So.. as promised, this is my post about Rome. Only 3 weeks later, but you know, it's better late than never. Pretty sure I remember the majority of the details, if I forgot them they were probably mundane anyways.
Days spent in Rome: February 4-5
We arrived early in Rome on Friday after taking an hour and a half train ride from the Florence train station. This was my first time being on a train in Italy and it was pretty nice. I did not pay attention to the view as we went by because all I wanted to do was sleep as it was about 8 in the morning. As soon as we arrive we are shepherded onto a bus and told we are headed to the Vatican. We were going to have 2 very packed days. Thankfully, they give us about half an hour when we reached the Vatican to find a bar or shop to get coffee/something to eat. We passed this AMAZING looking bread shop and I got a mini pizza about the size of my fist which was DELICIOUS. Erica got this famous Roman bread which was sweet with sugar on top and had raisons and oranges in it; it was good.
We then enter the Vatican. First thing we see are 3 famous pieces of artwork by Raphael. Then we see Leonardo da Vinci's unfinished drawing and some other art. We are told that we are not seeing the modern art section because we do not have enough time. (check out my facebook album "Quando in Roma..." for pictures of all the art I saw. I thought it was interesting because there were jewish stars in the designs on the floor and a jewish star being drawn in one of the wall paintings by Raphael. Very beautiful work. We also saw a bunch of classical statues related to Greek mythology and the courtyard with a huge giant golden ball. We are then told it is time to go through a special passageway to head into the Sistine Chapel.
The Sistine Chapel was mind blowing. It legitimately took my breath away. We were not allowed to take pictures (LOL Lee) but..
(Disclaimer: not my doing- I swear haha)
Just absolutely fantastic. The Last Judgement took up an entire wall on the front side and was GORGEOUS. I wish I could've been able to take a picture of that, but oh well. Still amazing. Kind of funny that Michaelangelo did not know how to paint a fresco before painting the chapel. Also how the Church waited until after he died to hire the "Underpants Painter" (I think that's what he got called) to cover up some of the people's nudeness so the fresco would not be so offensive.
We then walked into Saint Peter's Basilica which I think it my favorite church so far. I literally had to catch my breath when we walked in. It was huge, and gorgeous, and there was a gorgeous I guess altar(?) towards the back made from gold. Tons of gorgeous sculptures. Tons of pictures in my album on that too. After, we were let go for lunch and decided to climb to the top of St. Peters. The stairs up to the top started to curve around the top of the dome and became increasingly narrow. At one point we went up a continually spiral staircase. I'm not one to get claustrophobic, but it was so narrow and with the curved walls it started getting to me. TOALLY worth it though. I would compare the view to that of the Eiffel Tower, but for Rome obviously and not Paris. And it was a good day so were able to see everything and enjoy the hot sun on our faces. After, we got lunch really quickly and I tried some of Lee's white pizza which apparently Rome is known for- very good :)
For the rest of the day we were on our own. We went to this museum right across the street from our hotel an saw a lot of sculptures and art. We saw some of the first paintings and wall decorations. There was this room painted in black with some colorful designs. This was cool because they chose to paint it black in order to keep the room warmer (the black would absorb the heat). I also saw one of the first Roman Emperor's wife's bedroom art from around the 1st or 4th century I believe. It was a fresco of nature and it went all around the room- gorgeous.
After, we took a taxi over to the Pantheon. The piazza right in front of it was full of restaurants and shops and was gorgeous. We went to 1 of the 2 best coffee places in Rome and I got a café macchiato. I didn't end up having to pay because he didn't have change for me and it cost like .6 euros :). We then wandered around looking for the gelato place where Obama imports gelato from for his daughters. It was good, but I've had better. It was kind of expensive also. We then walked around looking for the Trevi fountain and a place to eat dinner. We found this really nice fountain in a piazza where there was music playing outside and a bunch of people just hanging out. I really loved the atmosphere there. I don't have any pictures because my camera died by this point, but I really loved it there. We ended up not going to the Trevi Fountain, but instead wandered into the Jewish Ghetto and had dinner. Jenna and Lee split a caprese salad and fried artichoke (another thing Rome is famous for). The fried artichoke was DELICIOUS! I had eggplant which was good as well. We then took a taxi home since we were exhausted and my feet were killing. We had bought a bottle of rose champagne earlier in the day, so we decided instead of going out, we were going to all soak out feet in the bidet in our bathroom and drink the champagne. I failed at opening the champagne bottle and it ended up exploding all over the place and us. Amusing though :P
Day 2:
This was the day to visit Ancient Rome. I was SOO excited! First up: The Roman Colosseum:
Kind of funny, there were people dressed up as ancient Romans walking around in front of the colosseum. Apparently, if they catch you taking a picture of them or you pose with them, you are obligated to pay them. If you don't, things will get ugly. I thought about taking a picture of them from where I was in the picture above, but decided against it and THEN was told you're supposed to pay if you do. Oh well haha. The Colosseum was amazing! I couldn't believe I was inside the ancient Roman Colosseum where the gladiators used to fight and everything. It totally made me want to see Gladiator again :D
We then went to see what I believe is Constantine's Arch right outside the Colosseum. I learned that you can tell when they were made by how many arches it has. If it has 3, it is from the later period and if it had only 1, it is from the earlier period of the Roman empire. We then went to the Roman forum which was huge! All of ancient Rome is just chilling in the middle of the city. It seemed like they just built the rest of the city around the ancient part. We were then told the story of how Caesar came to power and then was betrayed by the Senate while sitting next to the place where Marc Anthony laid his dead body and read his last will and testament. I thought THAT was pretty cool. Lastly, we were taken to the Pantheon where our tour guide explained the architecture and who was buried in there. Included are Raphael, the first King of Italy, and his son whom I believe was the 3rd King of Italy.
We then went to go find a place to eat lunch and ended up at this place where politicians usually eat calle Piccola Roma. It was good, my portion was small and they charged for everything, but it was very good. We then shared some gelato from the same place as the day before (it was right next door) and went to go exploring. We finally saw the Trevi Fountain which was GORGEOUS. I fell in love with it immediately and threw a .5 euro coin in there while making a wish :). After, on our way to the Spanish Steps, we encountered something interesting. There were these people selling 'brand name' bags and paintings along a street (as always). However, as soon as we pass them we hear one of them shout "Polizia!" and they all gather their stuff as fast as they can and start running past us. HOWEVER, there was a policeman at the other end of the street. We all thought that was the end of it, but they lined up in a row behind a car and then ran for it!! The policeman didn't even try to catch them, but it was so funny!
We then finally reach the Spanish Steps which are awesome. There were SO many people on them and a bunch of them had flags. We had no idea what this was for, but we kind of wanted a flag ourselves. This woman comes up to us and conveniently asks us if we would like to have flags. We of course say yes and ask what it is for. Apparently, it was part of Social Media Week (an advertising/marketing/communications conference on social media) and they were going to be having a flash mob and asked if we would like to participate. Of COURSE we would! So at 4 o'clock we were all to freeze in place for 2 minutes, and then hug each other once we unfreeze. It was for the promotion of world peace. Really cool :)
We then walked around the area for a bit (reminded me a little of New York City or Boston, very city like) and window shopped. By this point I'm exhausted and my feet are killing me. So much so that I am limping a bit as we walk. We finally decide we are tired and head back to the hotel to go catch our train back.
It was an amazing trip, but awfully tiring. I wish I would have had more days to see everything, but I am still thrilled that I got to see everything I wanted to see.
:phew!: Glad to get that post out of the way haha
I'll be sure not to wait so long next time for other trips :P
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