ROMA!
Rome Day 1:
Drove from Venice to Rome and made one stop, where we enjoyed this less-than-mediocre, but very largely sliced pizza:
The City of Rome, away from the ruins.
We started our tour of Rome on the coach, driving through some of the more famous areas and passed some of the most infamous monuments:
A priest! ...right outside the Vatican... :\
The Vittorio Emmanuel
Jason said "This is where all the Roman teens used to hang out... Like a mall!"
(I think he makes crap up.)
Julius Cesar
Coliseum
Hercules!
(Sorry, not sure why this pic looks like its straight out of "The Wonder Years.")
After the driving tour, we got out and set off on foot to explore Rome... shortly after, we discovered the Romans were ALL ABOUT stairs!!! Every staircase, set of stairs and/or step you see, I climbed AT LEAST once (up, then down, then up again)...
Awwe... Stairs :|
More stairs.
Op. Stairs!
Ugh. K. More stairs.
A statue!
and stairs... :|
...Yep. You guessed it.
Stairs.
More stairs.
Oh, haven't had enough? Okay then..
STAIRS.
The Trevi Fountain
Pretty but annoying Roman streets.
Pantheon!
Gelati Italia!
Yum :P
Where we had dinner as a group!
(GROSS)
(GROSS)
St Peter's Basillica at night.
Jason's Rome-Contiki-Itinerary.
Rome, Day 2: The first thing we did was walk down to the Rome-metro station near our hotel where we received a very brief orientation to their underground system from our tour manager Jason... who was more than hungover... and then we proceeded to catch a handful of trains to arrive here:
The Capuchin Church of the Immaculate Conception.
This was a church with chapel (small room) after chapel of ...bones. Essentially, 40,000 skeletons were dissected and each bone grouped together and made into some ornate creation of "art." Very...Creepy, with a capital C.
TUNA!!! (Jim...the Office... whatever.)
Next: Vatican City: Smallest Country in the world (less than 1/3 square mile)
The famous Papal Seal.
We got to go on a guided tour at the Vatican, which--for me at least, was a long, windy, stair-filled maze/obstacle course to the grand finale: the Sistine Chapel.
You can't take pics in the Sistine Chapel, so we were shown these diagrams and photos at the beginning of the tour, which explain some of Michaelangelo's work...very cool! So much symbolism and...so many complex thought processes involved in the artwork within that chapel!
The amazing Roman water fountains.
Crystal clear, ice cold (Ice cold by European standards. Luke warm here in the 'States!) , fountain spring-water pours from stations like this all throughout the city!
St. Peter's Basilica
Okay cool, climb a few stairs and we'll get to the Sistine Chapel...
Or not... fine, just past this GIANT pinecone... and we'll get to the Sistine Chapel...
Another Julius
This hallway reminded me of Disney's Hercules (that may be a bass-ackwards thought process, but that's how my brain works)!
..."Dum-dum-du-nuh-nuh
We are the muses...goddesses of the arts and proclaimers of heros...
Heros like HERCULES... HONEY YOU MEAN HUNK-ULES!..."
Sorry. K. I'm back:
I don't know what that face is...
Uh-ohhhh!!!
Wolf?
Kiss kiss Zeuseey-pooo!
Amazing...ly-tedious tile work floors!
I'd HATE to clean that grout!
Can ANYONE tell me who this is?
Anyone?
...
Anyone?
No?
Give up?
Fine.
It's... (drum roll please...)
It's the Ancient Greek Goddess Snooki Bump-It!
Am I right?
Profile shot of the Ancient Snooki!
Alright. Back on track: Just down this hall and we'll get to the Sistine Chapel...
No head? Borrow mine!
That must mean I'm almost to the Sistine Chapel.. okay. Keep on keepin' on...
A priest!
YES! FINALLY!!!
Or not.
A few more hallways and amazing tapestry filled walls later, we made it to a stairwell that we climbed down to the Sistine Chapel! What an ordeal!
Next: St. Peter's Basilica:
These doors open only once every 25 years (anyone wanna go see em open in 2025 with me? no? yeah. I didn't want to go anyway.)
Cherubs
The Pope
Bernini's Baldachino over the high alter of St Peter's: "Confessio"
Bernini's final work of art.
"Oooh! A confessional! Take my picture!"
:(
Guess I wasn't supposed to touch it... :\
After the tour of the Vatican we had a free day to do whatever we wanted. I wanted to go on a tour of the Coliseum, so we hopped on the Metro and...
Walked...
and walked...
and waited...
and got lost...
and walked... and
FINALLY MADE IT!!!
ha. "Hang on, lemme fix my bangs." Poor Seriza. Story of our entire trip!
He wanted to be in the pic too! :)
Oh goody.
Palatine Hill
Column graveyard, me and Flat Spence. :)
STEEP escalators!!! :D
The BEST pizza of the entire trip was just around the corner from the Titan Fountain:
Dang Camera.
He was very nice on the eyes...
He was very nice on the eyes...
As was/is he :)
(Italian Christian Bale? Mmm)
AAAAANNNDD GROSS.
Yeah. That's what your feet look like after walking around Rome in flip-flops... :(
Rome was beautiful. I hate those bloody stairs, but it was an amazing city. I SO wish I had a pedometer on me. I think we covered no less than 10 miles that day and easily over 5,000 stairs (and I'm really honestly not exaggerating). Whew!
Rome in one word: STAIRS!!!
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