Throwback Thursday: Trevi Fountain

Hello!

Today I come to you with a relatively short story about my favourite part of visiting Rome last summer (other than the food because Italian food is good, let me tell you).

Since I was a kid, I've wanted to see the Trevi Fountain in real life. This little fantasy stemmed from films of my childhood like Sabrina Goes To Rome (which I have probably watched about 50 times in my life without exaggeration) and The Lizzy McGuire Movie. Every single time after watching either of those films, I felt a major pang of desperation to just jump on a flight to Rome and find my way to the Trevi fountain so I could admire it and throw a coin or two in.

As I grew older, I got comfortable with the fact that I'd probably never get the chance to go to Rome, at least not until I was old enough to be able to afford to pay for flights and hotels by myself, but the longing was still there.

And then a miracle happened. I don't know what I did right in my life to deserve it, but around March last year, my mum started talking about the possibility of taking me to Rome and paying for me. I know she's my mum, but I don't have any idea how anyone can be so generous and kind. Even just the thought was enough to make my year, but eventually it was settled, the flight and the hotel were booked. I would definitely be going to Rome that August.

I'm going to save the rest of the Rome Trip story for another blog post, so we'll skip over everything up until and following the Trevi Fountain from this point onwards.

It was our first whole day in Rome and we got the Hotel's minibus service which stopped by the Spanish Steps and did a bit of picture taking and some souvenir shopping - typical tourist-y stuff. (Some of these details may be slightly off because I was too excited about living my fantasy of seeing the fountain to take much else in from that morning.)

We consulted the map and walked down a few cobbled roads and the next thing I knew, I could hear running water and everything inside me just froze. Even I froze. I'd woken up that morning knowing that I'd be seeing the Trevi Fountain in just a few short hours, but I hadn't prepared myself for it mentally. What if it wasn't everything I dreamed it would be? What if I'd come all this way just to be disappointed?

Over the next three or four milliseconds, I strongly wanted to turn around and leave because I'd been building up that moment since I was young enough to count my age on one hand and I wasn't sure that it would live up to my very high expectations. I was also stuck in the realisation that (even if I revisit Rome one day) I'd never be able to see it for the first time ever again and I didn't want to screw my one and only chance up, either. But after those few milliseconds of doubt had passed, I carried on walking down the road before looking to my right and seeing the beautiful Trevi Fountain in all its glory.

I'm terrible at describing things in clever ways, so I'll put it simply: It very much lived up to my expectations. I loved every second I was in its presence and if I could have sat there and stared at it all day, I very much would have. It was beautiful, and it's a moment that I hope I'll never forget.

Ash