France to Roma! Rome Day 1
For my second week of spring break, I travelled to Rome with my mom, it was an incredible week and I loved every minute in Italy!
Let’s start off with how I got to Rome. From Montpellier, France, I took the train to Marseille then flew from Marseille to Rome. When I entered the RyanAir gate, I was surprised to see my friend who was also on the same flight. It was such a great coincidence that we were on the same flight because we got to catch up after being on different school trips and we had the experience of flying together, especially on RyanAir. The RyanAir flight was better than expected and we landed safely! Once we arrived in Rome we went our own ways and I reunited with my mom in the airport. It was gratifying to see her again since I hadn’t seen her since Christmas.
We stayed at the Meridian Hotel in the Prati neighborhood. Random fact but I also stayed at the Meridian in NYC right before leaving for France! We had no scheduled plans for our first day in Rome, so we started our adventure with food of course! We had a late lunch at a local restaurant and tried our first (and definitely not last) pasta of the trip as well as some mozzarella. While it tasted pretty good in the moment, looking back on it that was nowhere near the best meal of our Italy trip. After our first meal we walked around the streets of Rome and visited out first monument, the Trevi Fountain! I’d seen a lot of videos and posts saying that the Trevi fountain was over-hyped and crowed, but I found the Trevi to be one of the most stunning fountains in the world, and it’s no more crowed than any other world-famous attraction in the world. It did not take long to make it to the front of the fountain and to make a wish! Legend says that if you face away from the fountain and toss a coin over your shoulder, then you’ve guaranteed your return visit to Rome; I’m ready to book my next flight back!
We walked through the shopping street, Via Condotti, and the nearby shopping streets as well. Of course we visited the Pantheon too, but just the outside for today. There are lots of street vendors selling toys, jewelry, clothing, portable chargers, you name it. One specific item I remember seing on EVERY street were these splat balls that make a screaming noise when you slap them on the ground, then slowly rise up.
For dinner we tried a restaurant called Cucina del Teatro. I got a clam pasta but it was a bit too salty. The best Italian food is yet to come, in my next few entries it will be there! Of course we had to experience our first gelato in Italy. Unfortunately with my first gelato, I dropped it on the ground:((. I’m more of a cup girl rather than a cone girl, but in the Rome, you just have to get a cone, for aesthetics, vibes, and tastes! My fantastic mom was so sweet and bought me a second gelato at another gelateria on our way back to the hotel, and I didn’t drop it this time😅. That was Day 1 in Roma!🇮🇹
