ROMA for 3 days!

   ROME IS SOOOO BUSY! It is a giant city and I think almost everyone has a car. They are allll really tiny. The smart car is average size in Rome! See picture below.  

 

   

   First, not all of Rome looks like the Colosseum or the Roman Forums. The space between the airport and the city center, where I stayed for the 3 days, is a giant crap whole. There is trash everywhere and there are 5 story 80s style building everywhere. This is a major city so I guess this is to be expected. I guess I was thinking it was all going to be like what you see in movies. But what I didnt expect was that they drive on the same side of the as we do! 

   But when we got to the hotel which looks like this... 

   and which, by the way, costs 330euro per night (it was 3 blocks from the Colosseum)... I had been up for at least 24 hours.... I was tired. But they suggested that we not sleep so I didnt. I was up for a total of 32 hours straight. My first experience of Rome was lunch. Natalie, a friend, and I went down to a place next to the hotel and ended up spending 35 euro on lunch! It was soooo expensive. He offered us coke or wine. I chose coke which was a bad choice. It was a tiny can for 4,50euro!!!!! That is about $6! I havent bought a coke since. 

   Later that night was a better experience. We went to the Trevi fountain and ate at this super cute Italian tavern (picture below) with frescoes on the ceilings. But we couldnt get tap water. It was mineral water or wine. 

    The next day we walked around and saw the entire city. The Colosseum, Roman Forum, many famous piazzas and lots of other stuff. Our tour guide was Swedish. (picture below) She was very funny and it was all very cool. But it just wasnt as awesome as I expected. However, I do appreciate being able to be here and all the history that is in these monuments. The best part of that day was the Colosseum, Trasterve (a little town on the other side of the Tevere (Tiber) river), and the pub we went to that night. There were just sooo many people there all the time. It was a loud city and crazy crazy crazy traffic. I hate crowds and cars so you can see what I feel this way. :) 

   It was neat thinking about how long these brick structures have set in the exact same place for so long. While in the Colosseum I touched the wall and wondered how many other people had touched it and why. Maybe they were just visiting like me, or maybe they went to watch one of the games, or just maybe the emperor had touched the very same brick...

   Trastevere was exactly what you think Italian life is about in the city. There were flowers in the piazza, and no one got in a hurry to do anything. It was beautiful. The cafe where we ate was picturesque. 

  

    The third day was the best of all. We visited Vatican City. The most amazing place I have been so far! I was so excited to see the Sistine chapel and hyped myself up all night and was actually sadly disappointed. I thought that it would be bigger and take my breath away. I didnt know much about the room in which it was painted but from what I gather the room was suitable size for its purpose. There are no pictures because this was the only part in the museum that there were no cameras aloud. We had to speak in a whisper and there was no running. But to be in the same place that Michelangelo once stood on the EXACT same floor was actually really cool. 

   My favorite part of that day BY FAR was St. Peter's Church. I went into the day thinking all about the Sistine Chapel and was very surprised and humbled by the enormity of the church. I can not describe in words how large this church was. I literally cant even try. If you ever have the chance to visit Italy St. Peter's MUST be on the list. It is the one thing from Rome that I truly enjoyed and will never ever ever ever ever forget. This is one of the many pictures I took, which sadly does this church no justice what so ever. It is pitiful the way it looks here.

                      The walls had to be at least 200 feet high. Here is another one. I cant just show one. 

                                                      Those doors were at least 50 feet tall.

Overall, if I had the choice to ever go back to Rome by myself I would visit the church and get the heck out of dodge. But if you ever need a personal tour guide, I'll go then too!