ROMA!

This weekend Emily and I took our first real trip away from Florence- to Rome! We went with Sam, a girl Emily knows from high school who we've been hanging out with a lot here in Firenze. We got to Rome around noon on Friday, deposited our bags at the hotel (which was really nice- and clean!) and immediately started sightseeing. Our hotel was right by the Spanish steps so we went there first. I honestly wasn't too impressed it was just a crowded staircase... with a lot of people trying to sell stupid stuff or forcing roses on you.

Emily, Sam, and I on the Spanish Steps

 From there we made our way to the Trevi Fountain- much more impressive but also incredibly crowded. It surprised me how much more tourist-y Rome is compared to Florence. We took some pictures of the fountain and then threw in our coins to make a wish. Not much else to do there so we navigated the streets towards the Pantheon.

making a wish at the Trevi Fountain

When I saw 'we' navigated I really mean 'I' navigated- somehow I became the resident tour guide/map reader for Rome and I did a surprisingly good job (I say this with modesty obvz). The pantheon didn't look like too much from the outside but inside it was completely amazing. The huge coffered dome and occulus were really impressive and as it was early afternoon we could see a perfect circle of light along the ceiling from the occulus.

Occulus of the Pantheon

The pantheon only survived because it was turned into a church so all of the ancient decor was gone but there were a lot of graves of Italian kings and the renaissance artist Raphael is buried there (which you already knew if you read Angels and Demons). This was our first ancient landmark and it was weird to think about how long it has been standing.

After the Pantheon we sat down for some overpriced lunch and walked around the Spanish steps a little more. Sam had a goal to find a store (whose name she didn't know) where she went around 10 years ago and got a pair of black flats (whose brand she didn't know). Unfortunately that effort failed, at which point we realized how exhausted we were. Rome is a lot bigger than Florence which means a lot more walking. We relaxed at the hotel for a little while and then went to dinner with Emily's friend from home who is living in Rome and a bunch of her friends from school. (Emily basically knows every single American studying in Italy through some connection or another so we do a lot of dinners with people I don't know- I'm starting to feel like a political wife or something with all of these appointments. All her friends are really nice though!). Dinner was amaaaaaazing.

The next morning we woke up exhausted and set off to see the Colosseum. I was pretty excited because (lamely) Gladiator is one of my absolute favorite movies. Along the way we passed the Roman forum which I'll get to see with my Etruscan class on our Rome field trip. After skirting around the fake gladiators offering pictures (for a lot of monaaaay) we waited forever online to get inside. It was worth the wait though- inside was beautiful and really epic looking (for lack of a better word).  We climbed up the steep stairs to the second level for an even better view. This was definitely something I've always wanted to see.

at the Colosseum

Roman Forum

Arch of Constantine

After getting a late lunch it was too late to go to the Vatican or catacombs so we decided to go shopping for the remainder of the afternoon. = ) We got another delicious meal that night and went to an area called Campo de Fiore which has a ton of bars and was full of teenagers and college students.

Sunday morning we took a taxi to the Catacombe of St. Domitilla. I wasn't allowed to take pictures down in the catacombs which started in an underground church from the 3rd or 4th century AD. 

The church had been destroyed in an earthquake and abandoned for 900 years but they rebuilt it recently and the catacombs were all excavated. It was creepy down in the corridors- which are over 11 miles long- but more interesting than anything else. Most of the bones had been removed because people had been stealing them (semi sketch). After our tour was over we made our way back into the city to go to the Vatican.

I was an idiot and forgot to bring an extra camera battery so I have very few pictures from the Vatican. We went into St. Peter's which was more massive on the inside than you could believe. We decided not to climb the dome out of laziness and went into the tombs of the Popes instead. It was interesting to see all the different sarcophagi and the popes buried there- especially Pope John Paul II's grave. There were had flowers all over it and people were praying beside it.

Exhausted, we finally we went to the train station and came back home to Florence. It was overall a successful weekend and we did a looooot of walking. We're not doing any intense traveling this weekend but I have a day trip to Padua with my Renaissance class and Emily and I are thinking about spending Saturday in Sienna.Writing this post was actually as exhausting as the actual trip to Rome so you'd better all appreciate it. Alsoo shout out to mom for skyping with me this entire time = ) Ciao