One of the best parts about this trip was that it was pre-planned through our program, so everything was already set up for us, including tours to see all of the major sights in Rome, and then some. We saw so many beautiful things on this trip: obviously the most popular ones, like the Vatican and the Colosseum, but also so many awesome piazzas and churches. I think I made about 300 wishes in total over the weekend since we visited so many churches!
The first major stop on our tour was none other than the Trevi Fountain.
Pre-coin toss: Obviously too broke to through in actual euros (wasting money--that would be unthinkable!) so I threw in some leftover Francs from our Switzerland trip and Kai tossed some pence.
The cool thing was, none of that money was actually getting wasted, (I'm dramatic) each night all of the coins get collected from the fountain and donated to charity. Soo we could give to charity without actually giving away some precious euros? Win-win.
Post-toss!
Next stop on our first afternoon of touring was the Pantheon.
I loved the Pantheon. It seriously amazes me the brilliance of the architects that built these enormous structures that long ago. The Pantheon was built with basically two semi-circles, one on top and one on bottom, so you could technically fit a sphere within the walls of the building...amazing!! The amount of cement they had to use to build the dome on top was so immense that they needed over 20-ft-thick walls to support all of the pressure! That is INSANE. Lastly, in the middle of the dome/ceiling, there is a perfect circle cut into it. This circle has remained all throughout the years..so rain, shine, or even snow comes right on in. Pretty cool.
(Unfortunately, my camera died right after I took this picture, so that's why I don't have any pictures to show you of inside our the awesome circle cut out)
The next morning, we started off our day with the Vatican!! My favorite part of this excursion was definitely St. Peter's Basilica...it is literally breathtaking. I also really liked the Sistine Chapel, the enormous "fresco" painting on the ceiling by Michaelangelo is absolutely stunning. (The story behind the ceiling painting as also super interesting..I would explain it all but I'm trying really hard to keep from writing a novel on here! So if you ever have some spare time, look it up. Pretty cool stuff.)
Kaili and I inside of the Basilica
My favorite part about the St. Peter's Basilica was it's size. It is literally so massive that the human brain cannot understand it. We literally cannot "wrap our mind around" the vastness of this place. For example...
Those letters beneath the painting ("SACERDO....") are actually six feet tall! I'm not kidding.
Even crazier...see the tiny pen in the man's hand? That very slight, tiny pen? It is NINE feet long! Take a look at the first picture again and compare us to these paintings...can you can believe it?
It amazes me.
A picture from the outside, it is so beautiful!
As we continued on our tour that day, we saw some other really cool things, like:
The Spanish Steps.
Great little spot to just hang out for an afternoon with some friends and a bottle of wine (or a few)...if only we had more time that day!
This pretty bridge with a GREAT view. You can see St. Peter's in the background!
On our final day, we got to finally see the famed Coliseum. It was unbelievable to think that they used to have all of those gladiator fights right within that arena so many years ago. Even though it has crumbled and decayed a bit, it was still so breathtaking.
Again, so surreal to see in person.
Foodwise, I don't have anything too spectacular to share. Since the food in Rome is very similar to that in Florence, we didn't go on any crazy food tours like we usually do. (We are girls on a serious budget now, too!) We basically spent the weekend filling up on some good 'ol free breakfast from the hotel that is certainly not worthy of blogging about, and we split a lot of pizzas. (The one good thing about the massive portion sizes here, you can get usually two meals for the price of one!) However, I did go to an awesome gelato place...it had over 150 flavors!
I got mint, Mars bar (a popular candy bar over here..they taste a lot like Ferrero Rocher), and a vanilla mixed with nutella flavor. It was SO GOOD!
Sorry that this picture is a bit blurry..I snapped it on my phone quick before chowing down on this morsel!
That's pretty much all the main highlights of my trip to Rome! I had such an amazing time there, and feel so lucky that I got to see all of these amazing places with my very own eyes. Thanks again Mom and Dad!!
P.S. Happy belated birthday to my favorite dog in the world, Cassidy! It was her birthday two days ago..she is already 11 years old! So crazy.
P.P.S. My boyfriend Greg comes to visit in TWO DAYS!! I can NOT wait till her get's here and show him all around Florence. See you so soon babe!!
Grazie mile to everyone who is reading all about my travels!
Ciao,
Becca
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