Tag: travels

We made our way towards The Colosseum, and it was packed….and when I say packed, I mean.. you can’t even find the entrance. You have a bunch of tour guides coming up to you.. you know hustling, and a bunch of scalpers, trying to get you to.. gotta make that moolah.

I don’t know if you guys have ever watched the show Scam City..all I could do is chuckle right now.. bc let me tell you– slickness. 
The show’s main purpose is to open your eyes to some of the famous scams locals target tourists with.. and when this guys came came up to us… that’s all I kept thinking about.

He comes up to Phil and I… ” Hey, my friend… I know you right?
Phil: Nah, you don’t know me man.
Vendor, carrying a bunch of bracelets: Yes, my friend… Where you from? (Phil answers) aaaah. me too! I came here some time ago.
P: Yeah, that’s cool.
V: Here, my friend, a gift for you (hands us bracelets) you know, we gotta stick together!
P: Thanks man. (vendor walks away)

Phil and I look at each other- and we didn’t even have to say anything to each other, we kinda communicated telepathically at that moment (he didn’t even ask for money… hmm.. maybe we were jumping into conclusions)
Vendor, who is currently abut 20 feet from us, turns back around and flashes us a smile.
Vendor: My friend, I didn’t charge you for the bracelets, but how about a donation? For my daughter, (flashes us a picture of his daughter on his cellphone) Phil and I just chuckle, like daaaamn… we knew it. we got got.
We tell him we have no money, and start taking off the bracelets to return it back to him.. He shrugs it off, and says no… that was a gift… just a little something, yet he’s telling us the amount to “donate”.  He settles for about half of what he asked for and walks away. Phil and I just start cracking up , like damn… the hustle is real!

We decided to start off at Palatine Hill,  the ancient ruins of Rome. The sun was beaming hard, and I regret not bringing my sunblock with me. (I’m not much of a tanner, but I get nice little bronze when I do– latinas, you know!)
I don’t read much whenever I visit an exhibit, museum or anything historic along those lines, which kinda made Phil laugh, because I kept rushing off someplace new every other second. I tend to find a tour guide, and sneak my way into their group without them noticing.

After the tour, and the endless walking it was time to eat, and we were starving. We stop at the first spot we see near the tourist attractions (BIG mistake, don’t ever do this) but we were desperately hungry. Phil orders the shrimp scampi, while I go on and order the gnocchi, which is pretty much like tiny dumplings. It was pretty good, but not what we were expecting from ITALIA! Not to mention how rude our waiter was. I wanted to get out of there before I gave him a piece of my mind.
I tend to be the wild child in many situations, but compared to Phil, I’m super lowkey. This time though, I put on the peer pressure, and we randomly walked into a tattoo shop, where I insisted we get something done. After all of my convincing, we decided to get our noses pierced. The price was pretty steep, and we could have easily gotten this done back  home for half the price, but why— when we can say ” I got my nose pierced in Italy.
I’ve had plenty of holes in my body– that sounded weird even as I wrote it. But piercings are nothing new for me. The rockabilly babe with blonde hair holding the big needle told me I was trooper, in italian of course, and I just smiled. She couldn’t say the same thing about Phil though… (evil laughs)

When looking for The Trevi Fountain, you could tell we were close, because you can hear the water, from many feet away. The blocks around this neighborhood were like a maze filled with small shops selling all type of souvenirs. After we dropped our coin in the fountain, which legend says when you throw it over your shoulder, you are sure to return back to Italy. (Here are some other cool facts about the famous fountain) we decided to go spend some money. Well, I decided.
One of the things my mother insisted on me NOT doing, was buying souvenirs. According to her, I spend too much money on buying presents for other people (which is true, traveling or not) and that I should just do something for myself.  I tried to listen, but I couldn’t hold back. It’s just how I am. I bought my mother the cutest little olive oil dispenser, my father a bottle of limoncello, and my niece and nephew customized, embroidered bibs. They were so damn cute!.

It’s off to get food again, because– fat asses!  We stop at this really nice restaurant this time, that I didn’t get the name for, because, it’s me. (shrugs)  We order a pizza for the table, and our meals… and it was delicious. The couple next to us starts conversation, and they were the absolutely sweetest. We start talking about Trump and how much of a disgrace he is to USA, and immediately bonded.  After our food, even though there wasn’t much space left, I invite them to join us for gelato.

   Gelateria Frigidarium, (you see, that I don’t forget) was soooo good. I’ve been warned about gelato spots in Rome, since most of them are tourist traps and are not really tasty.. but this one was highly recommended every time I did my homework. And me and my research.. I get it done!

One of the man things we really wanted to do was go to The Vatican City to go see the stunning Sistine Chapel. We just didn’t have the time (cries myself to sleep) .  I guess our wish at the Trevi Fountain better come true… because I definitely need to see that next time I come to Rome, and there well be a next time!

​Per usual, my OOTD illustration:
When you Spend the day roaming the ancient Roman ruins, and secretly want to climb on everything!
I didn’t though, I promise!