Here's my first installment: Bella Roma! Rome was, in a word, fantastic. It was kind of surreal to be there -- it's a place I've always wanted to go (especially since becoming a Trojan) and to see everything in person was an amazing experience.
On Thursday afternoon, my friend Caitlin and I flew into Rome. Our flight was a bit delayed, so the train station was rather deserted when we got there (and no one spoke English! ahhh!). We asked directions to the nearest bus stop from anyone and everyone (I ended up drawing a sketch of a bus on my hand so we could use that as a visual aid when asking for directions, haha!). After wandering around for a bit, we finally found the right bus stop and were on our way to the hostel. We stayed at Hotel Lodi, which ended up having a very intimate atmosphere and wasn't too far out of the way, especially once we knew how to navigate the buses.
On Friday we woke up early and had a delicious breakfast at the hostel. The manager of the hostel said that all of the transportation would be down that day and Caitlin and I had a minor panic attack, but luckily the strike that was going on during our stay didn't end up affecting transportation. A side note about Rome's public transportation system: the buses never announce which stop they're at (and sometimes skip stops), so it can be really confusing, especially if you don't speak the language... we may or may not have gotten lost a few times, haha.
Our first stop was the Coliseum. The inside was closed because of the strike, but it was still great to walk around it. Caitlin and I took a tour of the Coliseum, the Arch of Constantine, and the Palatino. Fun fact: the holes on the outside of the Coliseum are left over from the iron poles put in there to help with its stability. The iron was looted when it became valuable. Also, some of the marble was taken to help build St. Peter's Basilica.
Apollo posed for the picture. ;)
I was a bit sad that I had not been able to go on the band trip to Italy (it was the summer before my freshman year), but this trip to Rome completely made up for it! Being at the real Coliseum was such a great experience. The tour we took was great, even though we weren't able to go inside. It made me see the Coliseum as a public works project (skip ahead if you'd rather not read my Econ tangent, haha). I had though that tickets to see matches in the Coliseum would have been fairly expensive, but the emperor built it to be accessible to all classes (slaves had the cheap seats, obviously), so it was completely free. Scheduling regular matches would decrease the likelihood of revolt among the lower classes and increase their productivity. Having a say in the fate of some of the gladiators would have been empowering to the slaves watching the matches. It got me thinking: Rome was the founder of democracy, could it have also been the father of the first public works projects? And if so, is the Coliseum the first grand-scale public good? I think I might look into that a bit. You know, in my spare time.
Go Trojans!!
The latter part of our tour took us through the Palatino, where we were able to walk through some ruins, see where Rome was founded by Romulus and Remus on Palatine Hill, and learn more about Roman history.
The view from the top of the Palatino. You can see the Wedding Cake building on the back left-hand side of the picture and a bunch of the ruins (but by all means, not all) at the bottom.
Among the ruins behind the Palatino.
After walking around the ruins for a bit and grabbing some lunch (pizza, of course), we took a bus up to Piazza del Popolo and walked back down to the Coliseum, stopping to see the fountains, monuments, and the occasional ruin. Probably one of the coolest parts of the trip was when we would get lost (a regular occurrence...) and manage to bump into another ruin site or ridiculous monument/fountain.
This is Piazza del Popolo. It had a huge Egyptian influence (as did much of Rome) because Cesar had the hots for Cleopatra and brought a bunch of Obelisks back from Egypt with her. The obelisk had some hieroglyphs and there were sphinxes along the side of the piazza by some fountains.
Trevi fountain was gorgeous. This picture doesn't do it justice at all. It was definitely my favorite (we also saw the fountains in Piazza Navona and the Triton fountain, among others). Caitlin and I got some gelato here (the first gelato stop of many... yum!!), so maybe that's one of the reasons why I'm so fond of it. ;)
Yours truly in front of the Pantheon. The inside of it was much more Christian than I had expected... I had thought there would be more statues to pagan gods, etc., and ended up finding a lot of Christian relics in there. I'm not sure which I would have appreciated more.
After the Pantheon, Caitlin and I wandered around the city until it got a bit dark, then headed down the Forum towards the Coliseum (seeing that at night was beautiful as well). We took the bus back to our hostel and immediately crashed... what a long (but amazing) day!
We spent the next day in Vatican City, braving the lines to see St. Peter's Basilica, the Vatican Museum, and the Sistine Chapel. St. Peter's Basilica was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. I must have stood in front of the Basilica for a full 10-15 seconds just gawking at the entrance alone. It was just stunning.
This was taken while standing in line for the Basilica. Yes, the line was that long. And yes, it was worth it.
The entrance to St. Peter's Basilica. Check out the marble and gilded ceiling!
Michelangelo's The Pieta. It was so moving in person!
Bernini's Baldacchio, which stands over the Pope's altar. You can see the Cathedra Petri (also designed by Bernini) behind it. Again, absolutely gorgeous.
I took a ton of pictures of the Basilica, but considering the fact that there are about 20 pictures in this post already, I'm going to refrain. Go there yourself... I really think it's something everyone should see at some point in their lives, and I'm not even Catholic!
I didn't take as many pictures in the Vatican Museum, but here's one that I liked. I saw it in the Room of the Signature (painted by Raphael). It's an angel with a lyre! =)
They didn't allow pictures in the Sistine Chapel, which I was expecting. It's something everyone's heard about and read of, but seeing it in person gave me an even greater appreciation for it. Some of the less famous scenes on the building were even more impressive than the ones everyone is familiar with.
After exploring Vatican City for most of the day, Caitlin and I went to the Wedding Chapel, which had a gorgeous view of the city from the top. We got another glimpse of the strike at the front of the monument (let's just say that we didn't dally... it went something like this, "Ooh, a rally? What's that all abo-- SWAT TEAM?! Um, let's go.").
What a beautiful view! I'm in front of the Coliseum and a bit of the ruins (from the top of the Wedding Cake).
A view of Vatican City at sunset.
That night we had a nice dinner and treated ourselves to more gelato. I asked to try a flavor I had never heard of. When I asked what it was, the guy serving me said that the name of it was Italian for "kiss" and that since he had given me some, I should give him one in return. ;) Haha! Anyway, flirting with him got me about double the amount of gelato that I paid for. Another reason why I love Italy, haha! =)
Next up, Venice... but for now -- ciao!!
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