Roma!!

A couple of weeks ago we spent three days in Rome and this is how it all went down... We arrived on Sunday at 12:45pm and we were both a tiny bit nervous because of all the warnings we got about how sketchy it could be. I know everyone has different experiences but I can tell you this, it didn't feel sketchy at all. The scariest thing that happened to me was being attacked by a bike that was parked on a sidewalk. My camera strap looped around the handle and pulled me straight back. If you ever travel to Rome, watch out for those bikes and their tricks. That first day we hit up the Pantheon, National Monument of Victor Emmanuel II (the first King of Italy), the Spanish steps and the Trevi Fountain. We got gelato there as well and admired the fountain with all the other tourists. Afterwards we headed back to our hostel which by the way was an all girls hostel on the second floor of a flat. It really felt like a dorm and it was super laid back. One girl was saying, "I love how everyone is really quiet and respectful when people are sleeping and stuff." and another girl says, "ya, that's because there are no boys here." Probably true.
The next day we did the whole Colosseum thing. Savannah had been before and got a guided tour and said it was well worth it and wanted to do it again and I wanted to as well. It's one of those things that you can go look at and it's really cool but at the same time it's just a bunch of ruins so taking the tour really brings it all alive. Right after we got off the metro we ran into a lady selling tickets for the Colosseum and Roman forum tour combined so we jumped on that and got to skip the massive line up. The Roman forum was super cool too. The coolest was walking through which was basically the first settlement in Rome so we're talking
super old. I can't remember all the details at the moment except we saw the very site where Julius Caesar was cremated. Kind of incredible. No big deal.
The next day we hit up the Vatican-also a must while in Rome. This time Savannah and I went our seperate ways. Savannah wanted to take the guided tour but I didn't. Will I regret this in the future? Ah maybe but after 5 months my brain has retained a lot of information and I'm a little museumed out so I didn't want to pay 40 euros for something that I may not pay much attention too. If it was near the beginning of my trip like Savannah I totally would have done it. So anyways, I arrive at St.Peters Cathedral around 9:00 where I thought you could also enter into the museum but I was wrong so I had to walk about 5 minutes until I found a massive line up which could be for nothing else but the Vatican. There were people selling tour tickets where you could skip the line and it was tempting but I declined. I wondered how long this would take. I was told 2-3 hours and I also read if you came after lunch time you could basically walk right in but I didn't listen and just thought, 'that's one persons lucky experience on one random day." The line kept inching forward and there was a corner to turn straight ahead, I wondered if the entry way was just around that corner. As I looked at the people ahead of me that had come to the corner I could tell by the strain in their necks that it was still a ways away. So time kept passing and thoughts kept going through my head like,'I like her shoes', 'I want her hair', 'I like his face' and so on. There was an asain tour group right infront of me too who had a tour guide feeding them information the whole time we were waiting. It was then I was wishing I knew their language desperately. If you've been to the Vatican you will know that it is surrounded by one massive brick like wall that has a couple Vatican signs on it so at one point the Asian tour guide points up to the wall, making different gestures and then the group goes, "ooooooooooo!" so I look up thinking it must be interesting but all I see is a wall. An hour and a half later it's time to make the grand entry. It's true folks, I finally made it in. There are many different exhibitions to see. I found myself in some Pope stamp collection thing...um...boring, but mostly everything is so beautiful to look at. It reminded me alot of the Louvre with all the different art like paintings, sculptures, you name it. The highlights were definately the Sistine chapel with all of Michaelangelos famous paintings covering the walls. Hmm...so many beautiful things that I can't quite put my finger on because for one thing, I didn't take the guided tour and I also am writing on my travel day to Barcelona so I am really tired. But to sum it up, the Vatican was great!!
Rome is definately a cool city, you hear so much about it but you really have to see it for yourself. Of course every European country I've visited is so cool, exciting, and amazing to be walking through such history while at the same time a very modern world is unmistakenably apparent but I felt this impact even more so in Rome. Take the Colosseum for instance.. an outrageously old ruin of a building smack down right beside a busy main street with cars driving by amongst all the people and traffic lights and also right across the metro station. It is such a contrast! Oh how times have changed. Really.
Well, that's all folks. I'm pooped. Stay tuned for Greece!