When in Rome

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ROME, ITALY:

Lisa and I arrived in Rome on the 23rd. We chose to stay at a campground outside of the city due to it's extremely low cost accommodation. We stayed in a house tent, which is a tent with two cots in it. Sadly, it probably tops some of the accommodation we've had on this trip. The only problem was, Rome was ungodly hot while we were there....so we went to bed late, and woke up early.

On Sunday the 24th, we headed to the Vatican museums, which usually cost 16 Euros admission. Luckily, for us anyways, the last Sunday of every month is free. We didn't arrive to the museum until 830, it opened at 9. The line was thousands of people long, and surprisingly we entered at 1030am....but, the line moves much quicker when people don't have to pay. Anyways, we made our way around the museum, which houses a great amount of religious art. Sadly, Lisa and I don't know much about art, so we didn't appreciate it as much as we should have. We then headed to the Sistine Chapel, the pope's private chapel painted by....Michelangelo in the 1500s. It really was phenomenal. Pictures or videos were not allowed....at least the first time we went in the chapel. We headed there one more time before we left the Vatican, and flashes were going off like crazy. The guards must have just given up.

Due to the scorching heat, Lisa and I left the vatican and went right back to the pools at the campground for some relaxing.

The next day we headed to all of the major attractions in Rome. We missed a lot...but it was so hot, we just couldn't have handled walking around any longer. We saw the Colosseum, the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, and St. Peter's Basilica.

We didn't go into the Colosseum, it was a bit pricey, and the outside was fascinating enough. We then headed to the Spanish Steps, which are literally stairs lined with tourists. People just sit here and relax. There was a huge fountain at the bottom of the steps. All of the fountains in Rome, except for the Trevi, can be used to fill up water bottles, as well as soaking your feet. The water in this fountain was ice cold, i mean, it was literally like putting your feet into a bucket of ice water. My feet were numb for like an hour afterwards, but it felt so good.

We then headed to the Trevi fountain, which is immaculate...but due to the heat....we snapped a few photos and made our way to the Pantheon, one of Rome's oldest buildings. Apparently it's also a major architechtural accomplishment as well....due to the enormous dome at the top. We stayed in here for a while, because it was nice and cool.

We then headed to St. Peter's Basilica, and ended up walking forever to find it...we got off the wrong metro stop. Just a side note....Rome's metro system sucks...it only has two lines, and for how large of a city it is, it's in convenient. But there are several buses that sort of make up for it. Anyways...St. Peter's Basilica is the Pope's church. (Ya know when you see him on tv on the balcony over looking the crowd) It was gorgeous inside. We didn't pay to climb to the top of the dome, but we did check out the tombs of past popes. Interesting, the oldest tomb was from the 1100s.

Our last day in Rome we spent relaxing poolside at the campground to escape the heat. I must say, I didn't appreciate Rome as much as I should have. A large part of this is due to the weather, and perhaps that the city is very dirty.



Next up: Chianti region in Tuscany

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Comments

[Nichole]

I don't know how you can deal in that heat. I would have given up. I just love reading ur blogs, they are so funny, but too short, but I know you will have a lot to say when you get back home! Hey guess who I'm taking a grad class with? Megan, ur sis-in-law, crazy. Well be safe!!!