After a long night in Trastevere (also
my first experience waiting forever for the unpredictable Roman buses) I decided to take it easy today, and explore a neighborhood. The
Monti neighborhood is located just north of the Colosseum. It is one
of the oldest and most historic neighborhoods in Rome. According to
some guide book (so believe what you want) it used to be the red-light
district and home to prostitutes and gladiators! Anyway, we walked
around the beautiful old streets:
until we saw a tiny hill with some
trees and a bench. It didn't look like much, but seeing a trail I
naturally had to take it. Thanks goodness I did because I stumbled on
this beautiful view of the Colosseum and forum:
We wandered around the back streets
which were shockingly tourist-free! It was such a beautiful little
oasis amongst the major tourist attractions all over that part of
Rome. It was on this trip I had my first gelato in Rome! The place we
ate not only had delicious gelato, but sumptuous looking Sicilian sweets (I
am quickly learning Sicilian desserts are the best kind!):
We checked out a beautiful church next
to the University where we met some very helpful students ;) and ended
the night stumbling into one of the most stunningly beautiful churches I
have seen thus far, a super hipster vintage shop playing music to make
any US hipsters jealous 'they hadn't heard it first', and a classy profumeria (perfume and makeup shop) where we got made-over in designer makeup and perfumes.
