To Running Around Rome

Rome was the last stop for my parents and aunt.  We took ItaloTreno to Rome from Florence and had another great experience.  Once we got to Rome we had a little bit of a challenge figuring out that we had to take the Metro from one train station to another so we could walk to the hotel.  At first we were a bit skeptical of Rome because there were some gypsies that were trying to take the tickets from the machine my dad was using to buy our train tickets (my aunt kept swatting them away, if I was not terrified at the moment I probably would have found it hilarious) and the Metro that pulled up was packed and decorated with graffiti.  My mom and I were as uncomfortable as could be.  When we got to the next station we walked about 30 minutes to our hotel because naturally we thought it looked closer than that on the map.  

Once we got to the hotel we breathed a sigh of relief because the hotel was really nice and the neighborhood was really quiet and cute.  My aunt and my room even had a beautiful balcony! Next, Ethan and I took the Metro (it was much better this time and actually the nicest public transit system we had encountered yet on the trip) to his hostel.  His hostel was awesome! It had its own cafe and a little garden where they had wine and appetizer nights scheduled.  It was run by an American couple and the guy at the front desk gave us a map, an idea for a really cool walking tour, and a recommendation for a great place to grab pizza for lunch.  

The pizza, soo good!

We stumbled upon this church, it was beautiful!

Next, we planned to meet my family at the Palatine Hill so we could explore the Colosseum and Forum.  Ethan and I went on the walking tour to get there and saw some really awesome sights, Rome is beautiful! 

View from our walk

My family beat us there and was able to get tickets to a narrated tour of the Hill so we rushed over and got on it.  The tour guide was really knowledgeable and I am so glad we took the tour because I don't think we would have gotten nearly the same appreciation for what we were seeing.  

Ethan exploring Palatine Hill

Remains

View of Rome from Palatine Hill

Really cool arc in between Palatine Hill and the Forum

After Palatine Hill, we walked over the the Roman Forum remains.  That was incredible.  There was a tour in Rick Steves' book so we were able to learn about the Forum as we explored.  It was really awesome that we saw the place were Julius Cesar was burned; there was a memorial that was really powerful.  

Remains in the Forum

Temple of Saturn, really cool story behind this one!

Ethan loving all of the history we found in the Forum

At this point we were all exhausted from the heat and amount of walking we were doing but we couldn't leave before seeing the Colosseum! We bought audio guides so we could learn about all of the crazy things that took place inside of the stadium, I was shocked at the number of gladiators and animals lost in the first few months of its opening.  My dad loved it and relived all of the gladiator-esque movies that he loves! 

Remains of the Colosseum from the outside

View of the inside from the first floor

The middle of the Colosseum, it was crazy to see all of the structures
and stalls under the floor that they used to house the animals

After the Colosseum, my family and I left Ethan to explore Rome and went back to the hotel to nap. Ethan had booked a night history tour for us that night and we wanted to be fresh so we could enjoy it! After resting up, we took the bus to the area the tour was meeting and found a place to grab dinner.  We met Ethan who had spent the last four hours wandering and loving Rome in front of a beautiful church and joined the tour.  The tour guide was really nice and taught us a ton of really cool facts about Rome.  The tour was almost three hours and it was practically a personal tour because two other Americans were the only others with us.  She took us to different squares and told us the stories of the different persecutions that had taken place and the significance of the statues in each.  We covered a ton of ground! My favorite learning was about the Madonnas that were spread throughout Rome.  She pointed out that on most corners and squares images of the Madonna were placed to influence people to do their best because "she was always watching".  Although thousands of them have been destroyed over the years, once she pointed them out, my family seemed to spot them everywhere.  

I loved how it seemed like everywhere you went in Rome you
stumbled upon incredible architecture, like this building!

Square Campo dei Fiori we visited.   The guide told us about all of the public executions that were historically done in this square.  This statue remembers a philosopher who was executed.  The square was full of people but I found this statue a little bit eerie.

A beautiful Madonna we saw on the corner of a square

After the tour we caught the bus back to the hotel so we could rest up for our big day at the Vatican. We had reservations for a tour that began at 8:30 so we got up and left super early.  Finding the tour was a little bit tricky, we did not realize how many people were already there or the large size of the Vatican.  After a lot of questions, a few circles, and some sprinting we finally found it! Although we also found out that the Italian President was visiting the Pope that day so our tour guide was unable to take us to the Basilica (and it would not open up to the public until late that afternoon) so we would spend a lot of our time in the museum.  That was disappointing but the museums were incredible so that made it a little bit better!

Our tour was almost four hours and we spent the first 2 walking around the Museum and learning a great deal about the Popes and art there.  I am especially proud of myself because there were SO MANY PEOPLE everywhere and with frequent deep breaths I was able to get myself through the tough crowds.  The art we saw was incredible, there were rooms upon rooms of beautiful works (similar to Versailles only not nearly as gaudy).   I think I have over a hundred pictures from this tour but I'll only post a few on here... you're welcome.

View of the beautiful Vatican grounds

The ceiling of one of the halls, it looks 3-D but it is just a
painting technique, incredible!

Another ceiling, I loved all of the details

There was a room with nothing but Italian map paintings, one of my favorites.

Another incredible ceiling

School of Athens, this was incredible to see! 

After we walked through the museum, they gave us a quick break before we went to the Sistine Chapel.  I have mixed feelings on the Chapel.  First of all, it was absolutely incredible.  Seeing all of Michelangelo's works and the intricate detail in all of the paintings gave me goosebumps.  However, due to the Pope's special guest and the heightened security that brought, the Chapel was jam packed full of people.  Guests were asked to stay silent and not take pictures to preserve the art and of course people were both talking and taking pictures.  Thus, the guards were yelling at people to be quiet and I felt like that kind of ruined the experience.  Also, there were so many people that it was impossible to move, talk about my worst nightmare.  I basically went in, found a spot where I could sit for a minute and look at the ceiling, then impatiently pushed my way through the crowd to the group.  There was also one exit that all of the people had to jam through and that was incredibly stressful. Once you got through that door there was a long, narrow hallway that people were herded through and the next 10 or so rooms were incredibly crowded. It was pretty much awful. Although I am glad that I got to see the Sistine Chapel, I would like to go back when there are not quite so many people there so I can enjoy it without worrying about heading off a panic attack.  

The exit of the Vatican museum

Once we got through that, I was pretty much ready to go.  There were people everywhere and we kind of rushed through the rest of the Vatican so we could get out to see St. Peter's Square. The good thing about it being closed was that we got to take pictures of the Basilica and the Square without anyone in it! It was beautiful!  

If only I wasn't squinting this pic would be quite nice!

My panorama of the square!

After the tour was over we were once again quite tired.  We went back for a nap so we could finish seeing Rome that evening.  We started off at the Spanish Steps and were planning on taking another Rick Steves walking tour to see the rest of the sights! I must admit that I was a little bit disappointed with the Spanish Steps because there was just a bunch of people sitting on them so we couldn't really see them. 

Spanish Steps with tons of people

This fountain was in front of the Spanish Steps and was really cool!

Next we walked down to the Trevi Fountain, the sight Annie wanted to see most! There were a ton of people there but it was incredibly beautiful! 

Annie loving it!

The Trevi fountain was a part of a beautiful building!

After the fountain we walked through a lot of the squares that we saw during our night tour so we could see them during the day.  We stopped at one of the most famous gelato shops that was crazy busy but delicious! They were famous for putting a big scoop of whipped cream on top of the gelato... YUM!

I got raspberry and mango, delicious!

Next, we stumbled into Piazza Navona which housed the "Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi" or the Fountain of the Four Rivers. It was beautiful and so detailed! 

The church behind the Fountain was also beautiful!

After that we walked to the Pantheon.  I did not expect it to be nearly as cool as it was! The dome was really awesome and finding the tomb of Raphael was definitely the highlight of the experience!

Finally, we walked to Rome's City Hall because we kept passing the building and it was beautiful! We also walked around the back and were able to see another really great view of the Roman Forum.

City Hall

View of Rome from our hike to the top of City Hall

After all of that walking we decided to head home since my family had a long day of traveling ahead of them. I absolutely loved Rome! The food was incredible, the vibe was awesome, and I could not get enough of its history! We only spent a short time in the city and saw a tiny bit of its offerings but I cannot wait to go back!

The next morning my family left early for the airport.  I was a little bit sad but I was so glad that I was able to share the first two weeks of my European adventure with them.  Everything was so different and new that I don't know how I would have survived without them.  I am so grateful that they gave me the opportunity to see so much of the world.

For now,
Lindsay