BRB America, Viva Italia: When in Rome


Villa group at the Colosseum

This past weekend we went to Rome. Another fantastic weekend of studying abroad. Rome is a pretty amazing city. There was way too much to go do and see in two and a half days, and I would very much like to go back at one point in my life. Just the whole combination of having all the ancient ruins and sights to see, plus the Vatican, plus a great night life made Rome one of the best weekends of the year so far. We went as a whole program, and were there from Thursday through Saturday. Other than the 4 hour bus ride, it was a great day. So here is a day by day breakdown.

We got on a bus at 7:15, and arrived at our hotel, which was actually really nice for a change, at around 11. We then switched our game plan around and toured Ancient Rome on Thursday as opposed to Friday due to a potential public monument strike. Which never happened. The Italians are always threatening to strike and never actually follow through with it. Anyways, we split up into two groups and had a tour guide take us through the various ancient ruins of Rome. We spent the vast majority of time touring the Forum. It was definitely one of the neatest things I've ever seen. Just ridiculous to think about how well preserved it is, and how old some of the things we saw actually were. Pretty neat to be walking around the same areas that Ceasar and other ancient Romans did. So we toured the Forum, and saw the Colosseum from the outside and walked all around it. HOWEVER, due to too much jabbering from our tour guide, our particular group did not get a chance to go inside due to lack of time, which proved to be fatal since we did not have time to go back inside whilst in Rome.


Forum

More Ruins

I really don't know what else to say about the ruins and Colosseum. It just is kind of mind boggling to realize how advanced the ancient Romans were and how they were able to create these monumental buildings and how they had developed such a dominant society so long ago. Honestly just walking around in a history book. Then, we toured this church called San Clemente. Again, it was like walking around in a history book. It was kind of three things in one; a 16th century church built over an 11th century church built over some ancient cult ruins. It was really neat to get to see, but I was really tired by this point so I didn't get to enjoy it as much as I should have. So then we went back and napped. And then we went out to a club in Rome that someone I once worked with recommended, and it was a good time. Again, the Rome nightlife was great. END OF DAY 1. FALSE, not end of day 1. Before dinner / going out we went to see the Trevi Fountain at night. Great choice. By far the coolest fountain I've ever seen, plus seeing it all lit up at night was great, and there wasn't nearly as many people running around as there was during the day.

Middle part of the Trevi at night

Bridge to the Vatican City and St. Peter's in the distance

The next day was a trip to Vatican City. I again really don't know what to say. It was amazing. St. Peter's is by far the most impressive religious building / structure I've ever seen and been inside, and the Vatican Museum was unbelievable and held the most ridiculous treasures possible. And the Sistine Chapel. It was one of those moments where you literally couldn't speak. Left me speechless. Just amazing that someone could've painted something that gorgeous. It was a great life experience to make the trip to the Vatican City, and I definitely saw some unbelievable things. We then continued the day by going to the Trevi Fountain yet again to see it in all its glory during the day, then proceeded to go to a "Bone Crypt" that my parents discovered. It's exactly what it sounds like. It's a crypt in a church that is made ENTIRELY of human bones. Skulls, ribs, femurs, everything. There were corpses and skeletons in said crypts, and the bones were arranged in a really odd manner, including various chandeliers and lamps made out of bones. After that interesting experience, we went to the Spanish steps, walked around, and took some pictures. Finally, we hung around in the Piazza Navona for a while, which was also pretty neat. We closed out the day with a trip to an ice bar. It was ok. I was expecting bigger things. They gave you a parka type deal, and it was super cold inside. It was pretty cool, with the bar being made entirely out of ice and what not, including all the tables, chairs / stools, and even the cups themselves. Kind of a novelty. END OF DAY 2

Day 3 was more of a relaxed day. A couple of us headed on over to ancient Rome again, and walked around the Forum / the Colosseum. Then, we made our way to the Pantehon, which was under construction, but was still a pretty neat site. It houses the tomb of Raphael, so that was pretty cool to see. And it was a pretty cool building in general. Then we hopped on the bus and went to the Borghese musuem, which was also a fun trip. We saw many works of art by the likes of Titian and Raphael, and a whole slew of statues by Bernini that were also really cool. Then we took the bus and went home. END OF BLOG. Enjoy the following photos. Go to Rome.