When in Rome

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Wow. A lot has happened in the last few days—some major sights and some major changes in our spring break plans. I’ll start with Rome, the sights.
When we arrived in Rome we were all kind of tired and it was the middle of the afternoon before we were all settled in at our hostel. Hotel Colors was a fairly nice place- clean with a great little patio/balcony to eat out on. It was also close to some major sights. It only took about ten minutes to walk to Rome’s old castle located along the river. From there we could see the Vatican. The weather was warm and the sun was out, so we explored the moat/park area surrounding the castle. So serene. There were a bunch of young boys playing soccer there. We joked about what type of experience it would be to grow up in Rome. “Hey! Soccer. Four o’clock…at the castle!”
As the sun began to sink, so did some of our energy so we decided to go pick up a few groceries and explore a few street markets before heading back to our close-by stay. There we relaxed out on the balcony with our dinner and some tea.
The second day in Rome was a big sight-seeing day. Caitlin and I went on a short jog along the river then we were all out and showered by just past eight so we could get a good spot in line at the Vatican. We ended up in a line for the Cupola, and got a beautiful view of the city and the Vatican gardens from there after climbing 500 steps. The vegetation here—the palms, the lime grass, the tall cypress trees and more…and to think it is only March. We didn’t exactly know what we were in for but figured it must be good since the line just kept getting longer.
After this we got in another long line, this time for the Vatican Museum to see the Sistine Chapel. I would have taken it much slower had I been by myself but Caitlin and Whitney sped walked through the galleries before the final sight---Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel. There were so many details to absorb from this historical artistic masterpiece.
After staring at the ceiling for no more than fifteen minutes, they were ready to rush off to the next sight—the Coliseum.
The Coliseum was really interesting. We spent quite a bit of time there imagining what the audience members were like. It is the Roman arena from 2000 years ago: the time of Christ!! The Augustinian version of a ballpark…yet quite different events/entertainment methods took place.
The long walk back to the hostel was spotted with several historical landmarks and ancient ruins. It’s an unforgettable experience to walk by such ancient history. Rome is a treasure.
That night we decided that while in Roman, we must do as the Romans (and most all Italians for that matter) and go out for a pasta dinner. I got a delicious spinach and cheese ravioli dish with freshly stewed tomato/orange sauce. The food was good but our waiter was kind of rude. He tried charging us for items we didn’t order, but we were too on top of things! For some dessert we walked over to the grocery store for a few goodies. Then we sat out on the balcony a while and chatted with a Texan girl whom was staying at the hostel too and was studying abroad in Spain.
To make a long story short about the spring break plans, we found the Greek ferries to be far more expensive and long to make the trip to Greece worth it. We spent an extra day in Italy instead (the patron saint of Italy, St. Francis’ hometown.) A break from travel as well as dishing out money seemed to be a good solution. So we are going to relax a few days before heading out to Switzerland and Luxembourg for a little more sight-seeing.
My sight-seeing experience in Italy was wonderful and I plan on going back within the next month to see Venice!

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Comments

[Ron & Linda]

Great Job
Hi Laura: Greetings from Oregon !!! My wife and I have really enjoyed reading your "blog". We are making a return visit to Germany this fall and your comments and especially your pictures were very enjoyable and informative. Thanks again for letting us "snoop"..... sounds and looks as though you had a great trip... Ron and Linda P Cottage Grove, Oregon