Italy: Destination #4- Rome (November 2-4)

Kenny and I caught our train at 11:30. We had a 6 hour ride to Rome. At first the train was freezing and then it got really hot. It was so hard to get comfortable and sleep which kind of sucked. This was putting me on about 5 hours of sleep for 3 days. Let me just say I was very tired by the time my first day in Rome ended. Once we got to Rome, we went to the airport to meet Caitlyn, Colleen, and Roxanne when they landed. I was so excited to see them! We found our hostel which was pretty nice, definitely better than my one in Florence. The weather in Rome was beautiful! It was about 70 degrees outside which made walking around even better. We decided to go out and explore Rome. First stop was some food. The first place we went looked so good but we waited 20 minutes and still were not helped and kept being told 10 minutes. So we left.

 Once we actually found food, we started walking around. We walked to the Palazzo Delle Esposizioni and the Basilica S. Maria Degu Angeli e Del Martiri. the palazzo was a fountain in the center of a roundabout and the Basilica was a church. We continued our walk and walked by other points of intrest such as the Quirinale and the Piazza and Carabinieri. We saw the changing of the guards. We made our way to the Trevi Fountain. It was so cool the see it. It was smaller and different then I expected but still beautiful. Being the clumsy person I am, I fell down the steps of the Trevi Fountain and of course I sat on the ground laughing and their were tons of people around. We made our wishes at the fountain and sat there for a while.

We saw the monument Sacrific Principatvs Ribs Anno XV and went to the Medici Villa. We ran into the rest of my roommates and everyone we were traveling with at the Spanish Steps by coincidence. We sat their and watched the sun set. Once again, it was beautiful. We walked back to the Trevi Fountain so we could see it all lite up at night. After that we called it an early night partially because I was so tired after only have 5 hours of sleep in 36 hours and we had a long day ahead of us on Saturday.

On Saturday, we got a full tour of Rome. Melissa has a family friend in Rome who does tours so he gave us a great deal on a tour. We met him at the Spanish Steps after running through the streets of Rome trying to not be late. We started our tour and walked by the Trevi Fountain again and saw one of the old underground roads of Rome. Rome was built in layers. We went to the Church of St. Ignacio. The dome was really cool. It actually wasn't a dome at all but an illusion. It was painted to look like a dome. When you walk in it looks like a dome but when you move under it, you realize it was painted and that the "center" of the dome is actually off centered. It was really interesting. Our next stop was the Church of Marters. This church has the widest dome and was built with concrete not brick. The dome is also open so when it rains, it rains inside the building.

Standing directly under the "dome"

We walked through the Piazza di S. Marco and the Pantheon. We got into the cars that would be transporting us for the day. They brought us to the Roman Forum Ruins. It is so cool how you can walk through the city and their are just random ruins just chillen in the center. We went to Circus Maximus which is where roman entertainment used to be held. We went to the Basilica di s. Clemente and saw some of the underground ruins of Rome.

Our next stop was the Coliseum. The Coliseum was my favorite stop. It was so cool to see it and walk around inside. Since we were on a tour we were able to skip the line which was a good thing because the line was few hours long. It's amazing that the Coliseum is still standing and all the roman history is so cool. I have never been one for history but I have been enjoying all the history of the area's I have traveled. Our next stop was the Piazza Navona. All the Artists were set up in this Piazza along with the Fountain of the 4 Corners of the World. I really enjoyed this area and enjoyed walking through it.

We stopped at an area where we were able to look out over the whole city of Rome. It was beautiful. Europe is full of places like this an I love it. Our next and final stop on the tour was Vatican City. The line to get in was at least 3 hours long and we weren't able to skip this one, or so we thought. Our tour guide told us to cut in front of people and told us the exact way to do it. Their were 11 of us on the tour so we split into 3 different groups. We had to sit on the fence next to the line and casually switch to the other direction so we were on the same side as the line. We had to let some people go by and then as the line moved just stand up and move with it looking like we were already waiting. My group was in the back and we pulled the second group in with us when we passed them as if they were waiting for us. We all decided that we are going to get a lot of karma for cutting the line at the Vatican but at least we got in with in an hour rather than 3 or 4. Inside the Vatican, we walked through the galleries and our group was split up. Everyone found each other before the Sistine Chapel except for Whitnie, who we found once we were done in the chapel. We went into La Cappella Sistina, The Sistine Chapel. We were not suppose to take pictures but you all know me, I take them anyway. We then went to St. Peter's Basilica. At the front, their are the Holy Doors, which was last open from 2000-200. The inside of St. Peter's was beautiful. All the pictures looked painted but they were actually mosaics and were made with tiny different colored stones. So cool!

With that we ended our tour. We walked back through the Vatican to the main part of Rome. We went to an Irish Pub for dinner. I had been living off of pizza, pasta, and gelato all week so it was nice to have something different. We watched the Florida vs. Missori game for a little. After that we met up with some of Caitlyn's friends from home for gelato before calling it a night. Saturday was such a good day. We saw everything in Rome that we wanted to and had so much fun as our huge group of 11.

Sunday was more of a relaxing day. Half our group had a morning flight back home so it was just myself, Kenny, Colleen, Caitlyn, Roxanne, and Katie for the day. We packed up and luckily were able to leave our bags at the hostel so we didn't have to carry them around all day. We went to the Ossuary Crypt. Inside the crypt literally was artwork with bones. It was amazing to see the different designs used by the different bones. This man that worked their was super creepy and would turn up randomly in different parts of the crypt. We walked through different parts of the city, we saw the birthday cake building and walked through some of the shops.

Getting home was a task and a half. First, Katie had a problem getting her ticket for the flight. Our flight wasn't until 10:30. We got back to London around 12 and then took a bus back to Liverpool Station. From their we walked back to Alexander Flemming from their and finally were back to our rooms by 2:30. It was such a long night. Kenny stayed with me for a few days after.

That concludes my 7 day adventure through Italia. I had such a great time. I did not have much communication with the rest of the world which made it  slightly difficult to let my parents know where I was but I at least got  wifi in my hostels. Each city brought its own character and was different. I had a lot of fun with the group I traveled with. It was great to catch up with Andrea in Florence and to travel with Kenny and the rest of my friends and roommates. Italy was definitely my favorite place that I have traveled too. I was so tired once I got back from being on the move for 9 days but the trip was definitely worth it.

Chaio,
Allie