And We Conquered Rome!

Today was such a busy and fabulous day! After our crazy day yesterday, I was ready to see as much as possible today. We started out by leaving the hostel at 8:30. The hostel, by the way, is really cute. We are staying in a 6-bed room that turned into 7 in the middle of the night. Our hostel manager is super nice and he gave us a whole run down of the city and recommendations of where to eat and get gelato. So, we left the hostel and went to get breakfast and get on the Metro. We went almost all the way to the other end to get off at the Vatican. We walked from the Metro to St. Peter's Basilica. AMAZING. I was awed at how amazing it was. The line was not long at all, so we went in really quickly. Inside was completely breathtaking because it was so ornate. We spent a good while walking around inside because there was so much to see. I knew that it was where the Popes were buried, but I didn't expect to see some of them in glass cases around inside. It was a little weird to see them just lying there and know how long they had been inside those cases haha. The pictures are not going to be able to show how beautiful and ornate it was on the inside.


Once we left St. Peter's, we saw that the line outside waiting to go in was SO long. Luckily, we got there just in time. But, that also meant that the line outside the Vatican Musuem, which includes the Sistine Chapel. I believe we were in line for at least an hour, but it was so worth it once we got in. By the way, it was cold and windy today, but it wasn't raining, so it was totally okay. I was overloaded by art once I got in. There were so many sculptures and paintings, that I don't even know how to piece it all together. I had to take pictures of all of the room names just to keep track of all of it. It was amazing though. We saw the School of Athens by Rapheal on our way into the Sistine Chapel. I learned about the significance of that painting in AP European History, so it was incredible to see it in person. It was much larger than I expected. The Sistine Chapel was incredible. I don't know what exactly I expected, but that wasn't it. I guess it had been built up so much through school that I expected something much grander. Nonetheless, it was breathtaking to be in the presence of such amazing artwork. Well worth the wait.



After leaving the Vatican, we started walking toward the Pantheon. We saw great things along the way.. beautiful areas of the city. I ate real Italian pizza for the first time and it was incredible! We did get caught in a tourist trap though.. haha. These 2 guys were dressed as gladiators and wanted us to take pictures with them. Of course we did because it was funny.. right after one said 5 Euro. WHAT! It was so funny though.. well worth the money. We saw the Sacred Area of Argentina, where parts of it were built like 100 BC. WOW! We made it to the Pantheon like 10 minutes before it was supposed to close. It was huge and amazing, like everything else :) I was really impressed. Afterwards, we got gelato at the best place in Rome, and it wasn't crowded because it was so cold today. It was so much better than ANY ice cream that I had ever had. We saw some other neat things along the way to find dinner in a recommended part of the city where a lot of tourists don't exactly go. We found a cute place called Papa Re. I had fetticine with mushrooms.. it was very good. I'm trying to expand and try new food. Once we left the restaurant, we went back towards the hostel. We got to see the Colosseum at night!!! SO AMAZING. It was so wild standing next to such an amazing place that it so well known in history. I am so excited to go back tomorrow before we leave Rome and go inside. We leave for Siena at like 1:30, and it will be about a 3 1/2 hour train ride. I won't have internet while I am at the B&B there, but I will when I get to Florence on Monday, so I won't be able to blog for a couple days. I am so excited about Siena though. I think it will be my favorite because it will be so beautiful!