OPENING TOUR: ROMA

Rome has swept me off my feet in four short days.

We left Florence around 1:30 pm from out Gonzaga in Florence university building. Amanda, my roommate, Kalea, and I struggled to walk down our three flights of stairs with our gigantic backpacks. We scored the back seats of the bus so we could stretch out and relax. We laughed and talked the whole time, the 4 hour bus ride went by very fast. After we arrived in Rome at our hotel, Tiziano-right in the heart of Rome, we got out room assignments. I roomed with two girls-Molly and Amanda-who I had not met previously but liked right away. Our room was amazing. Gilded ceilings, long drapes, a balcony, and a huge bathroom. Around 8pm we went to a restaurant in Campo dei Fiori called La Carbonara. The massive group of 80 students took over the entire top floor of the restaurant. They served us a three course meal: bruschetta, pasta, vegetables and chicken, then glazed fruit for dessert. After dinner we explored the city at night time, it was beautiful. I wish we could have stayed out later and seen more of the city but we had to get up early the next day for a full day of touring. The lights shine brighter here.

THE PANTHEON

The next morning we met at 830am in the lobby at my hotel for the beginning of our guided tour through ancient Rome. We were split up into groups of 15-20 which was really nice for a change. (Travelling in a group of 70 is very annoying!) We visited the pantheon first.

BLESSED EGYPTIAN OBELISK

The Pantheon is a building in Rome, built by Marcus Agrippa as a temple to all the gods of Ancient Rome, and rebuilt by Emperor Hadrian in about 126 AD. The building is circular with a portico of three rows of huge granite Corinthian style columns (eight in the first rank and two groups of four behind) under a pediment opening into the rotunda, under a concrete dome, with a central opening to the sky. Almost two thousand years after it was built, the Pantheon's dome is still the world's largest un-reinforced concrete dome.

BIRDS, EVERYWHERE, BIRDS

I am so lucky. With the hundreds of birds living at every historical monument that we visited, I cannot believe that I survived this weekend without getting pooped on.

THE TREVI FOUNTAIN

Then we made our way over to the Trevi Fountain! It was stunning!! Supposedly in 1629 Pope Urban VIII, finding the earlier fountain insufficiently dramatic, asked Gian Lorenzo Bernini to sketch possible renovations, but when the Pope died, the project was abandoned. Bernini's lasting contribution was to resite the fountain from the other side of the square to face the Quirinal Palace (so the Pope could look down and enjoy it). Though Bernini's project was torn down for Salvi's fountain, there are many Bernini touches in the fountain as it was built.

MAKING A WISH

MYSELF, KALEA, & OLIVIA

KIRA, MYSELF, AMANDA, & CAROLINE

Myself and three other friends made our secret wishes and tossed our 50cent coins into the beautiful fountain behind us. Some kids refused to do it wish us because we were told it is a very touristy thing to do- but I have to say I think I would have forever regretted it if I had not.

ITALIAN PRIDE

After exploring the pantheon, our tour guide led us down the beautiful streets of Rome pass the Sacred Ruins of the Four Temples and up the stairs near Piazza Venezia to the Parliament building.

IL VITTORIANO

The one landmark is the grand Piazza Venezia is Il Vittoriano, a monument dedicated to the King Victor Emmanuel II, the first king of Italy. The construction of the immense white marble monument - built on the side of the Capitoline Hill -completely changed the appearance of the square, which was drastically enlarged.

MYSELF & CAROLINE

We next made our way to the Ancient Forum of the city of Rome, where SPQR is inscribed onto everything that it possibly could. It is the central area around which the ancient Roman civilization developed. The oldest and most important structures of the ancient city are located in the forum, including its ancient former royal residency, the Regia, and the surrounding complex of the Vestal virgins (where virgins were dedicated to serving the gods, but if they were exposed to have had relations with a man, the man would be publically wiped to death and the woman would be buried alive!)

THE ANCIENT FORUM
"I have found Rome a city of brick, yet I leave it a city of marble."
-Augustus
The forum served as a city square and central hub where the people of Rome gathered for justice, and faith. The forum was also the economic hub of the city and considered to be the center of the Republic and Empire.

OUTSIDE THE COLOSSEUM

INSIDE THE COLOSSEUM

We ended at the coliseum, where our tour guide went on and on with tons of gladiator stories which I will never really know if they were true. The Coliseum or Roman Coliseum, originally the Fluvial Amphitheatre, is an elliptical amphitheatre in the center of the city of Rome, Italy, the largest ever built in the Roman Empire. It is one of the greatest works of Roman architecture and Roman engineering. At this point, my legs are beginning to wobble and my feet are throbbing from walking for hours on the uneven cobblestones.

KALEA, MYSELF, CAROLINE & KIRA

OUR GIF TOUR GROUP

CAROLINE & I TIRED AND HUNGRY
We went as a group to the Hard Rock cafe for lunch. Eating some yummy burgers and fries but I secretly wished that the tour group had chosen a more Italian place for us to eat at.

CEILING AT THE BORGHESE GALLERY

After lunch we continued on to see the Borghese gallery. Walking into the Borghese is a fairy tale park. Its stunning trees reach up into heaven, the grass is wildly greener, and the flowers are so much more beautiful than anything I have seen in the U.S. The Borghese building itself is also stunning. To my total disbelief the museum was sponsoring a Bacon-Caravaggio exhibit, the fourth of the "Ten Great Exhibitions at the Galleria Borghese" series and constitutes an unprecedented event, which juxtaposes the two artists for the first time. Our guide told me that, "This exhibition is not on art history, but an invitation to an aesthetic experience."

Caravaggio is my all time favorite artist; I plan on travelling to Malta just to see his paintings there. It was visually mind blowing. I also saw Apollo and Daphne, my favorite sculpture and my friend Caroline got to see her favorite piece, The Rape of Proserpina, which he stood in front of for 30 minutes, and even cried. At this point exhaustion takes over and we hail a cab back to the hotel to pass out for the night.

OUTSIDE OF THE MUSEI VATICANI

The next day we get up at 9am to go to the Vatican Museum. At this point my feet are blistered but I ignore this fact as we walk to the Vatican to begin our exploration. The Vatican Museums (Italian: Musei Vaticani), in Viale Vaticano in Rome, inside the Vatican City, are among the greatest museums in the world. The museum displays works from the immense collection built up by the Roman Catholic Church throughout the centuries. Pope Julius II founded the museums in the 16th century. The Sistine Chapel and the Stanze della Segnatura decorated by Raphael are on the visitor route through the Vatican Museums. As of 2009, they were visited by 9,376,584 people for the year.

ENORMITY OF THE BASILICA

INSIDE THE VATICAN

It took us hours to explore the museum. Kalea and I strained our necks because we were sitting in the Sistine Chapel for such a long time. To put all of these feelings into words is almost impossible. To be able to experience and have such an awestruck passionate reception and perception of these objects is one of the greatest experiences I could ever ask for, so MOM AND DAD, thank you. This is all so mind blowing, I send "thank you" love every minute.

ON THE PONTE SANT' ANGELO
We grabbed lunch at a little sandwich shop, wishing we could sit down but there is a table fee here to sit down, even if you are drinking coffee. So we grabbed a quick bite and headed onwards to see Castel Sent Angelo.

CASTEL SANT' ANGELO
The Mausoleum of Hadrian, usually known as the Castel Sant'Angelo, is a towering cylindrical building in Rome, initially commissioned by the Roman Emperor Hadrian as a mausoleum for himself and his family. The building was later used as a fortress and castle, and is now a museum.

CAUGHT IN A WIND STORM

The wind and rain and wind started kicking up at this point and on the walk back to the hotel we got caught in a hail storm! After a quick nap, we met back up to go to dinner at Aspettando il Pane at 7pm. The dinner was delicioso! Brushetta, eggplant noodles, pork and vegetables, with apple and orange cake desserts. Dinner is very slow and drawn out here so by the time dinner ended at 930, I simply walked around the streets with three of my friends and enjoyed the fact that I’m in Rome, and it’s still all so surreal.

KALEA & I

The next day we checked out of our hotel around 10:30 to get to St. Peters Basilica around 11. The Basilica is too overwhelming to put into words, it’s pure beauty. I made friends with two Catholic priests from Pittsburgh because I asked them to bless the rosaries that bought for my parents. I know my Mom and Dad don’t want me spending money on them, but I bought them both rosaries made out of rosewood, that smell unbelievably good.

ST. PETER'S BASILICA

THE POPE

The Pope came out at noon to bless us. It’s something I’ll never be able to describe. (I find myself saying that about a lot of my experiences in Rome). Right as he ended, literally right after, the clouds parted and the sun shone bright over St. Peters, for the first time it was warm in Rome since we arrived there.

THE CROWD WAITING TO BE BLESSED

Then we boarded the buses and took the ride back to Florence. I thought about everything I had experienced as I looked out at the beautiful countryside (everyone else was passed out on the bus). It is now very late in Italy and I must wake up early for school tomorrow. I will write soon, I promise. Ciao.