Ah, Roma. Such an adventure.
Our excitement began the night before the voyage as Katie and I racked our brains for movies featuring Rome that we might have. The result: The Lizzie McGuire Movie and Angels and Demons. So as we watched Lizzie pack for her week of a lifetime in Rome, we joined in and packed our own bags. We oooh-ed and aaah-ed and laughed at the super cheesy Italian they bothered to include. Then, for some more historical content we watched Angels and Demons and learned about the monuments and the different churches and sculptures. Then we realized it was quite late. So we went to bed.
Now, this trip started as most Villa trips do; all too early. At 6:00 am we stood waiting for the bus and the tediously long journey ahead of us. Sleep? Please. Four hours and a few decent naps later we found ourselves in La Piazza del Popolo in Rome. I would have just loved to run around and look at everything, but we had a very tight schedule to stick to. First we were off to see the Spanish Steps where lots of fashion shows are held apparently. (I don’t see how. Those stairs are deathly slippery.) It was here that I saw my first Bernini sculpture. It was a boat-shaped fountain. Not all that impressive. We moved on. Next we saw the Roman equivalent of the White House. Then we went to the Trevi Fountain. Now THAT was cool. And much bigger than I’d expected. I made sure to throw a coin in so that I’ll be coming back someday.
After that we saw the Parliament building and just after that, the Pantheon. So impressive in all its ancientness. (And just so you know, either ancientness is now a word in the dictionary or I type it so often that Word has decided to officially recognize it, but it’s apparently correctly spelled.) I stared at it for a very long amount of time and on the inside was, I think, Rafaello’s tomb and of course the Oculus. Awesome. From there we headed to Piazza Navona which contains one of the great sculptures by Bernini. The Four Rivers Fountain. Unfortunately it was under construction much like everything I want to see, so pictures were hard, but it was still impressive.
Finally it was lunch time, so we wandered past some shoot of a music video to Il Castel Sant’Angelo. It’s the Pope’s fort. There’s an underground tunnel that connects it’s with the Vatican. Cool, huh? Learned that in the movie. We didn’t get to go inside which was disappointing, but instead we headed off to the Vatican. It was so neat to just walk into a completely different country. In fact, we walked around the entire country to get to the Vatican Museum entrance. That was one of the most amazing things I’ve done. So many gorgeous paintings that I’ve been studying this year. AND the Sistine Chapel. Oh my is it inspiring. After a few hours there we chilled in front of St. Peters Basilica, and the hiked back to our bus which took us to a hotel where we ate a lovely three course meal and learned all the lyrics to Soft Kitty.
The next day our first stop was some gigantic church which contained the chains that bound Peter in prison. Hence it’s big with the pilgriming Catholics. It was pretty I suppose. However, my big interest of the day wasn’t churches, it was Ancient Rome. The Colosseum. It was so much bigger than I had ever imagined it! Definitely comparable in size to any modern-day stadium I’ve ever been in. Gigantic I tell you! I could have wandered there for hours, but once again the schedule didn’t permit it, so it was off to the Roman Forum, which was just fine with me. At the forum we were given maps and told to meet under a certain sign in 2 hours or so. I originally headed off with Laura, Kate and Jaime, but in a few minutes time found myself alone as there was so much to see you kind of just…lost track of people. So I saw some cool crumbly stuff and some more and some more, and read some signs in Italian to try to understand their interesting English translations, and walked through some gardens and then came to the most amazing view of the Forum ever. So …cool? Amazing? Gorgeous? Fantastic? Ancient? I can’t come up with a word that correctly describes just how cool, amazing, gorgeous, fantastic and ancient it was. I would have loved to see in its prime days.
I just wandered down the paths in awe staring at everything I passes with the keenest interest. I could have spent days there. However, once again, that darn schedule. So, amazingly I met under the correct sign at the correct time and climbed a bunch more stairs (Rome is deceiving hilly) and saw this nifty building in Piazza Venezia and then went on to see Il Campidoglio, the biggest, whitest building I have ever seen. Wonderful architecture. Gigantic.
Then, we were free. I grouped up with my usual peeps and we headed back towards the Trevi Fountain to find somewhere to eat. After settling down in a small trattoria and ordering some good pizzas, we joked a bit with our waiter who was impressed with our Italian, and then talked some with the Greecian girls sitting in the table next to us. Very friendly. (Clue as to how our Athens trip would go had I recognized it.) After dinner we took a metro to the main station to meet our bus and found a book market nearby where I bought the books I will use for my Year Abroad scrapbook. Finally our bus came and I engaged in the ever-popular bus activity of attempted sleep.
And so ended my two-day Roman adventure. I can’t wait to go back!
