Throughout Rome you will be met constantly with the stark contrast and yet meshing of the old and new, the past and present. Whether in culture, in food, in people, in architecture, fashion, in every aspect of life in Rome you will find a unique mix of contrasts.
So like any travel, this trip had to start before we ever left town. We booked our rooms through American Express and flights with United Airlines
Monday morning we loaded up (our entire crew) and headed to San Francisco to catch our flight.
Once we arrived in Germany, a traditional schnitzel was in order. Typically, we are not fans of airport food but through our travels, we have learned to love the treats found in the German airports.
They say home is where the wifi is - and as soon as we landed, our phones connected so we opened our email to then discover, much to our dismay, that our rooms had been canceled. We were scheduled to arrive in Rome just a few hours later. This was clearly problematic. An hour later after much heated dialogue and no success, we made a call to American Express, and voila, it was magically fixed. All was well again. Finding a hotel that could accommodate 12 people is a sheer miracle in Europe so failure was not an option!
We landed late in the evening, and headed to the beautiful Corso 281 where we met the rest of our group who had been exploring the hotel - and when we say exploring we mean, sitting in the tiny, lobby/breakfast nook located in the basement. We barely had any time to freshen up before our dinner reservation. As we walk down several storybook alleys, you can feel the ancient cobblestones lining the floor as you travel between each towering wall. Rome holds a certain gritty enchantment that we had never seen before. We arrive at the hole in the wall to find a table already set for us. One thing about the Roman culture, is that they do not sugar coat anything. Especially when it comes to ordering food. If what you want is not in season, you will be greeted with a harsh “no” upon ordering. (But you can’t hold it against them... they love food and they want you to love it just as much as they do) A belly full of carbonara later, our entire table seemed to slip into a jet lagged coma. Skipping dessert, we mustered up the strength to walk back to the hotel and pass out for the night.
One of our favorite things in life is coffee. So exploring Rome’s coffee scene was definitely in the plans. Our top 3 favorite coffee shops in Rome are Faro, Cafe Greco, and Canova-Tadolini
Antico Caffe Greco is the oldest coffee shop in Rome and one of the oldest in all of Italy, it has been open for over 250 years. Men like Casanova, Mark Twain, Orson Welles, Hans Christian Andersen, Lord Byron, Buffalo Bill, Goethe, and a seemingly endless and vast array of characters once visited.
It is more formal than your regular coffee shop experience and the prices are higher than normal (a souvenir coffee cup and saucer will set you back $105) but the experience is totally worth it. One of the best cannolis in Rome paired with a Cappuccino (London) or Breakfast Tea (Haley) sat atop the marble tables contrasted by the velvet covered benches give you an experience truly unlike any other.
If you want quality coffee, Faro - Luminari Del Caffe is the place to go. A little out of the way of the normal tourist spots but definitely worth it. It is not your typical Italian coffee shop and as of good coffee, this was definitely a hit for us. Light roast coffee (which you can’t seem to find in all of Italy) bright espressos and yummy pastries to match, Faro fulfilled the desire for “home” coffee.
Perhaps the most unique coffee shop any of us had ever been to before was Caffe Canova-Tadolini. Once a workshop and studio of Canova, a sculptor, it is now a museum and cafe. Yellow leather benches and old wooden tables placed between, next to, and below hundreds of marble sculptures. The walls are lined with old news clippings, articles about the artwork, and vintage photographs documenting the deep history of this place. Not the cheapest coffee shop around but our jet lagged bodies definitely felt it was worth the price for, a couple hours sitting around talking and enjoying the food, the drinks, the surroundings, and the company.
To sum it up, If you want history, Caffe Greco
If you want good coffee, go to Faro
If you want experience, go to Caffe Canova
One of the most unique and special things about Rome is that because there is so much history throughout the city, you can find new (or old) and exciting things around every corner. One morning after coffee at Caffe Greco (again) we were headed back to the hotel and took a wrong (or right) turn, and when we came around the corner, we stumbled upon Trevvi Fountain. There is truly no way to explain the beauty of this place, pictures definitely do not do it justice!
That experience, and many others just like it, were pretty much the definition of our trip and of Rome itself. Explore, get lost, and you will find that is how you will experience your favorite moments.
Rome is so full of History and remarkable things and places but perhaps the most notable is the coliseum.
The history, the design, the beauty, the views, the treachery, everything about it makes you just want to stop and stare.
The design is so iconic and yet when you truly begin to think of all that once went on here, it becomes rather overwhelming. Hearing the history, and thinking of the many people, particularly christians, who lost their lives in this place is so sobering.
While sobering, it is also inspiring that in the midst of everything that was brought against them and all that they knew was to come, so many were still willing to stand strong in their faith and ultimately, gave their lives. It makes one more grateful for the ability to live in a world where we can worship our God as freely as we desire to do so. Without fear of ever being thrown to the lions.
You’ve heard the saying ‘when in Rome…’ so we decided we might as well take advantage of not only the beauty around us, but to go full Roman and make record of our faces... After all, these statues were the first family photos anyways.
We tried to plan ahead and be prepared but in true Young 5 fashion, everything fell apart and we were left with about 20 minutes of daylight so we quickly made our way down the winding streets and up the looming staircases to where Sargent Photos had planned our photos. By some stroke of luck, we all made it (though a few did get lost along the way) and the photos turned out amazing.
After dramatic experiences leaving the forum with our 3 cars, long walks, canceled rides, and belligerent drivers, we finally made it to the Vatican just in time to make our reservation. We rushed through the many rooms of floor to ceiling paintings, sculptures, and countless works of art as we made our way to the Sistine Chapel. Walking into the Sistine Chapel is overwhelming. It is almost as if there is so much to see that your brain struggles to process it. After sitting for a while and truly soaking it in, the beauty of each and every piece carefully imagined and created by Michelangelo comes to life.
After staying as long as possible, we made our way out of the Chapel to quickly make our way into St Peter's Basilica and to see all that Vatican City had to offer. However, we somehow made a wrong turn and found ourselves in a dilemma. We either had to go outside of Vatican City and walk a couple miles around the huge walls to the other entrance or take the long tour through the Sistine Chapel again. Neither of these options seemed preferable to our tired and aching feet but we decided upon re exploring the chapel just in case it started raining outside.
The guards have probably never seen a group of so many people walk so fastly through these beautiful sites without care. After what seemed an endless walk, we finally made it to the tunnel that would lead us toward the Basilica.
The Basilica is overwhelming in its enormity and ornate design. We spent our last few minutes trying to take in all that we could and then made our way into St Peter's Square.
Just as the sun began to set we searched our way through the weaving alley ways to find ourselves at a large opening and just around the corner was a view so strangely familiar and yet, still so new. The Pantheon’s influence is so strong all over the world that its towering pillars are that of so many buildings you have seen before and yet, this was the first of its kind. Its height is staggering and after soaking in its view outside, we made our way in to be faced with another familiar view. The dome inside is just like any other you have seen but knowing it is the first and longest standing makes the experience so unique.
After a long day out in the Roman crisp air, a nice warm meal is just what we needed. We step into what would seem a small space but the friendly greeting opens it wide up. Each table lit with a slender, cream candle decorated with beads of hot wax. They place our motley crew at the window table which seems to simmer our moods, turning us into the picture-perfect Christmas card... only for a while though. The menu boasts a 65 degree egg and chocolate foie gras, items we hadn’t really seen in the Roman food scene as of yet. In our short few days in the city, we learned Rome is not our favorite food culture as it seemed to churn out pizza and pasta like a factory.
In addition to all of our fun and crazy, the most important reason for being in Rome was our invitation to Oltre - Beyond with Elevate and the Platanias. It was such an honor to be asked to speak and truly, God’s favor was shown upon this conference and the people there. This group of people came with open and hungry hearts to receive what God had for them. It was such a beautiful time worshiping together and fellowshipping with the people of God from Italy, Germany, Norway, and the United States.
On our last night in Rome we ate in the underground area of Da Pancrazio. A restaurant built over the theater of Pompeii’s ruins. (The site where Julius Caesar was stabbed to death) While a grievous place, it truly was a unique experience.
Rome is a place unlike any other. A mix of old and new. Modern graffiti painted on ancient buildings. The spirits of days past and the people of days present.
Buildings from the 1500’s built upon in the 1700’s and then added to in the 1970’s and now under construction in the 2010’s stacked next to the ruins from 44BC all mixed into a contrast of conjunction.
Alas, we had reached our last day in Rome. We woke early, piled ourselves and our luggage into a tiny car and made our way to the airport where we parted ways as we headed towards our next adventure.