Traci's Adventure Across the Pond: Part 2: Rome

D and I left for Rome on Tuesday the 21^st. We left around noon from our hostel. We arrived in Rome at about six in the evening, and we had one hell of a time trying to find the bus we needed to take to our hostel. Public transportation was the worst in Rome compared to everywhere else I have been, save the States. I imagine it would be hard to build a proper metro with all the really old foundations and architecture, but it really was bad. The metro made a big “X,” so stops were not abundant. The bus system did not make up for it, either. When we finally found the bus stop we needed, we still had to wait for an hour, and then the bus was tiny and we had to stand with our bags for another 45 minutes. It was just rubbish. The good news is that was about the only bad thing about Rome.

The night we arrived, we got to the hostel around ten and just went to bed. I read for a little bit. On that side note, a couple of the guys here recommended a series of books called Inheritance. I had never heard about it, but I started reading it right before we left on the ten day. I finished two of the books while on vacation, and the third just yesterday. It is so good! The first book is called Eragon, so I would recommend it to anyone. It is about dragons, elves, dwarves and other races fighting evil. It seems so dorky but it was really good. The author is now 24, and he started writing it at 15 when he graduated high school. Very good; very entertaining. Trevy would probably like it.

The next day, we hopped on a tour bus and went around to all of the major attractions. To be honest, this was a waste of money, and everything is so close that if you just dedicate some major time to walking around and planning, you can see everything major in most cities on foot. Anyway, the first stop was St. Mary’s church, I believe. Supposedly this is a really famous church because they have an important relic: a piece of Jesus’ manger. From there we went to the Coliseum. So awesome! It really was amazing. I will talk more about with the pictures, but it was one of my favorite places. After a few more stops, including some famous churches, the parliament building and a bunch of statues, we ended up at the Trevi Fountain. Unfortunately, they were cleaning it, so we did not get a great view of Neptune, and we couldn’t go right up to it. It was still really neat though. I had some trouble throwing my coin from that distance, however, and actually missed the font on my first try. Does that mean I am doomed to never return to Rome? After we visited the fountain, we went to eat. We had some delicious sandwiches, but they did not serve cold beans (haha, VanAmpting family joke). From there, we met up with John, our Assistant Director, and we spent the remainder of our time in Rome with him.

We just did a ton more sightseeing that day, including the Spanish Steps and the Pantheon. We also had gelato at least once, maybe more. We ate a lot of gelato in Rome. That night, we all went on a pub crawl. The theme of the night was “When in Rome,” so we said that as much as we could. We met up with our roommates from the hostel, and overall had a great time. It was the best pub crawl to date, and we got a really cool shirt that says, “I came, I saw, I crawled,” so that was really neat. We ended up at the Coliseum at around three am, and were walking home as fruit venders were putting out their wares for the day. We got home around 4 or 5, and amazingly, woke up at 7:30 to go to Vatican City. The lines were not bad at all, and we got right through into St. Peters, which is beautiful. From there, we went through the Vatican Museum, which had some amazing artwork. Unfortunately, my pictures of the paintings did not turn out great, but they were just wonderful in person. All the masters were there, including Donatello, Michelangelo, Leonardo and Raphael. I don’t know if I remember their names more for their artwork or the Ninja Turtles. Both are probably pretty solid explanations.

Then there was, of course, the Sistine Chapel. It literally was amazing. We couldn’t take pictures, and I am sure I will not be able to explain it and do it justice. It was just brilliant. The colors were so bright and vibrant, even after the hundreds of years. It was breathtaking. My eyes were tearing up just looking at it. I had seen the Creation of Man portion before, but I really didn’t realize how much other stuff was there. It was absolutely beautiful. I bought Trevy a postcard here to send. I got him a postcard with the Creation of Man on it, but just the fingers touching. I felt awkward about sending the entire picture through the mail to a little boy. Well not so little anymore, according to Mom. A teenage boy, then.

Anyway, it just blew me away. After this, we had dinner. Again, no cold beans, but there was a delicious pesto. From here, we went to the Coliseum. We actually went inside and toured it. It was really cool! I really can’t believe how much of it is still standing even after so long and how many attacks it endured.

Normally, when you buy admission to the Coliseum, you also get entry into the Roman Forum, which is basically a bunch of ruins. We did the Coliseum so late that we did not have time to do the Forum before it closed. We could have gone back the next day, but D and I left rome that day.

We had to get a taxi at 3:30 in the morning to the center of town! It was ridiculous. It all worked out fine, but it was just a really long day of traveling. Next came Paris!

This is the parliament building. US troops nicknamed the sculpture/statue the "Wedding Cake" apparently.

St. Peter's Basilica

Some Swedish girls we played foose with on the pub crawl.

A crazy man we met in the street.

The Coliseum. Amazing!

Bottom of the Spanish Steps.

Our roommates at the hostel that we met on the pub crawl. They were Kiwis.

Me sitting on a piece of Coliseum.

Me gazing into the Coliseum.

D and I at the airport on our way to Italy. Note the Hand being present in the picture.

This is the castle thing that was the Illuminati's Church of Illumination in Angels and Demons by Dan Brown. That book is a lot better now that I know all of the stuff he is talking about. I am going to go back and read the Da Vinci Code again as well, now that I have also been to Paris.

D, John and I at the Coliseum.

Inside St. Peter's Basilica.

This one gets a story. As already said, D and I got really lost on the way home. D gave me her socks to walk in because my heels were apparently hurting. Why she is not wearing her shoes, I don't know. What is really of interest is the rock in her hand. This was stolen from the Coliseum at night after the pub crawl. It is a cobblestone. D tried to bring this home with her, which meant that we got the grand inquisition from Italian security guards at the airport. Needless to say, it did not make it. I went through security first, and I saw D's bag on the machine. The rock was just this huge, black box. They were not happy with us. They had to talk to like 5 guards to clear us, and I really think they were contemplating arresting us, or at least D. The good news is that we didn't, and it makes for a pretty good story. As D's mom put it, it is for things like this that Europe hates Americans.