European Tour: Rome, Italy

 A quick ride from Sorrento to Rome, drop stuff off at hotel, and then head to Colosseum.  Once again, I had heard about it and scene it in movies and pictures but you just don't really know what it's about until you're there. Personally, I love history. And being able to stand in the same spot where someone thousands of years ago made up this architecture plan for the building is amazing. The use of the Colosseum, slaughtering people, not so amazing. But it doesn't make it seem any less majestic. It's run down because the people in the dark ages stole the screws and nails to melt down the iron, and use the stone inside. Hence why half of the building is gone and the inside is a mess.

The Colosseum

The Roman Forum

After the Colosseum, our tour guide took us around the "old" part of Rome...you know, thousands of years old. First the Roman Forum, kind of like the town square for the ancient Romans. The Forum, and other ancient buildings look like they were built very low (compared to the modern city). This is because throughout the years, the modern city has been built on top of the rubble of the ancient city. This picture was taken from me standing at "ground level" in the Modern City. Looking down at the ancient city's "ground level."

Capitoline Wolf

We stopped by the statue of the Capitoline Wolf. It's the legend of the founding of Rome. Legend has it the the King was overthrown by his brother. His brother ordered the twins Romulus and Remus be thrown in the Tiber. But they were rescued by a she-wolf who cared for them until a human found them.

Me, watching the changing of the Swiss Guards

After this, a couple of decided that since the next day was All Saint's Day, we would try to get tickets for the service at the Vatican. While most of the group went to look at the Pantheon, the rest of us made our way to Vatican City. I don't remember how I got nominated, but only one of us could go into the Swiss Guards to ask for the tickets...and it happened to be me. As I'm walking up the stairs, one of them yelled something at me in another language (I don't know if it was Italian or Latin) and I followed the lead of the guy in front of me and stopped walking. It was the changing of the guards, and I was standing right front and center. Very cool to watch, but embarrassing for me because everyone was standing behind me, trying to watch but I was in the way. After the guard change, I walked through the office of the Swiss Guard (SO cool to say that) and got the tickets for the service the next day.

Halloween costumes

Halloween Costumes

That night happened to be Halloween, so Molly took full advantage of the masks her mom sent her in a care package. Also, Bassil and Maggie dressed up as each other for Halloween. Nothing like seeing a hairy man in a halter top and a skirt....the hotel lady behind him is definitely judging him.

The  next day we had to get up SUPER early to go stand in line at the Vatican. Although we already had tickets, we wanted to get good seats in St. Peter's Basilica. It was pouring down rain the entire time we were standing there. Good thing we thought to bring rain jackets on our trip, and we met a nice couple who were there with a group from their church. They shared their umbrellas with us when they saw that we were starting to look like drowned rats.

The funny thing about people is that even though they are in one of the most Holy cities in the world, getting ready to see the Pope...they still try to cut in line. The line wrapped around St. Peter's Square, and those of us in the front of the line had been there since the wee hours of the morning. People would try to nonchalantly walk past all of us and jump in front of someone, then someone would notice and in some language tell that person to get to the back of the line. People are just amazing sometimes.

Once they opened the church, we were able to get seats in the second row of the seats that were reserved for the "normal" people. Those who were special guests, or contributed lots of money to the church got to sit in the first pews.

I'm not Catholic, but seeing the Pope was definitely one of my cooler experiences in life. In pictures, he looks kind of mean and intimidating. But in real life, he's one of the cutest old men ever. We sat through mass (which was done in Latin), and I honestly had no idea what was going on...I just kind of looked around at the amazing church and sat in awe that I was getting this awesome opportunity, and made sure to pay enough attention so I stood up and sat down with everyone else.

Mass with the Pope at St. Peter's

When Mass was over and the Pope was walking back down the aisle, a nun that we were sitting near nudged me forward so I was standing at the front of the pew. It was just in time for the Pope to bless me and touch my hand :)

Colosseum in the background

After Mass was over, we went back to the hotel to change out of our "nice" clothes and into something more tourist appropriate. We then went back out into the city for more sight-seeing. Had to get another picture with the Colosseum. Since some of my pictures were lost, I'm missing a picture of me with "Roman" guards. People would dress up in, what looked like, Halloween costumes of Roman people and stand near the Colosseum. If you paid them (or they liked you) you could take a picture with them. I had a few of me and them, and they were really funny...how sad that technology can ruin things :(

Next stop was the Spanish Steps. I won't lie, I'm kind of confused as to what the big deal about these are. They looked like regular ol' steps to me...but then again, what do I know. We walked from the Spanish Steps over to Trevi Fountain (they're a little less than half a mile away from each other) so I could see it. The others had gone the previous day when I was in Vatican City getting the tickets...so kudos to them for going to see a fountain again, thanks guys! We all through coins in the fountain, which means that you will definitely return to Rome again...so here's to hoping that the old wives tale is true!

We did stop at the Hard Rock Cafe on our sight-seeing journey. It was nice to have some "American" food - French Fries and Ranch - and have some American culture after being without it for a few months. And of course, the ice in the drinks and the free refills. The things you miss when you don't have the option for them anymore.

After sight-seeing, we went back to the hotel to go to dinner and then rest up for our day at the Vatican.

The next day was a trip to Vatican City (for the whole group) and to the Vatican Museums. After waiting in line for an hour (and I already explained how Europeans don't really wait in line) we finally made it in to the museum. I think you could spend an entire month in that place and never fully see everything. It is HUGE! Because we knew there wasn't enough time to see everything, and we were a little worn out from other churches and art museums that we had been to, we decided to cover the big and important stuff. The biggest one of them all being the Sistine Chapel. It's a small room and they have about as many people as you can physically cram in there in the small space. You get a chance to stand on your little square of land, and look up for a few minutes before you're "politely" moved along. We weren't allowed to take pictures in the Chapel, and unlike what I did in Florence, I decided that breaking a rule in Church probably wasn't the best idea in the world. Hence, no pictures.

We spent the rest of the day walking around, stopping in a little cafe for lunch and enjoying the sights of Rome.

To be continued...Next Up: European Tour: Florence