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Rome – Day 1

I got up and had breakfast, checked out of the hotel, and took a ferry (now that they’re running again!) to the train station. Now, originally I was going to go to Athens after Venice, but dang Athens is expensive and difficult to get to and I’d have to go to Rome to fly to Thailand so I figured I’d save two days of travel and travel expenses and just go visit Rome since I had to be there anyway. Woe is me! The train ride was uneventful, it goes about 155 miles per hour (250 km/h) and a lot of it is in underground tunnels.

After arriving in Rome I took a taxi as close as he could get to the hotel, then walked it from there. It’s not that he couldn’t drive me to my hotel, there were roads, but they were absolutely PACKED with people, and the time spent trying to push through wasn’t worth it. Getting my suitcase over the old cobbled roads was interesting, but I made it to the hotel and checked in. I was starving, and wasn’t up for playing charades for communication, so I went to the Hard Rock Café right around the way from the hotel for a club sandwich and English conversation. By the time I was done eating it was sunset, so I hiked up the Spanish Steps to watch the sun go down. It was a bit crowded, so I meandered over to the Terraza de Pincio, which overlooks the entire city and Piazza del Popolo which is Rome’s oldest obelisk. The sky exploded into pink and purple, and I wandered around the big park looking at all the cool statues including entire rows of prominent Italian people in that area while stopping by the lookout areas to watch the sky change. After it was dark, I headed downstairs and found a pharmacy for some cold meds (I’ve had a sore through these past couple days, fingers crossed it doesn’t turn into anything worse!) and some groceries, then turned in for the night. I have a big walking day tomorrow!

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Yellowstone National Park: Part 1

Today was a day of bucket list items.  I’ve always seen gorgeous photos of the Prismatic Spring so that was definitely going to happen, and since Old Faithful was nearby I wanted to see that too.  It ended up being a full day of geysers, hot springs, lots of steam, and stinky sulfur smells.  Basically, I loved it!

I got up early and got breakfast at the Headwaters Lodge & Cabins at Flagg Ranch restaurant, it’s a little pricey but for the convenience and the area it’s well worth it.  The staff are super nice too, and went through my map with me picking out “must see” places from the perspective of people that live and work there.  My plan was pretty much the same as the day before, get out the door and see what happens.  I headed north into Yellowstone south entrance and made my first stop at Lewis Falls at the Lewis River, a cute little waterfall and wetland area.  I continued north then veered toward west Yellowstone, where some moose cows and spring calves were hanging out but there were so many people I didn’t stop to take pics.  They were eating so it’d just be pics of their butts anyway.  I made another pit stop at Craig Pass and made my first major stop at Old Faithful since it was only about 10 minutes away from going off anyway.  I have to admit, it’s a bit anti-climactic.  It takes a long time to build up and doesn’t go as high as I thought it would. It was also a cold morning so there was so much steam you couldn’t see the water, although the steam did make a pretty rainbow in the mist. 

I jumped back in my car and headed to Prismatic Spring, and even though it was only 10am there was already a line to the parking lot.  My suggestion is if you don’t mind walking just park along the road and walk.  I didn’t realize you could do that and drove around the lot twice amongst angry, frustrated people all looking for a spot before I found one.  Seeing the spring from the ground is pretty neat, you can walk around all the steam and see some really cool patterns on the ground.  They almost look like abstract or impressionist paintings.  Once you make your way around the wooden walkway (don’t fall in!) head back around to another parking lot about a mile south down the road and park.  It’s the same parking lot for the Fairy Falls hike.  There’s only one trail to start, so get walking and enjoy all the springs everywhere as you do.  About half a mile in the trail splits and you can go straight to the Fairy Falls trail, or turn left to go up to the Prismatic Spring overlook.  Word of advice: DO IT!!  The overlook is so incredibly worth it!  I admit, I was huffing and puffing a bit at the top, but that’s totally because the air is thinner up there and not because I’m out of shape…yeah.  I stayed up there for about an hour, just watching the steam and how the colors seemed to change every five minutes. 

After Prismatic Spring I was getting hungry, so I went back to Old Faithful where there is a nice cafeteria and got a salad and drink.  Since I was there anyway, I watched another eruption, then decided to walk the short wooden path around all the other geysers.  My favorite was Depression Geyser, I felt personally attacked by it.  By the time I walked around, it was time for another Old Faithful eruption so I sat and watched it again with some ice cream.  On the way back to base, I stopped at Kepler Cascades and then to West Thumb and wandered the lakeside geysers.  It was getting late, and I really needed a shower, so I headed back to the campground early.  Tomorrow is going to be an early day!