Volume II : Chapter IV
With barely a day to unpack our suitcases from Dominica, we were off again, this time to Europe, where we got to spend a weekend in Rome with STA Travel US and the lovely guys from Formidable Productions.
We spent our first night touring three separate pizza places with Katie Parla from Parla Food, each showcasing a different type or technique used for our favourite food. Katie knows her stuff, we were lucky to have her show us around.
The first full day was a bit of a whirlwind, we didn't have the luxury of being jet lagged so we had to power through. The guys organized a hop on/hop off bus tour for us, which isn't typically something we'd do but it was nice to get to ride around and see a lot of the city that you may miss if you're only on foot. We were learning how to be tourists and relishing in one of our first real jobs.
As you do, we hopped off at the ruins and the coliseum and naturally spent all the money we had on us on some kids gladiator costumes.
Next up, Elena from The Yellow Rome had mentioned there was an old theatre, Teatro Valle, that the government cut the funding to three years ago and tried to privatize. Since then it's been occupied by a group of artists and they've kept it running. We were let in and given a short tour, there was a dance workshop taking place and the room was almost completely silent. It was beautiful, haunting and completely surreal after spending hours walking around with the huge crowds and city noise.
Our last day had us riding around with Lauren, one half of the amazing duo who run Young in Rome. Lauren knew so much about the history and culture of the city, it was super rad to spend the day with her. Pete said we weren't allowed near the Vatican, for reasons I can only guess had to do with the fact that the only Italian phrases we learned were, "Is that your girlfriend or your sister?" and how to call dibs. We were hungover too.
Our pals from STA Travel US & Formidable Productions put together a beautiful video of those whirlwind two days, which you can check out right here (Pro tip, watch 0:59 - 1:06 on a loop, over and over for the rest of your life, and feel better about everything that you have accomplished as an adult.)
After two days on the other side of the world, we headed back to Vancouver, and back to our day jobs. I still laugh thinking about walking into my restaurant job (dressed in a anatomically correct Statue of David apron) and trying to explain that I was in Rome for just the weekend. "Yes, like Rome, Italy." Life is weird sometimes.
Thanks everyone, it was a slice.
Words by: Kyla Trethewey
Start reading from our first day on the road or see all of our travel posts.