Europe Rome- Day Thirteen

Day Thirteen,

My day started as usual. I went down and had some breakfast put some fruit and nutella packets in my bag and got ready for adventure.

I walked out the front of my hotel and brought a hop on hop off bus ticket. This ticket was for all day and I could jump on and off the bus as much as I like. I started by getting off at where the Romans used to have their chariot races.

Where the Romans used to have their Chariot races and where ben hur was filmed

I then walked down the hill towards the mouth of truth. You cannot see the mouth from the road. It is just outside this little church. The church isnt really anything spectacular but the only reason people go there is to see the mouth. I had heard the stories about the mouth how priest had put scorpions in the mouth and if you were a liar they would bit your hand. I was in line to get a photo with the mouth but being by myself I wasnt sure if I could get one. There is a attendant who looks after the mouth and to have a photo with it they charge just a coin donation. I got the attendant to take my photo.

 The mouth of truth

As I got ready to go and have a photo with my hand in the mouth of truth I was thinking if I had told any white lies lately. "Does the lie count when I told the Italian man who was harassing me that I had a husband?" It better not. Secretly pooping my paints I got my photo taken. I was very careful not to put my hand too far in the mouth just in case. The line moves very quickly so I only had to wait for a few minutes. There is also a gift shop next to the church.

I didnt have to much planned today so I got back on the hop on hop off bus I got off at the one of the main shopping strips in Rome near the trevi fountain.

I went back to the trevi fountain knowing this might be the last time I see it and stare at its beauty and then I went and had a look in the shops.

Tip: Cheap clothes shops in Rome. Zara, HnM and Evo. These shops are sooooo cheap I brought so much.

When planning this trip I had no idea how much to allow my self to spend a day. I gave my self a budget of 100euros a day. To be honest I hardly spent any of it. So I had a heap left over to go shopping with from previous days where I hadnt spent my budget.

Tip: Budget your self a limit each day to make sure you do not run out of money. Depending on how lavish you want to live and what you want to buy. I would suggest roughly 50-100 euros daily. 

 Lunch

I stopped at a restaraunt for lunch. So yumm. The food in Rome i fantastic. 

Tip: There are not many toilets in the shopping strip or at many of the attractions. So try and time your toilet time when you are going to lunch. Restaurants usually have toilets and they are more than happy for you to use them if you buy something.

This was the fourth day I didnt have wifi or any internet access. I was starting to get concerned that my family was going to think I had been abducted, drowned in the trevi fountain or ate so much that I exploded. So on my shopping trip I found a vodaphone shop. Who knew they had them all over the world right? And got them to test their wifi on my phone to see if it was just the hotels wifi or it was my phone. Turns out it was just the hotels wifi that was not working. As they had logged me onto their wifi I knew I only had a small window to contact home. So I stood in the shoe shop next door and checked my emails, sent notes home and updated the world on what was happening. I think the owner of the shop got a bit suss on what I was doing.

Shopping- 3 dresses pandora charm, book marks and a rome book 110 euros

It started to get dark so I walked back to the hotel which took about 10mins. At about 6pm I was getting hungry so I ventured out with my death stare on to go to the restaurant I went to the night before. Turns out I couldn't find it. As the street was scary and had some dodgy looking characters on it I walked into a small gift shop to ask for directions. She let me know that most restaurants dont open until 7:30- 8:00pm

Being from Australia I thought this was very strange as we usually go out for dinner at 6pm. And sometimes if you turn up to a restaurant at 6:30pm you have to wait to get a table. I didnt want to head back to the hotel room and walk past the scary looking people again so I hung out in the gift shop. Then walked over the road and had a look in the Chemist. I looked at my watched and realised only 10mins had past and I was being ridiculous. I ended up finding this restaurant that was open that again was totally empty. I wish someone had told me earlier in the trip that people have dinner later in Europe.

This restaurant was down this flight of stairs and you couldn't really see in from the road. I was a bit worried about going in but the guy out the front pretty much walked me in and sat me down. As I ordered a gluten free bolognese off the menu I thought if they locked that door I would never been seen again. No one would no I was gone. And there was no one in the restaurant. So I crossed my fingers and just thought I will deal with that if it comes to that. I think i still remember some moves from the movie Miss Congeniality where she teaches them to fight.

The spaghetti was even better than the one I had the night before. And cheap. I had a drink and pasta for 12euros. 

The guy kept offering me the dessert menu and asking if I would come back the next night. I was scared if I said no he would lock the door. So I let him know that I would see what my plans are.