Europe - Day 14
Today was supposed to be our chill day, and it was somewhat but not as much as we would have liked. We got up a little later than usual and went to see Castel Sant'Angelo, which we hadn't seen the other day. It wasn't as exciting as we expected, but still cool - it wasn't like a real medieval castle since it was mainly used by popes, but it wasn't bad. They had an armory with fun swords and uniforms and artillery. We also saw an old ballista there, which was pretty neat, and the ramparts were cool, they had holes for dropping hot oil and all. We were there for like an hour but it was way too hot so we left and headed back to the Jewish ghetto for lunch in Yotvata again.
We got fried mozzarella cubes, rice balls (following our delicious experience with rice balls last night), which were pretty tasty - they had mozzarella in them instead of meat - thought I preferred the meat ones. I got a strange, adventurous dish - rice with champagne and provolone cheese. I've never had provolone cheese so I decided to be adventurous, but it backfired - it smelled weird, a little like spoiled milk )which I guess is what cheese really is anyway) but it also tasted funny. It was a little sweet from the champagne but the cheese was really unappealing to me. I didn't even finish the dish - instead I stole some gnocchi from J (he ordered the same thing as last time). For dessert we had sdrufolone al cioccolatto - basically thin pizza dough wrapping chocolate cream and topped with chocolate and confectioner's sugar - it was really tasty, tasted a little like those cylindrical chocolate pirrolina wafers. I also had a shot of limoncello - it was stronger than I expected, so I opted not to buy a 2nd bottle of it.
From there we headed back to the hostel to pick up our laundry and the stuff I had to ship (limoncello, extra clothes). We dropped off our clothes at the place and unexpectedly they did our laundry for us and we came to pick it up later, which was really convenient. Then I went to pack and ship my stuff - it was all packed but then they said it was 90 € to ship! I played stupid, I yelled at them and then just left with the box - 90€ was an incredible ripoff. Later we found another place for 70€ and I almost did it but I came to my senses at the last minute. It was kinda frustrating though.
After that whole incident we went to meet up for our tour at 5pm of the Jewish ghetto and Trastevere. We got there a little early, so we stopped for a beer. I can't remember the name, but it was Italian and had 2 B's in it - it was good, a little lighter than Peroni but refreshing.
The tour itself was pretty good - our tour guide, Dana, an archeology student in university in Rome, was much better than the other one. We saw the areas where the Jews lived after 1555 when they were forced by the pope to live in the ghetto. We saw some interesting historical things too - Fontana di Tartaruga, Portico d'Ottavia, Teatro Marcello (inspiration for the Colosseum) and of course, the Synagogue (but unfortunately we didn't go in, though we wanted to). Afterwards we walked through the Trastevere area - the South part, where the Jews used to live before the ghetto, then the North part which is all artsy. It was nice to see another side of Rome.
For dinner, we went back to MK and I was not very hungry so I just got a fish sandwich. When we were done, we headed back to Termini Station, picked up our laundry and headed back to the hostel where we spent some time chilling and chatting with people in the hostel. This hostel has been really great, we've been meeting really cool people, which hasn't been happening elsewhere. I approve.
We got fried mozzarella cubes, rice balls (following our delicious experience with rice balls last night), which were pretty tasty - they had mozzarella in them instead of meat - thought I preferred the meat ones. I got a strange, adventurous dish - rice with champagne and provolone cheese. I've never had provolone cheese so I decided to be adventurous, but it backfired - it smelled weird, a little like spoiled milk )which I guess is what cheese really is anyway) but it also tasted funny. It was a little sweet from the champagne but the cheese was really unappealing to me. I didn't even finish the dish - instead I stole some gnocchi from J (he ordered the same thing as last time). For dessert we had sdrufolone al cioccolatto - basically thin pizza dough wrapping chocolate cream and topped with chocolate and confectioner's sugar - it was really tasty, tasted a little like those cylindrical chocolate pirrolina wafers. I also had a shot of limoncello - it was stronger than I expected, so I opted not to buy a 2nd bottle of it.
From there we headed back to the hostel to pick up our laundry and the stuff I had to ship (limoncello, extra clothes). We dropped off our clothes at the place and unexpectedly they did our laundry for us and we came to pick it up later, which was really convenient. Then I went to pack and ship my stuff - it was all packed but then they said it was 90 € to ship! I played stupid, I yelled at them and then just left with the box - 90€ was an incredible ripoff. Later we found another place for 70€ and I almost did it but I came to my senses at the last minute. It was kinda frustrating though.
After that whole incident we went to meet up for our tour at 5pm of the Jewish ghetto and Trastevere. We got there a little early, so we stopped for a beer. I can't remember the name, but it was Italian and had 2 B's in it - it was good, a little lighter than Peroni but refreshing.
The tour itself was pretty good - our tour guide, Dana, an archeology student in university in Rome, was much better than the other one. We saw the areas where the Jews lived after 1555 when they were forced by the pope to live in the ghetto. We saw some interesting historical things too - Fontana di Tartaruga, Portico d'Ottavia, Teatro Marcello (inspiration for the Colosseum) and of course, the Synagogue (but unfortunately we didn't go in, though we wanted to). Afterwards we walked through the Trastevere area - the South part, where the Jews used to live before the ghetto, then the North part which is all artsy. It was nice to see another side of Rome.
For dinner, we went back to MK and I was not very hungry so I just got a fish sandwich. When we were done, we headed back to Termini Station, picked up our laundry and headed back to the hostel where we spent some time chilling and chatting with people in the hostel. This hostel has been really great, we've been meeting really cool people, which hasn't been happening elsewhere. I approve.