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Published: February 25th 2008
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This past weekend we went to Rome and it was awesome! We arrived on Friday night around 7pm and we decided to grab dinner and then go on a night walk around the city. In one of our travel books it suggested doing this walk which was only supposed to take us an hour but ended up taking us about 3 hours to do.
We started out by walking to the Spanish steps in the Piaza di Spagna which is where people sit on the steps at night and play music and hang out and drink wine. There are many men walking around with flowers who try to get the men to purchase them for the ladies, but these guys are usually unsuccessful. It was still neat to see the crowd gathered there though. After spending a few minutes hanging around there we walked over to the Trevi Fountain which is the only fountain in Rome that is not suitable to drink from because the water is continually re-circulating through the fountain. This was one of the coolest places I have seen at night. The water was crystal blue and the fountain was so neat. There were lots of people
gathered here too just hanging out and admiring the fountain. This was also a prime spot to be hassled by street vendors, this time trying to sell gadgets and these little putty toy people things that you could mold into many different shapes. After that, we headed over to the Pantheon and we were so amazed by the vastness of the columns on the outside. Its said that they are the largest columns in Rome and when it rains you can find thousands of people huddled under them to stay dry. The Pantheon was the last stop on our night walk, so after that we went home so we could wake up early to do a lot of sight seeing on Saturday.
We woke up Saturday at about 7am and got ready and headed to the Vatican. It was a very long walk from our hostel so we decided that it would be more efficient to just take a bus there because the Vatican opened at 8:45 and we were warned that there would be large crowds. When we got to the Vatican City we walked up towards St. Paul’s Cathedral and we saw huge jumbo trons
and gates around the Cathedral. So we asked a couple in front of us what was going on and they said there was going to be a “gathering” at 12. We weren’t really sure what that meant but we didn’t even know if the pope was in Rome for the weekend so we decided it would be better to get inline for the Vatican. After only about a 45 minute wait we made our way into the Vatican. We didn’t have much time to sightsee since we were only in Rome for the weekend so unfortunately we had to hurry our way through the museums to see what we were really after- the Sistine Chapel.
It took us about 30 minutes to make our way back to the Sistine (you have to go through some of Michelangelo’s rooms and other places to get to the Sistine Chapel because it’s at the very back, but it was well worth the wait. When we got in we were all in awe. How could one man paint such an amazing ceiling in 4 years? Art like this just isn’t created anymore. Another amazing part was the wall to the right
as you walk in. The painting was also done by Michelangelo and it was called “The last judgment.” It is a depiction of the apocalypse (the 2nd coming of Christ) and it had a clear distinction of heaven and hell and the people trying to make it to heaven- some embraced, some rejected. In the center towards the top were Jesus and Mary. They were in the middle and unharmed by the chaos that surrounded them. It made you feel the power and dominion that God has over us and the judgment that will occur when he comes again to the Earth.
After leaving the Sistine Chapel we headed out to see if we could possibly find out what was going on at St. Paul’s Cathedral since it was just after 12. We had no idea what to expect, but I am so glad we decided to go check it out. At this point there was no line and thousands of people had already entered the gates and had begun forming a crowd around this stage and these set out paths for a car to get through. On the large TV’s we saw the Pope riding around
on this little white vehicle waving to the crowd. We thought that was so neat and we felt so lucky to have the chance to see him on the big screen, but before we knew it the people in front of us started cheering and pulling out their cameras (it was hard for us to see over them so we weren’t sure what was going on.) So I decided to do the same. I jumped up in the air and realized the reason everyone was so excited was because the Pope was headed our way. I scrambled to pull out my camera and I held it in the air and snapped a photo. It was ok but I realized he was still coming closer so I tried again. I got a GREAT photo of him waving to the crowd (I will attach it to this email). It was so neat to be able to experience that and the love and admiration that these people have towards such an amazing religious figure. I never thought I would be able to visit the Vatican, let alone see Pope Benedict XVI.
We really didn’t think the day could get much
better but as we walked over towards the Coliseum we realized otherwise. WOW! All I can say is wow! I couldn’t believe I was looking at a piece of architecture that was created around 70 AD, and still standing in pieces today. In fact, the Coliseum is so amazing that it was voted one of the “new 7 wonders of the world” in 2007. Pretty neat. Although most of the interior is damaged and there isn’t anything left of the original floor (only the columns that held it up), it was one of the most amazing sites I’ve ever seen first hand.
After the Coliseum we went to do the Roman Forum walk, which was the main center where ancient Rome was created. The most interesting thing about this place I thought were the original cobblestones where it was said the Julius Caesar once walked. There was an area that looked like a memorial which was the place where Julius Caesar was burned and buried. We walked around the forum for about an hour and then headed back to our hostel (we actually walked this time instead of taking the bus.)
On Sunday, we
woke up and went to the Spanish Steps, the Trevi fountain, and went inside the Parthenon since we hadn’t had a chance to see them in daylight. They were all amazing and even more beautiful in the sunlight and 65 degree weather (which it was all weekend in Rome!). We had a great trip and I can’t believe I’m able to see these things that I thought I would only read about in books, I know I am very lucky and I hope you all have a chance to see Europe at some point if you haven’t already, because everything here has been so beautiful.
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