ROME pt. II (Jay-Z&Beyonce concert)

DAY THREE

Good morning! Nope, fuck your sleep, Imma put 100 alarms again and make you hate mornings, thought Debbie. As I was trying not to take her phone and throw it far far away, Wendy was already showered and dressed. This girl wastes no time. Me and Debbie are more on the lazy, sleepy side. Anyway we went to get our breakfast again, except now we realized no one had brought any. The owner didn't even show up at all and so we had to take what we could find, some jam, integral toast and tea. It was a sad sad breakfast, but nothing could break our spirit.

Sinners

Today was THE day. The concert day which we've been waiting for, for a few months now. We were kinda excited but not as we realized we should have been. The beautiful process of getting ready lasted longer today because we wanted to take our time, listen to Ariana Grande, moisturize, prime, cover and glow for the whole day. We knew when we leave today, we won't be coming home for at least 12 hours. Since the concert was much closer to the Vatican than it was to our place, we decided to visit Vatican before it.

You try finding an outfit that can go from covering-my-body-for-the-pope-in-the-heat/respectful-catholic girl to flawless-run the world-slay concert outfit.  It's hard. Of course we all decided to lean more towards the obvious, respectful choice. So we decided to wear short skirts, bralettes, shorts and crop tops. We pretty much sinned already in life, so what's a little crop top choice for Vatican gonna do?

Getting there

We first went to get some reaaal good pizza close to our place and it was amazing. Now it was around 3 o'clock in the afternoon, 32 degrees, hot as balls, and we need to go sightseeing. We finally found the right bus station, of course, the bus didn't arrive and since all the people on the station decided to give up, so did we. We called a taxi through the MyTaxi app. ROME TIP: If you do decide to use a taxi, download the Mytaxi app. It is half the price of Uber in Rome. 

We were passing by some really incredible buildings on the way and we wanted to know what they were. So Wendy suddenly turned to the driver and scared him with: "HEY, what's that?" We thought he will just say something short like: "It's a temple, it's old". But this guy was all in. He ended up telling us everything about anything we saw on the way, recommending stuff to see, he even knew all the years and purposes of buildings. It was like a nice private tour and I think explaining things to people is his passion. We arrived to Vatican's Piazza San Pietro. He wanted to charge us 10 euros instead of 12 euros, but we were like: no dude, you gave us some quality knowledge there, you keep it all and here is more. Bless your heart.

Welcome, you don't need to cover yourself

Yes, this is what it looked like. It was a Sunday and we expected more people there or at least something. But it was too sunny and pretty much empty. I'm guessing because there was NO SHADE anywhere. I felt it. I could feel the sun burning my skin and telling me: "You dumb bitch, that's what you get for wearing crop tops to holy places." LIFE TIP: Do NOT go travel to cities like these in July, unless it is a city on the far north. Don't do it. Sightseeing is too exhausting and you sweat all day. Also there are chances of dehydration and dying. 

As we approached it, we noticed a Croatian flag on the right side. We realized our embassy is right there, which was pretty cool to see on this world famous place. The piazza looked kinda small. When you see it on TV with those masses of people it looks so much different than it does when you're there. Some man approached us, I guess he works there, and Debbie started covering herself up. This bitch wore a bralette and shorts to Vatican, but justified it with a sort of kimono over it. She nailed the holy-day-to-hoey-night look. But the guy said: "No,no, no need to cover yourself yet". We weren't even planning to go inside since the Chapel was closed. We also didn't plan to stand in line for hours in the sun. ROME TIP: If you want to visit Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's Basilica and the Vatican Gardens you must cover yourself up. Low cut or sleeveless clothes, miniskirts and shorts and even hats aren't allowed.  More info is on their official website so make sure you check it out before going. 

The guy asked us if we know that there is a Jay-Z and Beyonce concert tonight and we told him we are going to it. This creeper than asked if he can go with us. Then he asked us if we were from Greece for some reason. Look, I don't know. He was old and weird. So we left. The piazza is gorgeous, very powerful to see. The columns on the sides are designed to look like arms hugging the square.

The obelisk located in the middle of the piazza was brought from Egypt. The obelisk was also the only thing providing shade at this point so we went to stand there. The police also stood there, and when we approached the shade they started yelling: "Hey, you can't stand here!" Then they started laughing and we realized that was a joke. Ha-ha guys, so funny. Won't be funny when we all DIE FROM HEAT STROKE. At this point I wasn't sure if I was burning from the sun or from my sins, being in this holy place.

Anyway, I sat on the fountain and waited for occasional splashes of water from it, while Debbie had a photosession with Wendy.

After admiring the piazza some more, we went to get some souvenirs, again a bit further away to find cheaper prices. We bought Susan a postcard of the Pope pointing his finger and smiling, as a way of telling her: "Haha you aren't with us, feel bad you loser", because that's what friends do. I didn't send it to her yet because I am lazy, so SURPRISE SUSAN YOU GONNA BE GETTING A GIFT. 🎈

Across the Piazza there is the gorgeous Castello sant Angelo. It was used as a mausoleum for the whole family of emperor Hadrian. It also has this cool underground secret passage to get to the Vatican. It's pretty sweet.

Selling skills

Finally it was time to get to the stadium and the concert. We went two hours before because we still needed to pick up the tickets at the stadium. We took the bus (only 25 minutes of waiting this time) and as we were driving, more and more people going to the concert joined it. When we got out of the bus there were already a few thousand people there. Most of them were dressed up. There were some girls in dresses that looked like they are for prom, some with real merch, some braided their hair, put glitter, it was extra and it was beautiful.

At the entrance, we saw the biggest line of people I ever saw in my life. It must have been at least 1 km long, I swear. We were shocked as to how it's possible that the organization of this system is so bad. Finally someone told us that if we bought tickets through Ticketmaster, we need to go to another building. That was good because there were no lines there and we got our tickets in a few minutes. Now since Susan ditched us, we had her extra ticket, so my girls were keen on selling it. Unfortunately our selling skills sucked, so we failed, but hey, it's Susan's money.

The perfect Vatican-to-Concert outfits @valentina.wendy @darilbroskvar

The merch looked bad and it was expensive, so we skipped that. We finally entered, found our seats and now it was only time to wait for the concert to start. It wasn't as sold out as we thought. There were some empty seats on the sides and some were covered with black fabric, as Wendy told me, to make it look like there were people there on the video.


O n   t h e   r u n   II

Suddenly, it all started. The first video showed up on the giant screen. Just so you get the picture, their whole concept of this tour is telling a story, it has a flow. There is a reason for each song, outfit, mood and videos in the background, that looked extremely well done, like great great movies.

Bey and Jay have been together for about 12 years or more. He cheated on her, and then she put out the epic Lemonade album. After that he put out the 4:44 album where he tells his side, and now the tour is kind of the whole story put together.

The first video. Them laying in bed, smoking. The words "the gangster" and "the queen" show up on screen. Here I was already shook. Some more scenes showed up and then - them. Jay Z and Beyonce, on top of the stage. They were holding hands, looking serious as they do, and the song Holy Grail started. At that point I was taken over. I started screaming so loud, like a teenager seeing One Direction for the first time. It was unreal. Just seeing them here, together, live, HERE, made me so excited that I felt like I had left my body.  I lost my voice already there. From then on it was just more and more perfection, screaming, dancing, knowing all the lyrics, crying, rapping, yelling,  screaming "I wasn't ready for this", "I am shook"and "I can die now". And it was no exaggeration.

This was the most epic thing I ever saw. I admired them before, but not as most people do. I always thought they were a tiny bit overrated and I wasn't crazy for them. But after this, I have nothing but respect and admiration. The fact is, Jay Z and Beyonce are not just a rapper and a singer, they are artists. Real artists. They can transfer the emotions they felt, to you, through their performance. They make meaningful content that makes you feel something. And I think that is what art is. They made this show high quality - lyrics, effects, design, music, videos, everything. TWO AND A HALF HOURS OF QUALITY NON-LIPSINC CONTENT. That is rare these days.

These days people on concerts are mostly on their phones, recording and posting everything. One girl who was rigth in front of us was didn't dance or sing once, she just recorded it all. And she must have payed 80-100 euros for this, so what's the point girl?  This makes me sad.

I didn't want to do that. I have one video of me and the girls singing and that's it. I didn't want to touch my phone or look at it because I wanted to really enjoy the music and the concert. To really be there and be present. And it was my best decision. I might not have videos now, but I have great memories of the feeling I had while I was there. And it was a feeling of not caring about anything, being present and being happy.

Later on Beyonce sang the song Redemption. She sat on the edge of the stage in a beautiful nude dress and we could all feel her emotions. Feel her pain of when he cheated on her. Feel her tears, her resentment, feel everything she felt in those moments. It was moving. Later on she showed up in a silver space-looking outfit, with 6 girls laying their head on her and we thought it was gonna be a chill song. Then she got up and started with the Don't hurt yourself song. When she yelled the first lyrics: "Who the fuck do you think I am??! You ain't married to no average bitch boy!" I was shook to my core. I could, again, feel her anger at him for cheating.

Blind for love

Later on Jay stopped the music, counted down from 10 to 1, said "Ball so hard motherfuckers wanna fine me" and then the beat dropped for Ni**as in Paris. I was in ecstasy. Incredible. Later they sang Crazy in love together, and used part of Kanye's song where she powerfully yelled " I ride for my ni**a I die for my ni**a" and we could see she is still by his side after all the shit he did to her. The concert was full of dancers, excellence, effects. Videos of their private life, where they renewed their vows, their twins videos, celebration of culture and pride. Finally they ended with the Forever young/Perfect (Ed Sheeran) duet. The stadium was full of lights, tears, emotions, beauty. He kissed her in the end, and the words THIS IS REAL LOVE showed up on screen.

I can't really explain this to you unless you were there, how good it was. How many emotions you feel. You can see the journey they been through, the pain of infidelity, the hard choice of staying together, the fighting and finally - love. It was like they took us all through that journey and it was wonderful.

I don't care if their story is true or not, or is it all PR and concert material. I was never so moved by any concert or any performer. And it brought out the tears in the one you wouldn't ever expect to - my Debbie. Some people see her and think she is some conceited girl because of her resting bitch face (which we all have). But she is the complete opposite. Once you get to know her, you find out she is goodhearted, kind, generous, emotional, funny, strong, capable woman who has been through a lot and is still here winning and living her best life. Her views on the world are inspiring and I sometimes wish to think like her. Seeing her cry after the concert shocked me more than the whole performance of Jay and Bey. I will probably see them again before I ever see Debbie shed a tear again.

After hours and hours of walking and trying to find some transportation, having some random bus show up three times, but never ours, driving on the bumpy roads of Rome that feel like a roller coaster, walking more with blisters on our feet, we arrived to our apartment around 4 in the morning, exhausted, but still happy and full of impressions.

LAST DAY

It was a Monday, and it was time to go back to reality. We took a bus straight to Termini station. Of course now that we are leaving, the bus arrived exactly when we arrived to the station. Seriously it's like the public transportation system was mocking us. At Termini, there is a wonderful selection of food and drinks. You can start with waffles and detox juice, move on to sushi, and finally get wasted at the wine bar. Lovely. We took the bus to the airport and from there it was all travels to Trieste, and finally Croatia. 

Upon arrival we sat down in the center of our city for a final coffee. When you come home from a trip and you don't want it to end so soon, take a little post-trip coffee, just to keep it going for a little longer.

We had already started talking about where we wanna go next and only mentioned missing Susan once, because that's what she deserves. (I joke Susan, we love you and you were really missed💓).

Would I recommend Rome? Yes. 

In the summer? Fuck no. 

The concert? By all means, find money, and get to it any way you can. 

I had a wonderful time. Thanks to my girls for being really cool human beings.

Until next time 😊