I left my heart in Rome

Ciao!

As many of you know, I traveled to Rome this past week from Wednesday to Sunday. I have been quite busy, so I haven’t had the time to get a blog up here, but I finally got around to it and I am so excited to share the stories of my trip with you.

On Wednesday, Dana and I departed from the Seville airport in the afternoon and we were on our way to Rome. Our plane ride was a lot different from any other plane ride we had taken in that the crowd on the plane seemed like they thought they were at a party or something. The bunch was very rowdy, loud, and talkative. People were climbing on seats to get their bags out of the overhead compartments and it was very chaotic! Needless to say, I was very excited when the plane landed and I was able to get away from the loud crew and have some peace and quiet!

When we arrived, we took a taxi to our hotel which was about 20-25 minutes away from the airport, so we assumed it’d be at least 40€. Turns out our taxi driver “wasn’t exactly sure” where our hotel was and inevitably ended up “getting lost” in the little side streets that surrounded our hotel. The reason why I put these quotation marks is because we’re pretty much convinced that the taxi cab driver took advantage of the fact that we were two clueless Americans who had no idea where we were. So, the taxi ride ended up costing 50€, which wasn’t that bad, but it would have been 40€ if he didn’t end up “getting lost”!!!

After checking into our hotel, our next hurdle to cross was trying to figure out how to work our shower. Dana and I were convinced that we tried every single way possible to turn the shower on, but we just couldn’t get it to work. We ended up venturing downstairs to the reception desk (because our room phone was broken!) to speak with the man at the desk. I’m pretty sure he thought we were absolutely nuts, but he explained we must “pull and push”.. whatever that means. We went back upstairs, and sure enough, with a little bit of pulling and pushing we had a working shower. What do ya know!

The next morning Dana’s friend Dwayne arrived a bit before noontime, and once he arrived it was off to begin our first day of exploring Rome! Our first stop was the Colosseum. The Colosseum is in the center of Rome and was the largest amphitheatre ever built in the Roman Empire, and is considered to be one of the greatest works of Roman architecture (I believe it!) The Colosseum was used in the past for gladiator contests, public spectacles, re-enactments of famous battles, etc. The structure is just absolutely breathtaking to look at, and it was so interesting to be standing there being aware of all of the events that took place in the Colosseum thousands of years ago. So much history!

Inside of the Colosseum

Me at the Colosseum! It was raining :(

Isn't it beautiful!?

Next to the Colosseum was the Roman Forum. It was used by the Romans in the past as a center of political and social activity. Additionally, the Forum served as a marketplace of Rome and also the business district and civic center. Down the road, it was expanded to include various temples, a senate house, and law courts. When the Roman Empire ended up falling, the Roman Forum fell right along with it—buried and forgotten. It was definitely a very interesting site to see, and you could have explored the area for days if one had time, but we only had four days, so after exploring for about an hour or so, it was time to move on. 

Excavations of the Roman Forum

Me at the Roman Forum!

While at the Roman Forum, we heard what sounded like some sort of parade and saw a lot of people in the streets heading towards the Colosseum. Being my naïve self, I encouraged Dana and Dwayne to walk a bit faster so we could see the “parade.” What I thought was a parade was actually a strike/protest of 2,000 students that ended up taking over the Colosseum (good thing we got in there when we did). It was actually pretty interesting to see. Apparently they were striking about the cost of tuition increasing. We knew things were getting a little out of hand when about 50 police cars/vans/trucks showed up to the scene and riot police came pouring out. We decided to get out of the area as quickly as possible and went to find some lunch. 

RIOT POLICE

Students on a balcony of the Colosseum

For lunch we ended up eating at a restaurant nearby the Colosseum. This began the chain of delicious food that I would consume throughout the entire weekend. We decided we’d all get fairly large meals as that day was Thanksgiving, and as much as we searched, no one was serving turkey dinner. I ended up getting lasagna, Dana got some pizza, and Dwayne had pasta with various types of fish in it (mussels, shrimp, scallops, etc). We all thoroughly enjoyed our meals—Italian food in Italy, can’t get any better than that!

Our next stop was the Basilica di San Clemente. This stop was highly recommended by our travel planner, Carrie Holland, who had just visited the Basilica when she went to Rome in the beginning of November. Archaeologically speaking, the structure is a three-tiered complex of buildings. Beneath the present building that was built in 1100, one can find excavations of earlier churches from the 4^th and 1^st centuries. Centuries of Christian faith, art, and history can be found all throughout this entire building. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to take pictures here, but I did buy a few postcards for those of you who are interested in seeing what this looks like. It is most definitely a sight to behold.

Basilica di S. Clemente

Front of the Basilica

After visiting the Basilica, we hopped on the metro to the Trevi Fountain stop. We walked through some side streets for what felt like an eternity, but soon enough we heard the flow of water and saw a giant mass of people who were gathering around the fountain to take pictures and make some wishes. Apparently, you’re supposed to stand with your back to the fountain and put your coin in your right hand and throw it over your left shoulder and make a wish! A bit tricky, but we were able to handle it and I made sure I made a great wish. The fountain was beautiful to see at nighttime, but we all agreed that we would like to come back and see it during the day, and don’t worry, WE DID!

Dana and I in front of the Trevi Fountain

So gorgeous!

We walked the streets of Rome for awhile that evening and did some souvenir shopping and some gelato eating. We thought the gelato we got was excellent, but little did we know, there was better to come in the following days! After awhile, we decided to head back to the hotel and relax after a long day of touring around Rome. Dana and I headed out to the grocery store where we purchased nutella, crackers, and red wine for our “dessert” for Thanksgiving. It was all very delicious!

The next morning we headed out fairly early for our scheduled tour of the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel. I was so glad that we decided to get the tour of the museum; otherwise we would have just been looking at art and would have never known what exactly we were looking at. The art in the museum was absolutely beautiful and I was so impressed! One of the cool things about the museum is that all the ceilings are actually flat, but the painters who painted the ceilings were actually able to make it seem as if the ceiling was rounded—somewhat of an optical illusion, one could say. I could go on and on about all the artwork found in the museum, but my favorite part of the museum, which won’t come as a shock to many, was the Sistine Chapel. Entering the Sistine Chapel gave me goose bumps and the fresco paintings done by Michelangelo were breath-taking. And to believe that the ceiling of the Chapel was painted in only four years and the Last Judgment over the main altar was painted in six years. Absolutely unbelievable and one of the most beautiful places my eyes have ever seen. 

One of the painted fresco ceilings that was flat, but appears to be round

At the Vatican Museum

Our next stop was St. Peter’s Square to see St. Peter’s Basilica. Just standing in the square gave me such a great feeling, and I was keeping my fingers crossed that I’d see the Pope, but didn’t end up having any luck with that. The Basilica has the largest interior of any Christian church in the world, and is able to hold up to 600,000 people. The architecture is stunning and the frescoes and statues all throughout the basilica were just so beautiful. Within the Basilica was a room specifically where people were able to go and reflect and pray. I decided to go in, and was so glad that I did. The room had a beautiful gold altar with a gold tabernacle placed in the center of it. I kneeled in awe at the beauty of the room for awhile and then said some prayers. 

Dwayne, Dana, and I in St. Peter's Square

Once we exited the main part of the Basilica, we discovered that below the Basilica is the burial site for ninety-one Popes—the most recent interment was Pope John Paul II. We were able to go down into this area where all the tombs were, and I was able to pray before Pope John Paul’s tomb. I believe it was one of the most moving events of my life as I stood and prayed with the handful of people around me and saw the vast amount of flowers and letters scattered all around his tomb. It is evident that Pope John Paul was loved by all, and his name is just as prominent now as it was back when he was alive. Having the opportunity to visit the Vatican was by far one of the greatest moments of my life, and as you can probably tell, this was by far my favorite place to see in all of Rome. A couple additional fun facts: the Vatican is actually the smallest COUNTRY in the world and we have also had 265 Popes!

Inside St. Peter's Basilica

After visiting the Vatican, we grabbed yet another delicious lunch—this time I branched out to trying some ravioli’s and boy were they good--homemade, too! Once we were done with lunch we decided to walk around and see where our feet led us. We ended up coming upon St. Angel Castle. The castle was an old fortress during the medieval times. It was a beautiful castle to see from the outside, and we really wanted to go inside, but we would have had to pay an arm and a leg to do so!

St. Angel Castle

 Afterwards, we decided to cross a random bridge to the other side of the river and ended up at Piazza Navona (yet another site recommended by Carrie). We explored around here for awhile and went into some various different buildings. After awhile we came upon a gelato shop called “Frigidarium” (I have their business card for those of you who plan to travel to Rome and would like to eat some of the best gelato you will ever have in your life). As I am thinking about this gelato shop, my mouth is currently watering. ANYWAYS, the girl working at the gelato place was fantastic and let us try various types of gelato to make sure we picked the one we would like the most. Once I found my winner, I was given a cup of gelato with a cookie sticking out the side and whipped cream piled on top. I had never pictured a gelato to look like that, but I accepted it and ate it anyways. Let me tell you that it might have been one of the most delicious frozen treats I have ever eaten in my almost twenty-one years of life, and Dana and Dwayne felt the same way. After this, we were very content with the day and topping it off with gelato, so we headed back to the hotel to call it a night. 

Me and my delicious gelato!

Here's the place--remember to go visit if you ever go to Rome!

The next day we left the hotel at about eleven and decided we would see where the day took us. We ended up at a very nice Italian restaurant for lunch that was near the Trevi Fountain. I had some rigatoni with delicious sauce, cheese, and tiny bits of bacon in it. AND for an appetizer, bruschetta (queue the mouth-watering once again). This was the most delicious meal I had in Rome for sure.

Rigatoni

Bruschetta

So, like I said, we ended up returning to the Trevi Fountain during the daytime—a few less tourists were there, but I didn’t think it was as beautiful as it was at night time all lit-up. Our day also led us to the Spanish Steps, the Pantheon, the Campo di Fiori, and Piazza Navona (again!). I’m sure you can all guess why we went back to the Piazza Navona. Yes, that’s right, we ate more gelato! I’m pretty sure if we could have boxed up the gelato and brought it back to Spain, we would have. Anyways, our adventure around Rome that day took us down some of most lovely streets I have ever seen with such beautiful, rustic buildings. That evening, we also ended up getting cappuccino, and I can’t believe I’m saying this, but, it was AWESOME. I did just as Carrie told me, one pack of sugar and it was perfect! 

Inside the Pantheon

Streets of Rome :)

Piazza Navona

Such a beautiful view

That about covers my trip, everyone. As you can see, I had a very enjoyable time. I can easily say that this was my favorite city to visit all throughout my study abroad experience. I loved everything about the city from the streets to the people and from the food to the gelato. I’ve already decided that my next language to conquer will be Italian and then in the future I plan to move there and live happily ever after. I think it’d be great to see other parts of Italy like Florence, Venice, and Milan. Perhaps, then, I will not be in love with just a city, but actually the whole country of Italy.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and enjoyed time spent with family. I really missed not being at home for Thanksgiving, but I think I was very content with where I found myself for the holiday. I can’t believe I only have a couple more weeks to go! I am so anxious to get home and see my family and friends—it is going to be a wonderful holiday season! Love and prayers to all. Hasta luego!

Besos,
Lindsay