Advertisement
Published: June 21st 2006
Edit Blog Post
Naples left a bad taste in our mouth, but now that we are in Rome, we love Italy! We got in yesterday around noon and immediately went out to see the sites. We took the metro to the Colosseum. Heidi went inside the Colosseum while I waited outside and ate a panini... thats the way I roll.... food before everything! Ha ha no but seriously I heard not to waste your money on going inside, so dang it thats what I did. In any case, Heidi got the pictures, so that's all I needed. Right next to that was the Roman Forum. It was a small valley between two hills where there were ruins of ancient roman architecture. Pretty cool. Next to that was the Piazza del Campidoglio. It used to be the seat of the Roman governmnet, but more recently it was the seat of the city's municiple government. Michelangelo designed the sculptures there as well as all the facades on the three buildings. After that we walked to the Trevvi Fountain, the Pantheon, and the Piazza Navona. I could tell you what all those places were used for and who did them, but I would probably be lying because
Trevvi Fountain
Throwing in a penny ensures your return to Rome, throwing in a second grants you a wish. really I have no idea. The best part about all of this was that I have studied these things for 2 years in college and it is absolutely amazing to see them in person, and know the history behind them.... ok well I knew the history behind them as I was cramming for the test, unfortunately I didn't dedicate any of that info to long term memory :P The Piazza Novana was pretty cool because it was this large square with two small fountains and one large one, and hundreds of different artists and performers gathered around. I found a guy who did Henna tattoos so I had to get one on my ankle. Yep Mom... I'm branded, but don't worry only for 30 days 😊 So after that we were starving and found a little cozy restaurant... had some Bruchetta and pizza... yum!! Its weird because every restaurant closes here in the middle of the day and then re opens for dinner, so if you are hungry at 5:30 you are out of luck, you have to wait until 6:30. Blahh. Then as we headed back to a bus stop, we just HAPPENED to walk by a gelateria AGAIN....
and had to get some ice cream. Just too hard to resist, I stopped trying to myself 😊 We ended up getting back to the hostel around 8:00 pm and just passed out (mind you it is about 90 degrees here and the sun really beats down). Today we woke up and went straight to the Vatican Museum. The line was sooooo long but it moved fast, and thank god because it was even hotter today than yesterday. So we got to see the Raphael rooms, the roman sculptures and the Sistine Chapel. Couldn't even describe all of that if I tried because it is all just breathtaking. Then we walked over to St. Peter's Square and went inside the basillica. They have actual Pope bodies in glass cases that you can see... they don't tell you that in school! But wow, the pictures won't do that place justice there were so many sculptures and paintings... incredible. If we had known, we could have booked two seats to see the Pope this morning. On Wednesday mornings at 10 am he gives a public audience, but dang it we weren't efficient enough. After that we were worn out again from the
sun so we went back to the hostel and hung out. Not much to do there, we are staying with 3 girls from England who were gone most of the time and one guy from Italy who doesn't speak English. We had a lot of fun talking to the guy running the hostel who was our age, and saying things in Italian, knowing we were completely butchering it. Then trying to talk to the Italian guy staying with us but he was too shy to practice his English, which he just happens to be studying. So that was our time in Rome! It is about 8:30 pm and we are off to the Colosseum again to see it at night, and they had some dang good lookin pizza there too, so of course we have to take advantage of that. The camera hasn't been working on these computers lately, so pics will just have to wait again! I wish we could stay longer and do some more low key things, instead of all the tourist stuff, but its amazing all the same! On to the next!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.069s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 7; qc: 44; dbt: 0.0444s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Laurie Pennington
non-member comment
Jealousy from the Benefits Gang
Ok ... we're all jealous. Not about the 90 degree temps, but about you seeing all of that history! But we'd skip the glass encased Pope bodies! Have more pizza and italian ice for us. Watch out for the Italians ... I heard they Pinch bottoms! HA HA Love your Aunties and uncle (Enrique) ...