Rome

So here is Rome in a minute.  After we went to the Colosseum, we went to the Roman Forum, which is really just a bunch of ruins but they date back to 1BC- 3 AD which is super, super old.  There are temples there dedicated to Roman gods, such as Romulus who is though to be one of founders of Rome.  There is also this huge house for the Vestile Virgins, which is where girls would go to live until they were proper marriage age.  They would have to clean the temples and stuff every day but they got the best seats at the Colosseum and were married to high ranked people because of their virginity.  But if it was found out that they weren't a virgin, then they would be killed.

 So then we went to the Pantheon which is the round building with a dome with a hole in the top. The hole is not covered by anything and since it was drizzling outside, rain was also coming into the building.  The Pantheon tricked many people though because the front of it (the porch type area) is square so when people walked in, they would be in awe that the inside was perfectly circular.

After the Pantheon, we had dinner then went the to Trevi Fountain.  This fountain is super pretty.  We made out 3 wishes and took lots of pictures!

The next morning, we went to the VATICAN! The museum was huge and completely overwhelming.  There was so much stuff to look at, from the marble floor to the molding on the wall, the to frescos on the walls and ceilings to the statues in every room.  It was a little insane.  I did see some very famous stuff though.  You end your museum tour at the Sistine Chapel which is somewhat overrated.  I took a picture even though you aren't supposed to. Woops.  There are so many people in the Sistine Chapel and there are guards that stand on a raised platform screaming at us to be quite, move in closer together and not take pictures.  Not exactly a Holy place when all that is going on.

Anyway, then I go to go to St. Peter's Basilica, which was my favorite part of the entire trip. I wish I could have spent hours in this church.  It was ginormous and so so so incredibly beautiful. There was so much to look at and so much beautiful art.  I can't even begin to describe how neat it was to be in there.






So that's Rome! It was a busy, fun weekend.  We saw a TON of stuff and learned a good deal but it was great to be home (!) in Florence.  I think everyone in the program agreed that Florence is better then Rome.  It's just smaller, less chaotic, less American and touristsy, less traffic, and less dirty.  I am probably just biased though but let me tell you that I LOVE Florence.