Today I woke up early and checked out of my hotel. I definitely recommend Hotel Berti if you ever go to Assisi. It’s 200 meters from the Basilica of St. Francis, has free WiFi, is CLEAN, there is a full bar downstairs, breakfast is included, and it was 150 bucks for 3 nights (I’ve paid 80 a night at Hampton Inn, so I feel like it’s a good deal)!

After checking out, I went down to the bus stop, but after waiting a few minutes I looked more closely at the schedule and although the bus arrived at my stop at 8:42, it didn’t get to the train station until almost 12, which meant I would have missed my train. I panicked a bit, but I asked a cab driver how much a taxi would cost and he said only 10 Euros! I took a taxi to the train station and then check out the schedule and saw that the next train left at 9:40. There was an old-timey bar at the station with about ten 60 year old men drinking coffee and shootin’ the shit, so I got a pastry, some juice, and a cappuccino while I waited.

The train came and I went to Foglino where I had to transfer and wait for about 40 minutes for my train to Rome. The train to Rome arrived on time and the ride was gorgeous. We went through several sunflower fields, which reminded me of Under the Tuscan sun-they were just so beautiful. At some point the train was delayed by over 20 minutes! I had originally called the owner of my B&B and told him I would be here between 12:45 and 1, but I didn’t arrive until 2!

After getting off the train at Termini, I was supposed to go to Tuscolana. I went down to the metro station and the map didn’t show a Tuscolana stop. I asked a two train employees and they had to go ask their superior what stop it was. It turns out it was at the Ponte Lungo stop. Although my ticket from Assisi showed Tuscolana as my final destination, I had to buy a separate metro ticket.

I didn’t know where to go and ended up having to walk across 5 lanes of traffic >_<I made it to my place and dumped off my stuff and then I went on to meet my friend from France (the one I hung out with in Verona). I went over to an apartment he rented and he cooked us lunch. We hung out for a bit and decided what we wanted to do, then set out to explore Rome!

We went to the Trevi fountain and it was CLOSED! Scaffolding was everywhere and people were just chucking money towards the fountain. I felt so bad for everyone trying to take pictures over the fences…that would suck so bad if you dreamed of visiting the fountain and traveled all that way for it to be dry and under construction!

After the fountain we walked to the Spanish Steps and went into Dolce and Gabbana and Prada. Ugh. I wanted so many shoes at Prada. I love that area and all of the luxury shops. I was SO shocked that the Chanel store had moved. It’s been there since the first time I visited Rome and now it’s moved to another place in the city.

We got a gelato and sat on the Spanish Steps and talked for a bit. He needed to use my WiFi to book his ride back to Verona, so we came back to my place and I tried to fix my phone (which apparently doesn’t work at all in Rome) and he played on the computer for a while.

After an hour or so of relaxing we decided to go to dinner so we rode toward Piazza del Popolo and went to a German place called Lowen (like the one in Bassano del Grappa-sans the AWESOME bruschette). We had pizza and beer and watched Spain get annihilated by Holland (sad face), before coming back to my place. He walked me back to my place and thankfully.

Tomorrow we are meeting up at 10 to go do some more exploring. It is SO hot here, so I will definitely be wearing shorts and dresses the rest of the week. I only have 6 days left of my trip, so I want to do some cool stuff.

Pictures tomorrow!  Buona Sera!