we stored our backpacks at the train station for a small fortune and then wandered around the city center looking for Wi-Fi. After about 20 minutes of searching, I found a connection that would cost me 2.50 € for the entire day. Wanting to attend church, we hopped onto lds.org and found the nearest branch. Unfortunately, it was not within walking distance, so we took a taxi (taking a bus would have made us even more late). The taxi driver dropped us off on the front steps of the church just in time to catch sacrament meeting. 

There are two branches in Florence. Both meet in this building.

The Florence branch warmly welcomed us. Upon learning of our current situation, the young Ferrini family invited us to stay the night with them. I couldn’t believe how kind they were to us complete strangers. Seriously! Expecting to sleep in the train station again, we were offered a place to stay within five minutes of walking through the front door. I want to live my life like Ale and Simona Ferrini, always willing to help complete strangers in need.

I found Nick resting his eyes while holding on to our backpacks. This is a common scene for us.

Sacrament meeting reminded me of my first few months in Finland—I hardly understood anything. In addition to not understanding, I positioned myself in the most awkward positions in a failing effort to stay awake. I’m embarrassed to admit that I saw the back of my eyelids more than all the speakers combined. However, I kept looking forward to singing the familiar church hymns, which always brings a good peaceful feeling into the meeting no matter the language. The Ferrini family gave us their address and told us to meet them later at a certain train station in the hillsides of Tuscany about 45 minutes eastward from Florence. We were both REALLY excited to see the country side, not to mention a soft place to rest without worry about mosquitoes eating us alive.

My two favorite parts of Florence was the Ponte Vecchio, an old renaissance bridge, and Michelangelo’s David. Today was extremely hot and humid. When I eventually sat down admiring David in the air-conditioned building, I fell asleep on accident. Nick said I was out for almost 30 minutes. He eventually woke me up (I still have no idea what he was doing during that time). Nick definitely has a lot of patience for my many bizarre quarks—especially when it comes to staying up late and power naps. Anyway, who can honestly brag that they took a nap at the feet of David? Well…I now can.

After a great day in Florence, we took the train as directed to the countryside of Tuscany. Simona Ferrini patiently stood on the platform waiting for our train. Afterward, she drove us to their apartment. We chatted about the upcoming Roman temple and how much this means to the Italian people. Many Latter-day Saints (LDS) in Italy make the trip to either Switzerland or Spain to visit the holy temple. Without a doubt, my favorite thing about Florence was meeting the Ferrini family. Sharing a pullout couch, Nick and I were (by far) more comfortable in their apartment than any hostel/train station we’ve ever stayed at.  As their guests, we were treated like royalty. Nick and I are EXTREMELY grateful for the amazing Ferrini family.

The Ferrini Family

Homeless...again.

Besides waking up around 2:30 am to find a group of young people looking at us, I miraculously slept well. Unfortunately, Nick did not. I awoke before the sun came up and shook Nick from his light sleep. We wanted to catch an early train back to Nice, so we could continue our journey…not to mention that there were palace guards on the other side of the hill. The sun slowly rose as we made our way again over the hillside. The magnificent bright orange sunrise was breathtaking and totally worth Nick’s lack of sleep.

We took the short train ride back to Nice to grab our bags, and then headed toward La Spezia where the famous Cinque Terre is located. The train was very slow making many stops along the way. We switched trains in Genova, Italy and eventually got off at the first stop in Cinque Terre, which happened to be where the beach was in Cinque Terre. Unfortunately, we had nowhere to store our heavy backpacks (we asked and unsuccessfully tried bribing a few hotels), so we hauled them everywhere around the old city. It was here when we tried our first Italian pizza, which really exceeding our high expectations. 

Delicious Italian pizza.

After a few hours of strenuous walking/hiking, we collapsed on the beach and took an hour and half nap lying next to our bags.

Enjoying the view of Cinque Terre.

We awoke to find the sun starting to dip behind the mountains, so the crowded beach opened up. I rinsed the sand off with a nearby shower and awkwardly got dressed on the sandy beach without a towel. We were planning to spend the night in the mountains of Cinque Terre but realized we could catch an hour train to the college town of Pisa. It must have been about 9 pm when we boarded the train because we arrived in Pisa just after 10 pm.

Nick and I standing in front of the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

However, on the hour train ride to Pisa, we met an American named Victor. Victor is an engineer who designs flight simulators, which means he (along with his team) travels the world solving problems with these simulators too. His assignment has been Pisa, Italy for the last week or so, which means he was quite familiar with the town. He offered to show us the way to one of the Seven Wonders of the World—The Leaning Tower of Pisa. It’s about a 20-minute walk from the train station. Half way to our destination, Victor treated us to an incredible Italian dinner—lasagna! Victor is a devout Catholic, so we discussed religion for quite a while. As we asked questions and learned more about one another’s beliefs, we were all enriched. Victor is a great example of the type of Christian I hope to become—devoted husband and father, true follower of Jesus Christ, and a man who finds opportunities to bless the lives of others.

Our good friend, Victor.

After dinner we walked through the empty streets of Pisa to the tower. It was well after midnight by the time we got to the tower. The most dedicated street vendor was still trying to sell cheap, worthless trinkets. At night, the tower (built as a bell tower) is illuminated next to an old medieval Catholic cathedral. After taking a few pictures, we said goodbye to Victor and stood there in front of the tower wondering where we would spend the night.

We agreed to walk back to the train station and spend the night on the station floor. However, three minutes before reaching the train station, I heard English and stopped. I turned and saw three attractive girls sitting outside a café. Their accent was no doubt American and so we chatted with them for a few minutes with our bulky backpacks weighing us down. They had missed their train and were going to catch the same train as us to Florence and then to Rome. A few minutes of conversation turned into an hour. Then a hour turned into a tour of Pisa. This town is quite small and easy to navigate. 

Revisiting the tower a couple hours later with (from left) Heather, Kerry, and Lisa.

So between 2:00 and 3:00 am Nick and I led the way to Pisa, where the three American girls had not intended to visit. All three girls (Heather, Lisa, and Kerry) were accomplished young elementary school teachers who taught at a “turn-around” school. So from around 1:00 – 4:00 am we had great conversation until I collapsed from exhaustion on the 4:15 am train to Florence. 

Nick shook me awake around 5:30 am mentioning that he didn’t get any sleep because he sat next to a gypsy shouting on her cell phone. I didn’t have too much sympathy for him until he told me that this was the longest he has ever stayed up…in his life. I’ve come to accept “all-nighters” as a way of life but Nick is new to this. As we were saying goodbye to the girls, I heard Nick say, “Ugh..you’ve got to be kidding me!” Still very irritated by the loud gypsy, Nick’s irritation turned to EXTREME “frustration” when a pigeon splattered crap all over his left shoulder. I couldn’t help but think this whole situation was funny. We were both sleep deprived and homeless in Florence at 5:45 in the morning. Not caring how dirty the train station was, we tossed our bags into the closest corner of the train station and slept like homeless babies.

Sleeping in the Palace Backyard

After going to bed around 5 am, Nick violently shook me awake around 9:45 am. We make a good team because he relies on me to get from point A to point B and I rely on him to wake me up each morning. It usually takes between 3-4 violent shakes for me to have the strength to crack open my eyes. Breakfast was good. Usually we only get warm milk on cornflakes but this morning we could choose between about 10 different cereals. I stuffed myself full by trying each kind. 

Finishing up my first jar of Nutella and second loaf of bread.

Before leaving the paradise hostel, I quickly checked my email to discover that Quitterie’s sister was birthing a baby that day, so she wouldn’t be able to meet up. Although disappointed we wouldn’t be able to see our good friend, we pressed onward to Cannes. 

These are the best places to fill up our water bottles.

We spent the majority of the afternoon walking through the old, windy streets of Cannes followed by a 2-hour nap on the beach. We had heard that Monaco was another beautiful city along the French Riviera, so we decided to stash our big backpacks in a large locker in the Nice train station, grab only our sleeping bags, and take a train to Monaco.

We took a good long nap on this beach.

Overlooking the old city of Cannes (The old German man taking our picture was hilarious).

We quickly found out that Monaco wasn’t just another beautiful city—it’s a kingdom squished between Italy and France. The world’s wealthy dock their HUGE yachts at the harbor as they spend a fortune eating and playing. It was after 10 pm when we jumped off the train, As soon as we came out of the train station, an enormous firework show lit up the sky. It felt like a dream—a very magical dream. Little did we know that this beautiful dream would get even better.

Once the last firework lit up the sky, the city of Monaco became alive with an outdoor concert, carnival, and fine dining on the harbor. We walked around for a couple hours before climbing a nearby hillside to check out the Monaco palace. This gorgeous palace, illuminated by pinks and blues, reminded me of Disney Land. However, a real prince and princess lived in this real palace guarded by a real palace guard.

Still homeless after midnight, I struck up a conversation with a nice Italian couple. It was during this conversation when we realized we were no longer in France. In broken English, they told us some of the history of Monaco. They pointed a few miles westward and said, “That if France.” And then they turned and pointed eastward and said, “That is Italy.” Eventually, our current state of being homeless surfaced in the conversation. Once they were finished laughing, they said they would help us find a place. So we followed them for about 20 minutes and found ourselves staring at the most secluded beach (about 30 yards long) behind the palace of Monaco. It was more than we could hope for. We thanked them for their generous help, positioned the less jagged rocks under our sleeping bags, and doze off listening to the crashing waves only a few yards away.

An Eventful Night & A Lazy Day

The night train left Paris last night at 10 pm and arrived in Nice at 11:00 am this morning (2 hours late). This train ride has been one of the highlights of the trip. As we were boarding the train, I heard and understood a very familiar language--Finnish. It sounded like the most glorious music to my deprived ears. Fortunately, we sat about 5 rows in front of some of the coolest Finns I've ever met, so I was able to whip out my rusty Finnish. It felt so good to speak Finnish again (understatement) to complete strangers. All my Finnish friends in the states seem to be more American than Finnish now. As I took my seat next to Nick, he leaned over and pointing to the old man in front of us, he whispered, "We're in for a long night!"

This man was very drunk and very loud. The French girl sitting across the aisle was told by a couple ambulance workers to take care of the drunk man on his way throughout the night. It's disgusting what alcohol does to the body and mind. He and I spoke for about an hour with help from the French girl, Quitterie, who translated for both of us. He shook my hand about a dozen times telling me about his time in the war. It turned out that this man was 90 years old. Eventually he got up and we all (including Quitterie) pretended to be asleep. It miraculously worked! While the train grew quiet, Quitterie and I chatted for another 2 hours or so. For those who know me well, know I do not know how to whisper. Quitterie laughed when Nick kept expressing his frustration at wanting to go to sleep. She poked fun of him a little, calling him "papy", which means grandpa. I had a good laugh about that one. Nick gave up trying to sleep and joined our conversation for about an hour. I asked Quitterie if she had any "bon bon" (French candy). I regretted asking because she then forced a sandwich and cookies into my arms and wouldn't let me return them. Then the kid sitting next to her gave us potato chips. French people are soo kind!

Nick asleep on the night train to Nice, France.

Despite sitting up in a chair, I slept very well. I awoke around 10 am wondering why we hadn't arrived to Nice yet. Quitterie, who had stayed up the entire night, told us that a man tried to commit suicide during the night by jumping in front of the tracks. This is why we arrived 2 hours later than expected--13 hours all together! The Finns were on their way to Rome, so I gave them my contact information and asked them to shoot me an email when they found a good place to stay. We'll likely be in Rome next Monday and/or Tuesday. Quitterie gave us her contact email/number and invited us to hang out with her in Cannes tomorrow. She got off the train a couple stops before we did.

One of the busy walkways in Nice, France.

Once off the train, we didn't know where our hostel was. Although we had made a reservation the day prior, we had forgotten to write down the name and address. However, I had a nearby office look up the hostel online and give us directions. She was a bit a rude about helping us but I was grateful. We took a metro and then the complimentary hostel shuttle picked us up. The Villa Saint Exupery is a hostel like no other. It's been ranked as the #1 hostel in the world. It definitely attracts a different crowd than we are use to rooming with.

Main beach in Nice, France.

Once situated at the hostel, Nick and I spent a lazy day on the beach. It was a rocky beach but I slept like a rock for a good hour. The water hear reminds me of the Caribbean--a gorgeous light blue color. I bought some cookies and Nutella for dinner (I need to do a better job staying away from the chocolate).

French Riviera

We're hanging out with Quitterie tomorrow in Cannes, so we'll take the train tomorrow morning from Nice to Cannes. It'll help to have a local, who knows the language, show us around Cannes. I'm stoked.

Appreciating the Arts

Nick and I slept well last night. Too well. We were trying to get up at 6:15 am to make it to Versailles by 9 am; however, I jumped out of bed when I saw 7:15 am. We had a lot more to see in our last day of Paris and I didn't want to waste another minute. We quickly got ready (without yet another shower), washed down our small breakfast with a cup of hot chocolate, ran to the metro with our heavy backpacks on our backs. The hostel wouldn't let us leave our bags there for the day, so we split a giant locker at the train station. It turned out to be a great idea!




We caught a bus to forgo the closed metro due to construction and caught another metro to Versailles. It took about 30-40 minutes to get to the palace from Paris. I feel I'm being redundant with my descriptive words but this palace was truly awesome! Unfortunately, our pass didn't let us forgo the 45-minute line (trust me...we tried) that we were trying to avoid by waking up early but it was still worth it. My lack of writing skills cannot begin to describe the majestic detail of this palace. King Louis XIV was so flamboyant in the way he lived. Very fascinating! We spent a good three hours walking through the ornate palace and extravagant grounds before making our way to the Louvre, "the museum of museums."











Everyone and their French dog told us that we didn't have time to visit Chateau de Versailles and the Louvre in one day. Well...they definitely underestimated our speed, strength, and stamina. The only thing that slows us down are Nick's what-seem-like-forever bathroom breaks. However, I've lived with him before and have grown accustomed to it. It's just one of Nick's funny quarks that makes me laugh and roll my eyes. And I usually have enough patience as long as these breaks don't extend longer than 30 minutes. The Louvre was HUGE. One could seriously spend three weeks in that museum and still not see everything. We spent about 3 hours. The Mona Lisa was cool but a little overrated. There were just too many people worshiping the idea of taking a picture of the painting that it turned me off. I was more excited to see the artwork of Jacques-Louis David.

We walked the main street of Paris before our night train headed to Nice (Southern France). Visiting H&M brought back memories of buying cheap ties as a missionary. It was a struggle but I talked Nick into buying matching blue dress shirts. I thought it'd be a step up after what we wore to church in London. We were both more impressed by London's night life (near Piccadilly Circus) in comparison to Paris' but both beat out the night life of Salt Lake City or Provo for sure.