Last weekend I squeezed in Rome and Vatican City in 2 days and was EXHAUSTED when I got back to Florence.  In general, I haven’t had a full 8 hours night sleep since America.   On Friday, I left early to catch a train to Rome with my Ancient Rome class.  The train station at Rome was gigantic!  It must be in proportion to the size of Rome because Rome is gigantic as well.   The first place we headed to in Rome was the Coliseum. 

I saw the first glimpse of the Coliseum and was completely dumfounded at its size and magnificence.  The Coliseum is one of my favorite buildings I have ever seen this past 6 weeks.   I think it is important to know the history of this building and understand its importance so you can really appreciate this absolutely amazing building.  I saw where the lions and bears were kept and the backstage area where the gladiators awaited their turn to die.  I saw the giant stadium that could hold up to 50,000 people.  To sum it up, I walked around the coliseum with my mouth hung open.

           

            After the coliseum, we headed over to the Roman Forum and Palatine hill.  This contained the remnants of Rome’s political buildings, city hall, justice building, and temples. 

            One of the things that really surprised me was how close all the ancient roman relics are located to the modern parts of the city.  I actually saw an ancient amphitheatre with modern offices built on top of it!  Imagine going to work on a 2000-year-old building! 

            Located right behind the Roman Forum is a large white palace that was built by Mussolini.  To describe it as extravagant would be an understatement.  Italians in general really hate this building because it reminds them of the dictatorship days.  However, my teacher said that Americans always comment on how beautiful the building is and I had to agree- it’s pretty powerful looking. 

            After visiting the Roman Forum, we walked around a bit and passed different forums built by different emperors, such as Augustus and Caesar.  In one of the forums was a long red building that was actually the first indoor “mall” in the world.  We also passed the Tiber River and the bridge to Tiber Island.  Finally, we reached the best-preserved Roman building- the Pantheon.

            At first I was surprised to see where this building was located.  I had always imagined a more recluse location but it was actually right in the middle of a small square, surrounded by more modern buildings.  Unfortunately, the front facade of the building was under restoration but that didn’t stop me from appreciating the glory of this building.  It was pretty amazing to see the inspiration of hundreds of buildings around the world- the US capital, Lincoln memorial, and Florence’s Duomo.  The inside of the building has a dome shaped ceiling with an open circle in the middle of the dome.  I wish the inside of the Pantheon had been preserved because the inside was converted in the 17^th century to a Roman Catholic Church.  Originally, the inside of the Pantheon was supposed to be painted a deep blue with gold stars.  This way the sun could shine through and reflect on the gold stars.   It must have been soo beautiful but the amazing Roman architecture still remains. 

           

            The Pantheon ended my school field trip so we were basically left to either go back on the train or stay in the city.  I opted for the second option as my roommates were somewhere in the giant city of Rome.  They said to meet them by the Trevvi fountain and I thought “ok, yea that’ll be easy..no probem.”  Ha.  I forget the little detail that I had a crappy map of Rome and no idea where to turn.  Somehow I ended up right near the fountain and asked someone for directions.  They pointed straight ahead.  Perfecto.  I met my friends, took some pics of the Trevvi fountain, and headed to Piazza Navona for some gelato.  It was extremely hot outside and I’ll take any excuse to eat gelato basically =).  After gelato, we headed over to the Spanish Steps.  This was the first trip where I wasn’t in a tour group and really had no itinerary planned.  All we had was a map and a list of top ten things to see in Rome.  Spanish Steps was on the list so that hopped onto our itinerary.  We ran around in circles before asking someone for directions.  He answered us in Italian and we misunderstood “30 minutes” with “3^rd right.”  Whoops.   We ran around in more circles and finally discovered the famous steps.  Don’t even ask me how we got there because I have no clue.  6 clueless girls in a new city walking in circles is such an adventure!  We walked up and down the steps, took some group and individual shots and left.  We had just packed in almost all of the tourist spots by 7 pm!

            I know this is probably really sad but I kept having songs from the Lizzie McGuire movie in my head that day.   What can I say…I loooved that movie =P.

            We then found our hotel, which was actually one of the nicest places I’ve been in all 6 weeks.  I was sooo ready to just sleep after all that walking and 4 hours of sleep but alas my stomach was eating itself and I needed to get dinner.  After an excellent dinner of spaghetti with garlic and olive oil and tons of bread we searched for the Ice Bar!

            This is probably the weirdest place I’ve ever been to- it’s self-explanatory- a bar made completely out of ice.  It’s -5 degrees Celsius so we had to wear these freaky metallic capes and gloves to enter. 

            I think we lasted about 30 minutes because we were all wearing sandals and shorts- not good ice bar attire.  It was a pretty hilarious night =)  Thanks to the annoying metro system, we couldn’t take the tram back to our hotel because the trams stopped running after midnight.  After a good 30 minute walk, I fell into a deeeep sleep.

            We started the next day bright and early and were off to the world’s smallest city- Vatican City!  I was sooo excited to see this because I’m obsessed with Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons.   We booked a tour right outside the city because we were basically left with two options- book a tour or wait 5 hours in line to buy tickets.  The tour led us through Bernini Square, the Vatican museums, Sistine Chapel and finally the amazing St. Peters Basilica.  This church is incomparable to any church I have ever seen- and I’ve seen many in Italy!  It’s so ornate and just absolutely magnificent.  

            The Sistine Chapel on the other hand was the opposite.  Many people expected the famous chapel that was painted by Michelangelo to be as ornate as the basilica.  It’s very simple but still beautiful.  I was excited to see the ceiling that depicts scenes the Last Judgement.  The frescoes are one of Michelangelo’s most famous pieces of work so I tried to sneak in a picture but the guard yelled at me =(  I was also really excited when I saw the doors that lead to the room where Conclave is held.  I know all this thanks to “Angels and Demons.”  

            I wish I had gotten more sleep before visiting the Vatican City because I would have definitely been less cranky and more attentive to the tour guide.  He was interesting but really, all I wanted to see was the basilica and Sistine chapel.  We spent over 2 hours at the Vatican museums.  Visiting a church or museum every other day in Florence has burnt me out.  You could say I’m museumed out.  And anyways, after seeing Michelangelo’s David, I really can’t look at any other statue the same way anymore. 

            Despite my crankiness, it was an incredible experience.  I got to dip my hand in the holy water and see where conclave is held.  I even got to see the window where the Pope usually waves to the square from.  I was really excited to see the different places mentioned in the “Angels and Demons” book.   Does this look familiar? 

            After Vatican City, my stay in Rome was pretty much complete.  I went to the train station, bought a train ticket from a very rude man and successfully navigated my way to the correct train track (which I am ridiculously proud of myself for doing in that confusing and humungous train station).  I caught my euro star and reached Florence in 1.5 hours!  Gotta love Eurostar.

I have only 2 more days in Florence =( =( =(

I feel like I have only been focusing on other cities in my blogs but I’ve learned so much about the Florentine culture by spending 6 weeks here!  So expect a new entry soon about my stay in Florence.  

 

 

Location: via del Moro, 22, Florence, Italy