Forgot to mention: my trip back to rome...

In between all these crazy weekend trips, I traveled with friends and the school to Rome for an overnight. I really didn't have a choice (other than the weekend I wanted to go) because it was mandatory for my Art History class but seriously, I'm not complaining. I wasn't too thrilled when I went back in October for a day trip because we were herded around like animals all day. I kept an open mind about going back for the overnight because I knew we would have free time to visit the Trevi fountain and such.

So we left Friday, November 12th, early in the morning. A bunch of my friends went the same weekend, so it was great. Right after we got to the Rome train station we were bused to the Vatican. What an amazing place. My group had the best guide. He is a professor at the Syracuse Florence program and was very knowledgable. We saw my favorite statue which happens to be mythological. As we made our way through the museum I was in awh. Every room had so many amazing things in them, gorgeous ceilings, beautiful paintings, excellent statues by godly artists. After much explanation of all these things we finally made it to the fireworks of the tour...The Sistine Chapel. I have to say, I walked in the chapel and originally was not impressed. As I walked into the center my appreciation began to increase. It's funny to say but the Sistine Chapel 'grew' on me. I think I just needed time to reflect because I was picturing a dark, dramatic setting with lights on Michelangelo's masterpiece.

Next, we headed into St. Peter's Basilica. The church is huge, plain and simple, enormous. In the center of the church there are markers to compare the length of the place with other comparable churches. In actuality nothing really compared to it's size. Michelangelo's Pieta in housed in St. Peter's. It is probably one of my favorite sculptures. It has a very peaceful aura to it. My friend Nicole and I took some pictures of course and then we all broke for lunch. On the way down the street an older Italian man picked me out of the street and gave me a hug. He had my friend Sophy take a picture of it. she captured it well. You can tell he's giving me that 'good italian hug'. What a cutie, it made me smile, I felt like it was a scene out of a movie.

We found an amazing place to eat. The food was homemade and wonderful. After lunch we bought some postcards to send from the Vatican because it is it's own country. I even mailed a postcard to myself :)

After heading back to the hotel on a bus Kelly, Nicole, Olivia, and I took a nice nap. We went out later and took a taxi to a popular restaurant area. The taxi was SO cheap. We found the best restaurant, I had hummus! I can't wait to go back to the states and have hummus in my fridge, ahhhh.

After dinner we headed the Trevi Fountain. It was beautiful. I wish there had been not as many people around for a more intimate setting but it was exactly how I pictured it to be, molto bello.
The men selling the flowers were all over and we fell for his gimmicks. He took a picture of us on a polaroid and gave us roses, which he said was all 'free', we realized this we had been Punk'd when he demanded money. We threw him two euro and I told him to leave us the hell alone.  I also was asked if I wanted to "make sex" with one of the men. I told him, "Yeah, right." Molto interessante! hahaha

We headed back to the hotel and called it a night. It had been an insane day but an amazing experience.

Saturday morning, we all met in the lobby after breakfast for a tour of the Colosseum, Roman ruins, and the Pantheon. The Colosseum was larger than life, I felt so small in this ancient monument. The roman ruins were great too. We sat on the ruins and listened to our guide explain things. Although, interesting enough we were sitting where Mark Antony laid Caesar's murdered body while he preached to the public. I can't even explain how amazing that felt.  A mix of emotions because I was sick of being lectured too....hahaa!

When the lecturing was over at the Pantheon, my friend Nicole and I split off from the group. We went over to a very famous coffee shop and bought some coffee to bring home. Across the way was a place called Pizza Zaza. Nicole spoke up and said she had read something about this place in her travel book. It was perfect timing because we were looking for lunch! The pizza was the best I've ever had. The ingredients were incredibly fresh. The bread, the sauce, the cheese, the veggies...everything. We enjoyed are massive amounts of pizza while sitting and talking.

After lunch we wandered in different shops. We found a really cool store that reminded me of Kathmandu back in Oswego, somewhat. I found a cool sterling silver knotted ring there. I wear it everyday now, haha. We headed to the hotel to pick up our bags afterwards and caught our afternoon train.

It was a lot of traveling and hustle bustle but Rome was a beautiful city. I'm really glad I was able to go back because my impression was a complete 360.

<3