Roma

Greetings! Once again I am still reporting on the same week in Italy. It was an intense week. We arrived late Monday, March 2 in Roma! We checked into our hostel and went to grab a bit to eat. We choose a really small mom and pop restaurant that was just around the corner. The food was great, but when it came time to pay, the language barrier became an issue. The waiter kept telling us we didn't pay enough, but we couldn't figure out why because he didn't speak English and we didn't speak Italian. We finally figured out we didn't include the service charge, but it was an honest mistake because the check he gave us was handwritten and illegible. We finally got it worked out and went back to the hostel and went to bed. It was a long day for all of us. I know I was starting to wonder if we crammed too much into a week. Regardless, Roma awaited us tomorrow!

Tuesday, March 3

We woke up and got ready for an exciting day in Roma. The hostel we were staying at didn't have breakfast, but gave us coupons for a place around the corner that served us cappuccino and a croissant. It was a good way to start off our day. Once we finished that, we broke out the maps and started exploring. Since all the girls had different departure days and times, we spilt up for the day. Some of us traveled to the Coliseum, Palatine Hill, and Pantheon.

The Coliseum was amazing. Three of us decided to do a guided tour of both the Coliseum and the Palatine Hill. It was well worth it. Being inside the Coliseum made you feel so small. It also made me think about how gross it must have been inside it many many years ago. The guide told us about how the high class women that sat on the top section would use the bathroom in bags and then drop it over the ledge behind them (talk about look out below). The guide also told us how many men and animals died as a result of the gladiator games held inside it. Roughly 500,000 men were killed and 1 million wild animals died. Even though the architecture of the building was amazing those numbers were disturbing. One thing that the tour guide told us that wasn't disturbing was that the reason part of the coliseum is missing was because of earthquakes. I found that pretty interesting because all the pictures you see of the Coliseum are with the the missing part.
Since the other three girls we were with decided not to do the tour with us, we waited for them after the tour to try and decide where to meet up after our tour of the Palatine Hill. While Ellie and I waited, we had a slight ordeal. These men outside the coliseum were dressed up as Gladiators and taking pictures with tourists. Without us even going up to them, they approached Ellie and I and put helmets on our head and insisted to take our picture with the other gladiators. He took my camera and proceeded to take pictures of us. Me and Ellie were just laughing and having a good time. Once he finished taking our picture, I went to get my camera back and he demanded 5 Euros. I thought he was joking so I laughed, but he wasn't. He just kept saying 5 Euros, 5 Euros, this is my job 5 Euros. I told him NO and for him to give me my camera back. He wouldn't give me my camera back until I deleted the pictures he just took. I was extremely angry at this point. I of course deleted the pictures and wanted so badly to say get a real job! I didn't, but wanted to very very badly. That ordeal could have easily put a damper on my day, but Ellie and I made sure we didn't let that happen. Next, was our guided tour of the Palatine Hill.

I enjoyed this tour thoroughly! We had a different tour guide than the Coliseum. He was a Scottish man that really knew his stuff. He took us around the ruins telling us about the history of the Romans. It was very interesting. The Palatine Hill was the center of the Seven Hills of Roman and one of the most ancient parts of Rome. From a mythological standpoint, it was the hill where the she-wolf found Romulus and Remus and kept them alive. The hill gave us a great view of the whole city of Rome. It was beautiful up there. It almost seemed like a tropical place because of all the green plants everywhere.
People have lived on the hill since 1000 B.C., but the palace wasn't built until later. The hill was the place where emperors of Rome would live. It was so amazing to see the ruins of a structure that was built around the birth of Christ! (can't remember an exact date, but sometime give or take around then). The tour guide even told us that more of the structure would exist if they hadn't removed stones to use on another structure in Rome. The people who built those palaces and buildings were brilliant. It was definitely a highlight of my trip I wasn't expecting.

After our tour, we ate lunch outside. It was a beautiful day with only a couple drizzles of rain every now and again. We weren't able to meet up with the other girls we were with earlier because our tour lasted so long. We finished lunch and then headed to the Pantheon. It was pretty funny though because when we showed up, we actually ran into our friends! Rome is such a huge city, and we still managed to find each other without using a cell phone or anything. Its a small world sometimes. We didn't spend much time in the Pantheon. It was just nice to go inside and see because its a very pretty structure. It was built in 125 A.D. and was originally a temple built to all the gods of Ancient Rome. Now, it is used as a church. The building is huge and has a huge hole in the ceiling. It was very interesting. We had a quick look around and left to head back to our hostel. It was quite a full day of activities.

We didn't do anything exciting the rest of the day. We ate dinner and called it a night. Italy was wearing us out!

Wednesday, March 4

We woke up and had a repeat of the previous morning. Cappuccino and croissant for breakfast and then headed out for another full day in Rome. We headed to Saint Peter's Basilica and the Vatican Museum. It was too far to walk so we headed to the Metro station to catch a train out there. (This was the only time we used public transportation in Italy, quite an accomplishment. I've got the holes in my shoes to prove it. ha) The metro in Rome was awful compared to London's underground. I was glad we only had to use it once. We got off the train and started walking to St. Peter's, but not without a hundred people offering us tours and tickets to beat the line that was ahead. We all realized once we got to the Basilica that they were all just trying to scam you. Luckily, we didn't trust them and got into St. Peters without a line or any trouble. It was a very big and beautiful. St. Paul's has the largest interior of any church in the world and holds 60,000 people. Tradition says that St. Peter was buried below the alter and now many Popes after him have been buried there as well. We got an audio guide for the basilica and learned a lot while we were walk through . I can't say I remember a lot of it now, but it was interesting to listen to all that history while taking in the beauty of the basilica. We spent a couple hours in there, and then headed to lunch just a little bit down the street. Next, was the Vatican Museum.

We got into the museum, and I made sure to get an audio guide there also so I would know what I was looking at. There were many different museums within the Vatican museum. It was HUGE! We definitely didn't allow ourselves enough time in there. I won't bore you with everything I saw in there but I will let you about the Sistine Chapel!
It was so breath taking to see it for the first time. I couldn't tell you what the floor looked like because I was staring at the ceiling the entire time. I was so glad I got the audio guide too because looking at the painting was great, but hearing the explanation of everything was even more moving. Michelangelo was commissioned in 1509 to repaint the ceiling. He finished in 1512. Next, he painted the last judgement over the alter between 1535 and 1541. I'm surprised that it didn't take him longer to paint them because of how amazing they were! Its hard to put it into words and describe it.
We stayed in the museum as long as we could before it closed down for the night. We left and went to grab a bit to eat before heading back to the hostel. The girls and I just stayed in the rest of the night chatting it up in the common room of our hostel. It nice getting to know the girls more and more especially when we travel.

Thursday, March 5

We started off our day with another Italian breakfast of cappuccino and croissant. It really grew on me and I found the best croissant! It was filled with a marmalade and goodness! Today was a chill day so we just walked around Rome exploring the city. We had to take one of the girls to the train station so she could catch her bus to her plane. The rest of day we took it upon ourselves to relax and enjoy. The large amount we did in a short amount of time was quite exhausting. We had a nice relaxing day that was much needed. We also tried to find some shopping. We followed our guidebook's advice to go to this great "department" store. We ended up finding it, but it was NOT what we were expecting. It was quite a hilarious experience. It was almost as old at the coliseum and had nothing to our liking. We had fun walking around and making fun of some stuff we found inside, but left very soon after arriving and began to roam around again. We were very good at finding gelato places and thoroughly enjoyed another very large cone of it with whipped cream on top!


Friday, March 6

This was mine and Ellie's last day in Rome, and we definitely took it upon ourselves to have a relaxing day. I think by this point we were pretty done with traveling and ready to be back "home" in London. Don't get me wrong, we definitely realize what an amazing opportunity we had in front of us, but we are also human and eventually get tired. We tried to take complete advantage of our trip and did SO much but also wanted to take some time to relax because it was our vacation from school. I think we had a good balance of both. Our last day started off again with another Italian breakfast. We made sure to enjoy it because it would be our last one. Our first destination was Trevi Fountain. We all took our pictures and made our wish! It was a very beautiful fountain. Some background of the fountain. The construction of it started in 1732 and completed in 1762. There is a coin throwing tradition too! I found a detailed description of it on Wikipedia. I copy and pasted it below.

"A traditional legend holds that if visitors throw a coin into the fountain, they are ensured a return to Rome. Among those who are unaware that the "three coins" of Three Coins in the Fountain were thrown by three different individuals, a reported current interpretation is that two coins will lead to a new romance and three will ensure either a marriage or divorce. A reported current version of this legend is that it is lucky to throw three coins with one's right hand over one's left shoulder into the Trevi Fountain.

Approximately 3,000 euros are thrown into the fountain each day. The money has been used to subsidize a supermarket for Rome's needy. However, there are regular attempts to steal coins from the fountain."

I didn't know this whole tradition prior to throwing my coins in, but hopefully it will still bring me good luck! After the fountain we walked around and found a small market and more gelato! (we successfully ate gelato everyday while we were in Italy, ha.) We ate our gelato at another fountain, but I'm not sure what the name of it was. Once we did these things, we slowly made our way back to the hostel for me and Ellie to get our stuff and head to the airport. It was a great trip to say the least!


More to come later......