Hop on, Hop off

I don't know what it is about Double-Decker buses that makes them so amazing, but I think it has something to do with the second layer. Second layers must make everything better. Take cakes, for example, or Big Macks. I was on a Double-Decker bus for most of today and yesterday and it was a pretty cool if somewhat touristy experience.

My roommates and I decided that we wanted to see Rome but didn't want to walk anywhere. Since we couldn't find the travel channel in our apartment to do some couch-touring we decided to go to the tourist kiosk we found on our way to school and look into tour-information.

We were successful.

We bought some tickets for Open Tours, a group one of my roommates had gone with before. It was cool, though we ended up doing far more walking then I had anticipated. You see, the tickets were valid for 24 hours and you were able to get off the bus at a site to explore it from the ground. First we went to St. Peter's Basilica, which was impressive.



Even more impressive than the architecture, though, was the pizza. OMG, yum. I had zucchini and ham pizza and it was the best thing I have ever tasted. I want to have it for every meal and I totally would, but I can't find a place that makes it quite like that near my apartment and St. Peter's is very far away. But you know it was good pizza because I am actually considering working St. Peter's into my evening-route home.

We had to stop our bus tour early that day because of a protest. Luckily, they extended our tickets for another 24 hours. Score! After we got off the bus we had gelato, then went home. Gelato might be the best thing about Italy.

The next day we were even more productive. We went to the Trevi Fountain, took off our shoes and swam in it. No, that was a lie. We did toss some coins in though. According to Wikipedia, if visitors throw a coin into the fountain, they are ensured a return to Rome. Looks like I'm coming back. Wikipedia also states that approximately 3,000 Euros are thrown into the fountain each day. When I do come back, the Trevi will be my first stop. I want some of that action.

After the Trevi we had gelato. Gelato may be my new favorite food group. After the gelato, we hopped on the bus and rode to the Spanish Steps.



They were shorter than I thought they would be, but I was still glad the bus dropped us off at the top. We took a truly ridiculous amount of pictures here before we were satisfied. It was a nice view.



It started raining, not heavily, just a sprinkle, and we thought we should end our touring for the day so we broke out our trusty map and headed for a bus stop. We were on the bus when it started pouring. Did I mention it was a Double-Decker bus? The top deck has no roof. The crowd of Asian tourists around us all broke out their umbrellas, but we had left ours at home because we are from Seattle and do not fear the rain.

So we went down to the covered area of the bus and had to stand for the rest of the ride home.

I got to stand up front with the driver and had an awesome view. So ended our touristy-touring, on a slightly wet note. It was good times though, and I ate lots of gelato so I'm calling it a success.