Veni, Vidi, Vici.

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Roma 2010!

WARNING: Extreme photo-vomit is about to explode onto your computer screen. I tried to skim through the hoard of photos that I took, but everything was so worthy of being captured, so the many photos you see in this post are a result of that.

Three years ago, if you had told me that I would be going to Rome for a random weekend during a semester at school, I would have laughed in your face. Not once did I ever imagine that I would get the chance to have all the experiences that I have had already, so my trip to Rome was the icing to a very large traveling cake.

Vespas were everywhere!

I began my weekend getaway to Rome at the ripe hour of 4:40 a.m. on Friday morning. My roommate and I had to catch the first metro of the morning at 5:30 a.m. that took us to the bus stop, which then drove us 90 minutes away to the Beauvais airport. Our flight left at 9 a.m., and we arrived promptly on Italian soil at 11 a.m. After taking another bus shuttle to the inner city, we found our hostel and met Erik’s friends that were also visiting Rome. The group of us was instantly off to start our first day in the eternal city.

The weather forecasts that Erik and I had checked online all had predicted rain the whole weekend, so we were expecting the worse. At the beginning of our first day, we were surprised to have hot weather and bright skies. We took full advantage of this, visiting our first monument of the day: the Colosseum.

Thanks to buying a ROMAPASS, we were able to get into two monuments/museums of our choice for free, as well as skip the lines. (Doesn’t include the Vatican, and every museum/monument after the first two are 30-40 percent off). Also included in the ROMAPASS package are all Rome transportation systems such as the metro and bus. If you are interested in seeing lots of things, I would highly recommend it! Our weekend was a bit different (due to the free museum night on that Saturday) but it ended up still being a pretty good deal.

Arriving at the Colosseum, I was straight away taken back to the days of the Romans. What a great site to see on my first afternoon in Rome! We entered into the arena and began walking through the archways and around the main area. Knowing the little that I already did about the Colosseum, just being in a location with that much history made me stand in awe. We spent a good amount of time strolling around the arena, and then decided to continue exploring the city!

Our next stop was to probably the second most famous ruin area in Rome, the Roman Forums. After using our ROMAPASS (The Colosseum and Forums were combined into one ticket), Erik and I took a leisurely walk around the main areas of the Forums. It would have been nice to have a tour guide/book for this area, just for the fact that a lot of what we saw was bits and pieces of ancient buildings, so it was difficult to know what once had been there. Even so, the forum area was a beautiful site to see!

Now we get to the good part: the beginning of my love for Italian cuisine. I had a quick slice of pizza for lunch, and then headed out for gelato after the Forums. My first impression? WOW. I had found my new joy. In total, over the course of my three-day trip to Rome, I tried 14 flavors.

The complete list:

Kiwi

Melon

Pistachio

Stratiacelli

Hazelnut

Crème

Crème Prinaverna

Sesame and Honey

Coconut

Banana

Chocolate Fondante

Tiramisu

Green Apple

Mandarin

Intense, right? All were amazing, and I didn’t even chip away at the top of the list of all the flavors that were available.

Moving on from food, (so that your mouths won’t drop any further than they already have) we walked further north in the city to the Trevi Fountain. I never realized from pictures how big the fountain actually is! I threw in my coin, securing my return to Rome, and then we walked around for a while longer, ending up at the Spanish steps, the Pantheon, and even further north to the Piazza del Popolo.

The whole weekend, Erik and I could not get a hang of the internal compass that we usually have in Paris. Every time I thought I had my bearings on our location, it would turn out to be the complete opposite way. By Friday evening, it had begun to rain; so getting lost was a bit more challenging to deal with. We found our way back to the hostel finally and met up with our friends for the free pasta dinner that our hostel provided throughout the week. It was surprisingly good! We had gelato and hung out for a while, and then Erik and I went to our hostel room and passed out in exhaustion. The trip had just started!

Saturday was a cloudy, rainy day. Even though the weather was miserable, my spirits were through the roof. We were going to the Vatican! I was so excited to go to a historic place of such magnitude.

Upon arrival, it was raining quite heavily, so the near 3-hour line wait for the Vatican museum did not look appealing. My friends and I decided to shell out the money to join a tour group of the museum and St. Peter’s Basilica, and I am so happy that we did. We waited in a 15-minute line, and then grabbed our headphones to listen to our guide, and finally we were off!

Original entrance to the Vatican Museums.

How statues looked in their original time after being painted by artists.

This is a flashback to Ireland! Below is the one in Dublin by the same artist.

An almost three-hour tour followed, going through parts of the Vatican museum (it is one of the largest in the world, spanning nine miles if stretched out) and then into the basilica. I had never paid to go with a tour guide anywhere, and I was thoroughly impressed. The man had been giving tours for years, and the facts and stories that he gave us were amazing. I would have gotten overwhelmed and exhausted if I had gone through the museums alone, considering there are no explanations next to the pieces of art.

At the end of the Vatican Museum tour, we ended at the Sistine Chapel. It was different than I had expected, but beautiful all the same. The room was insanely crowded, yet we got to listen to our tour guide explain most of the paintings for a good 10-15 minutes.

The basilica was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. Being the biggest Catholic Church in the world, it definitely didn’t disappoint in the splendor department. We spent a while just gazing at the wonder of it all, and then decided to head out of the Vatican city in search of lunch.

The Swiss Guard!

Ending up at a restaurant down in the southwest region of the city along the river, I had my first whole Italian pizza. Once again, impressed by Italian food!

We walked throughout the city some more, stopping into a church with an extravagant ceiling, and then a gelato shop outside of the church.

A mirror to see the ceiling of the church.

The "Mouth of Truth," that supposedly slams shut on anyone who lies.

Being May 15^th, we were lucky to be in a place with great museums! May 15^th was the “Night of the Museums,” where almost all museums Europe-wide are free and open late at night. We had until 2 a.m. to visit places! We really didn’t have a good idea where we wanted to go specifically, so we decided to try out a large building in the middle of the city. We walked up several flights of stairs and found that we could go up an elevator to the top of the building for free. Stepping out onto the roof, I was amazed. A full panoramic view of Rome at dusk! We spent a good chunk of time snapping photos and taking in the scene before heading back down to the ground level for our next destination. We decided to go into the Capital Museum. Full of beautiful statues and ancient Roman artifacts, it was a fascinating museum to visit.

After the museum, we decided to see the Trevi Fountain at night, and then the Spanish steps for a friend who had yet to visit them. Both were even more beautiful at nighttime!

Extremely drained of energy, we opted to go back to the hostel (after an amazing meal of pesto pasta, of course) to get some rest for the next day.

Before I get to Sunday's events, I want to interject a special segment to this post. I have to let you get a glimpse of what I got to witness all weekend in numerous churches and museums; the breathtaking ceilings. Although most of these have to be seen in person to fully appreciate them, hopefully these photos will let you in on a bit of why I love Rome.

Now do you get why the love is there? ha.

Sunday was just as eventful as the days prior! We got an early start to the day, waking up at 8 a.m. Our goal of the day? Go to mass at St. Peter’s and then see the Pope. We took the metro over to the Vatican, and headed to the Basilica. The line to get into Church was long, so we opted to wait outside in the square to have prime location spaces for seeing the Pope at his window. Looking back on it, we had enough time that we could have made it into the Church and back out with no problem, but the time spent waiting outside didn’t seem to drag on all that much. The sun was finally shining through!

Wait, is that the Pope?!

Organizations rallying in St. Peter's Square.

I found a lucky button in the Vatican!

At around 11 a.m., they began projecting a public mass for all in the square to hear. At noon, the Pope finally walked to the window to make his appearance. Everyone was cheering and waving their flags for their organization and/or protest group, and it was an awesome energy to be a part of. I’m not Catholic, nor do I have a concrete opinion on the Pope, but the experience was something I will never forget.

The Pope read us a blessing, said more things in Italian, and then read a “thank you for coming” sort-of paragraph in about 5-6 languages. It was really impressive.

We left the city after he gave his final farewell, and once again had a great pizza back in Rome.

After lunch, the weather finally perked up. It was hot and sunny! We stopped in a few churches and wound up back at the Colesseum, where I took more photos in the sunlight. Being that we were all extremely tired, we decided to lie down on a hill in front of the arena and bask in the sun for a while. It was so awesome to just be lying down in the middle of ancient Rome, and then open our eyes and see the Colesseum next to us.

Circus Maximus, where the chariot races were held.

Erik and I were ready to start exploring the rest of the city after our quick break, so we walked to another church, and then took the metro to the Villa Borghese, a beautiful park in the north of Rome.

The chains of St. Peter when he was held prisoner in Rome.

Full of smaller museums, gardens, and even a zoo, it was an awesome break from the bustle of the city.

We decided to use our second free ticket of our ROMAPASS on the Museo Pietro Canonica a Villa Borghese. Being a small museum, I was apprehensive at first to use my pass to see it. After going through the galleries, however, I was very pleasantly surprised. The whole museum was the home to Canonica’s artwork, mainly statues. I enjoyed his artwork so much. They way that he conveyed human emotion through his sculptures was amazing. I have come to realize that I love to photograph sculptures! The models are already in the perfect position. Ha!

After seeing more fountains and gardens, we took the metro back to the hostel to meet up with the rest of our friends for one last dinner and stroll through the city. We ate at an amazing restaurant near our hostel (thanks to Rick Steves!) and then took advantage of the beautiful sunset by walking up some steps and watching the city go from dusk to darkness. It was the perfect last impression of Rome.

We decided to hop over to the Colesseum one last time since it was on our way home. After saying goodbye to the city, I fell fast asleep, dreading my 5 a.m. wake up call the next morning.

Erik and I had to get on a bus for the airport at 5:30 a.m., then take our flight from 7-9 a.m., then the bus back to Paris, then finally the metro from the bus stop to our home. We arrived in our room at roughly 11:30 a.m., and had to spring into school mode. Didn’t I mention? I had a final and 4 hour class that day at 2 p.m.! Oh, the life of the traveler is so rough.

Last Italian gilato.

The Eternal city had such an impact on me, and I cannot wait to go back. It is so rich in beauty and history. Plus, the awesome food and language didn’t hurt!

I am done traveling for the semester, so now it’s Paris and me for 5 weeks! I can’t believe my time here is almost finished.

Arrivederci!

Affectuesement,

George