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Published: September 26th 2008
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Oh Rome… What a city. Most people say they could spend a lifetime in Rome and not quite see everything the city has to offer. I spent just over 24 hours in this city, and I would like to think I did a pretty good job of seeing most of what it had to offer. This trip has felt like a whirlwind adventure from day one, so leaving with another whirlwind tour through Rome seemed very fitting. So here goes my description of Rome in a day - good luck following.
The first night in Rome we decided to start it off with a night tour led by our very own Rick Steves. He took us through 3 squares, piazzas. The first was full of locals, pubs, and restaurants. It had a statue of a famous martyr built on the very spot he was burned. Then we went to the second piazza where the Pantheon stood amidst apartment buildings. It was insane how something so old had just been swallowed up by the city. I couldn’t really get it out of my head. But I guess that’s Rome for you, a growing city with enough ruins scattered in to
Roma
Vatican City entice tourists. Still you turn the corner, and bam the pantheon and a city, so cool. The third piazza was home to street performers and artists trying to sell their paintings. It was also where a famous fountain of the four rivers was located, but sadly it was under construction so we never got to see it. This was also the home of the best gelato, supposedly. I’ve never had gelato until coming to Italy. I had asked how it was different from ice cream and I was never given an answer. Here’s my view... its smoother, not near as thick and full of flavor. I don’t care of ice cream, but I could live off gelato, easily. The last bit of our night walk took us past the fountain of trevi, and the Spanish steps. I was completely content with our little walk, and we still had possibly the most sight-seeing filled day still ahead of us.
Waking up early was a must if we were going to see everything. We decided to start by visiting the tiniest country in the world- the Vatican City! We arrived before it opened, hoping we would miss most of the line.
This was one of the smartest things we did on this trip. Once the doors opened we were inside in no time. We decided to go to the museum first, and as we bypassed tours we walked into exhibits just as they were opening the doors. Such a cool feeling to be one of the only people in a room full of so much amazing history, but as the day progressed we were not alone. We knew a little bit about what we were seeing, but being that hindsight is 20/20 I would recommend getting a tour - unless you really do know everything. It was nice to look at certain things, but at the same time you really didn’t know what you were looking at. We did over hear some tours, and got a brief understanding of certain random objects. We made our way to the Raphael rooms, where all at least knew a little bit about the artwork. Seeing this things first hand really blows your mind. It’s not a pretty picture in a book anymore, and a lot of times those pictures don’t quite point out how huge these things are.
Next was the Sistine Chapel.
It was phenomenal! You couldn’t take pictures, which was only slightly disappointing. I’d rather look at it firsthand then from behind the camera anyways. It was intense, the colors and the magnitude of everything. It was fun trying to follow the story of Christ along the ceiling. You just stood there staring straight up until your neck hurt, but you would keep looking because it was so spectacular. It was also full of people, which was really annoying. It never seems to fail that whenever in a large group a tiny mummer grows into a loud hum. The best moments were right after everybody got yelled at for talking, because it was completely quiet and serene. Then we went to the cathedral and again, I really wish I was catholic only to better understand everything in these amazing buildings.
From the Vatican we made our way to the Coliseum. This was just like Big Ben, and the Eiffel Tower. You took the subway and as your walking up to the streets it’s right in front of you. You can’t get these kinds of mind numbing sights in America! The Coliseum was very grand, but also a bit of a
disappointment. It was a bit more ruined than I had imagined. You could see the paths and tunnels used my gladiators. I thought it would be fun to run through them, but obviously Roma doesn’t think so because you can’t go anywhere near them. They did do a good job of displaying tidbits of history about the coliseum and life back in the day when it was used for entertaining the masses.
Just across the street from the Coliseum was Palatine Hill where all the emperors of Roma build their palaces. It lay in complete ruins, of course, but was in general a very peaceful walk. Plus you could see Circus Maximums. This was probably the biggest let down for Johnson, and really everybody else. But after learning about this stuff in history books and seeing pictures of what it “would” have looked like you expect it to fit along with all the other ruins in the city. But there’s a good reason why there’s not very many pictures of Circus Maximums now, it’s just a dirt oval. Disappointing to say the least.
From Palatine Hill we were able to do the walk that most emperors of Rome
did back in the day to the Forum for another day of work. The Forum was really well described by Rick Steves. He pointed out things such as where Cesar turned down the crown, but ended up becoming something of an emperor anyways. It also showed us the spot where Cesar’s body was buried and the memorial that always has flowers on it.
Then we hightailed it back the see the Pantheon during the day. This was still so weird to me; I don’t think I’ll ever get over the site of the Pantheon mixed in with current day life. Inside was pretty neat especially since it makes a perfect half sphere, and I have no idea how they would have built this 1,000+ years ago. From there we grabbed some of that famous gelato. Johnson has become something of an addict which is fine with me because it means we keep getting gelato!
Since this was my last night with the boys we decided to have a good time, and wound up back on our night walk to find a place to sit, relax, and enjoy each other’s company. We ended up making some friends from Colorado.
It was great finally being able to talk to people who spoke primarily English! There was even a guy who was from England (study abroad in Colorado, ended up staying b/c he married this girl, but makes frequent trips back) and he told everything we would need to know about living in the UK.
It was a great night for me to end our trip together on. The boys our deciding to throw away their plans and just do a make-it-up-as-you-go trip through the rest of Europe. I wish them all the best. I on the other hand will be traveling to Wales, and from there start a whole different adventure. One I am very excited to begin!
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