Rome!

Okay, so it's time to hear about Rome. First off, I was pretty surprised with it. The sites and the history were beautiful, buut I couldn't believe how dirty it was. There was graffiti EVERYWHERE. Also, Rome had the most beggers, street vendors, etc. One night Owen and I were sitting at a pub outside and literally 6 or 7 people came up to use and tried to sell us stuff. They would NOT leave you alone. I got pretty frustrated by the end of the trip.

Our first day there we got tickets for a bus tour, like the one we did in London. Our ticket was good for two days. We rode it part of the way and decided to get off. We thought we were in the direction of the Spanish Steps, but we ended up following a group of people to the France vs. Italy rugby game. Italy had some crazy fans for being a crappy team!






After we realized we messed up with directions, we turned around and found the Spanish steps and some other sights!



The next day there was a huuge marathon in Rome. There were thousands and thousands of poeple running in both the 4k and 40k. We made our way to the Colosseum and that's where the race began and had a route. We saw some racers and it was pretty neat. We decided to go into the Colosseum that day -- it was soo cool! You can see the underground tunnels where the animals and fighters were kept. You can walk all around and see it from every view. It was pretty nice because it wasn't that crowded due to the race. With our Colosseum tickets we were able to get into the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. I thought we saw Palatine Hill, but we didn't:(... However, the Forum was really really interesting. There are just random remains of all different types of buildings. I loved the old pillars that are still standing. There are also many places that give you a good view of the Forum.



We also visited the Pantheon that day, I didn't expect what it was. It was just one big round room with the cool open window at the top. There were altars, pews, etc in there too!

The Trevi Fountain was my favorite thing in Rome I think! It was soo pretty. It was HUGE! and I didn't expect it to actually be built into a wall! It was also very very pretty at night.





Some other things we saw were the Capitoline Hill Museum, the Unknown Soldier's Tomb, different churches, etc. Capitoline was full of different works of art that I've learned about in school and it's neat to say that I remembered learning about that. The Unknown Soldier's tomb was really neat too. We could climb tons of steps and get a pretty good view.




One thing I fell in love with in Rome was Gelato!! It was sooo good; we searched all day to find this one really good place. We finally found it and it was definitely worth it. Mixing the flavors is my favorite!

On our last day in Rome, we visited the Vatican. It was huge!! The Pope returned to Rome on Monday, we visited Tuesday and he gave his speech on Wednesday -- the day we were leaving, sooo we missed out:( haha We went into St. Peter's Cathedral and looked all around. We saw Michelangelo's famous dome, along with many other famous pieces of art. We got a little lost here. We left the Cathedral thinking we could get to the Sistine Chapel. However, we didn't! So, we got back in the line for security because we thought we had to -- the map made it seem like it was right inside the square. So, we go back in and we end up going into the room with the tombs of the popes. This was interesting; Pope John Paul II's tomb was very nice and there were candles and flowers all around it; there were also people just kneeling and praying.

After we realized we were wrong, we decided to ask! We realized we had to walk a good 10 minutes to get to the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel. Soooo, we walked there and went in! There is a maze of museum to find the Chapel. So, while looking for it we went through the Raphael Rooms, Egyptian art, sculptures, tapestries, and many more! However, the Sistine Chapel was amazing! Pictures were not allowed, but I was able to snap one! The artwork was amazing! It was just full of scenes. After the Chapel, we headed back to the center of Rome. We walked there and it surprisingly didn't take too long ANNND we didn't get lost! haha







We walked around for a bit and decided to eat dinner out that night. We had gorgeous weather ALL break and all day we said we'd thought it'd rain. As soon as we sit down to eat, it starts to rain! Good thing we picked an indoor restaurant! It ended up hailing REALLY bad. However, when we were ready to go back outside - it stopped raining! It was a miracle! haha

We got some gelato for the last time and headed back to pack for our trip to Paris!

We enjoyed Rome for the most part, but it wasn't my favorite. I'm glad I went and saw it, but I'm not sure if i would go back and visit! That's basically the gist of my trip; there are obviously little stories in between that I'll most likely share at some point when I remember them:)

More on Paris soon:)