Tori's European Travels: Final trip outside of Sweden :(

Two weeks after Stephanie visited Sweden, I was off to visit her in Rome. It really has been amazing to have friends abroad with me because it gave me the chance to travel to really cool places and have free accommodations. And to see all of my fantastic friends in their new European homes. Khine in Nice, Cierra in London and Steph in Rome.

I arrived in Rome late Tuesday night. For those who don't know Stephanie, she is a planner. Before I arrived she gave me every detail of how to get to her apartment including step by step directions to give the cab driver. However, she forgot one huge detail, the name on the call button of her apartment. So I am standing outside her building at 11 pm unable to get in. Just as I'm contemplating pressing every button to get in the building, this gorgeous Italian man opens the door and lets me in. Thankfully, his stunning good looks didn't leave me speechless because I was able to ask him if he knew where the American girls lived. He surprisingly knew and it proved to be a great start to the trip.

The next day I woke up early and went with Steph to get coffee because I had quite the adventure planned to the Vatican. Steph had class, so I planned on going to the Vatican Museum. I walked up to Saint Peter's square and saw hundreds of people. I was a bit confused because I have been there before and there is never that many people there. There were chairs set up and no line to get into the Basilica. So I asked a French couple what was going on and they had no idea. I decided to linger around because something important looked like it was going to happen. There were people with tickets that were going to sit in the chairs and then there was a barricade set up behind it. I decided to stand at the barricade with the French couple at about 9:05 am. At around 9:20 the French couple were reading their guide book when they discovered that on Wednesdays at 10:30 am that the Pope speaks. So unknowingly I stumbled upon a papal audience. I decided to wait the hour and see the Pope speak.

At about 10:15 all of the ticket holders turned from facing the Basilica towards me. The Swiss guard began barricading the ticket holders in and they created a street. Then the Pope began driving around the crowd in his Pope-mobile. I was literally three feet away from the Pope when he drove past me because I was at the front of the barricade. He then drove up to the front of the Basilica and began to speak. He gave a introduction speech, which he gave in 7 languages. Italian, French, German, English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Polish. In the speech he discussed a Saint that was focused on for that day. When I went it was Saint Juliana. After that 7 Cardinals introduced the ticketed guests from their native languages. There were many groups from the US. One was from Bolingbrook and another from Baltimore. After the introduction of all the ticket holders in 7 languages. The Pope blessed the crowd and told us that the Papal blessing was extended from all of us present to our friends, family and children. It was a truly amazing once in a lifetime experience that I really just stumbled upon. After the Pope finished speaking, I went into the Vatican Museum for three hours and then went back to Steph's. We had a delicious meal at this restaurant near Steph's apartment where I had this amazing pasta with pecorino cheese and pepper.

On Thursday, we went with Steph's roomate's Italian class to go get the most famous tiramusu in Rome. It was delicious!!! I got a nutella and banana flavored one. We ventured around the city a bit and then went back to the apartment for a much needed nap. Later that night we made dinner at Steph's apartment with delicious fresh Italian ingredients. Nothing can beat wine, cheese and bread. The next day we got up super early to travel to Naples. For those of you who have heard about Naples, it fully lives to the grungy dirty reputation. Piles upon piles of garbage line the streets. But we had one mission going to Naples to get Eat, Pray, Love (Julia Roberts) pizza. In the book Eat, Pray, Love the author travels to Naples with her friend and they eat at this famous pizzeria. The movie was also shot in location at this pizzeria. The pizza was amazing and totally worth the trip to Naples. Another added bonus on the trip was a shop that sold boots for 15 euros. I got two pairs! We wandered around Naples a bit and then came home with three pairs of boots (2 mine and 1 Stephs) and three pizzas (for Steph's roomates). When we got home we had our last meal together in Rome and went back to our yummy restaurant we were at two nights before.

The next day Steph was off to the south of Italy to visit her family. I slept in a bit and then braved the Roman rain to meet up with my Swedish friend Ingrid. She is now living in Rome and after a bit of confusion with directions we finally met up in the Jewish ghetto. We walked around a bit in the pouring rain making us think we were in Gothenburg. She came back with me to the train station where I was catching a bus to the airport.

I arrived three hours later in Gothenburg to find snow, the freezing cold, and visitors from the States...