"when in Rome...."
steps within the Piazza Spagna
This weekend I took a 4 hour bus ride to Rome and it was AMAZING! It was definitely a whilrwind trip because there is so much to see and Rome is huge. I took 400+ photos in two days... so obviously I can't post them all here. I did post a ton of them on facebook, however, because its much easier than doing it 5 at at time here on blogger. It rained most of the first day we were there but we were still cute anyway! haha
McKenzie took this cool photo of me with the color accent feature on her camera!
Janna, McKenzie and MarieBlue & Green!!
The highlights for me were definitely the Pantheon, which is just as beautiful as u can imagine... The Colosseum was HUMONGOUS!!! Way bigger than anything I've ever scene and to think about what it looked like at its best, breathtaking!! I also really loved the Trevi Fountain, and the Moses sculpture by Micheangelo, which you had to PAY to have a light shine on... Romans hustle the tourists SO badly!!
the Pantheon!!! there was a couple getting married here when we got there...check the facebook album for the photo!
Pantheon interior
the Colosseum!! the actual floor is missing (obviously) so what you are seeing are the catacombs where they kept animals before they fought or gladiators waited to battle!!
me! at the colosseum
micheangelo's moses -- lit by 50 centisimi of light! lol
trevi fountain!!
Standing in the Sistine Chapel was surreal; I imagined the frescoes to look much older, but they have been so well preserved and clean they look almost fake. Also, the chapel isn't really a chapel.... its just a big empty space now! They don't allow anyone to talk or take pictures, but you KNOW I had to sneak a few haha. There were no lights on in there either so the pictures didn't come out that great, though.
My super stealth photo of the Sistine Chapel ceiling...You can see the "Creation finger touch" on the right towards the top,
I really wish this had come about better but I was sneaking....
The blackness you see on the bottom right is the shadow of my scarf! lol
We spent several hours touring the Vatican City museum which was excessively opulent and the collection of art was staggering; to be standing in front of sculptures which were created 700 years BEFORE Christ is something I can't really wrap my head around even now as I type about it. I did love a lot of the things I saw at the Vatican, however, I couldn't stop thinking about how many people had to die and suffer to have all of this. All of the gold leafing, the micro mosaics... the marble everywhere... it had a human cost. It was definitely worth it to see though.
This huge ball sculpture was supposed to represent the bursting of Christianity into the world(?)The cool thing about it was that it spinned with a light push!
That's St. Peter's Basilica dome in the background, which I didn't have time to visit.
We saw probably around 15 brides/weddings over the 2 days we were there....
And this was by far my favorite! We stumbled upon her wedding at an ancient chapel at the Forum and caught the bride exiting. About a minute after we got there, everybody started throwing rice and flower petals as she came out and a 4 person band and a choir started singing.
It was so nice I tried to catch some of it on video!
Overall, I loved Rome! Its such a beautiful bright city! The outskirts of downtown remind you of NYC, particularly brooklyn architecture, but with bright stucco facades to the buildings and PALM TREES (of all things). I didn't get to do everything that I wanted to, and the city is just so cool I hope to be able to go back before I leave Italy. I DID throw a coin in the Trevi fountain, which is supposed to insure that you return to Rome..... so we'll see!!
Arrivederci amici!! ;)