We arrived at the Vatican around 8am, and the line was already extremely extremely long. To make matters worse it was pouring rain. After standing in line for about a half hour, a man came up to us and asked if we would like to skip the line for 10 euro; we were cold, wet, and desperate, so we took him up on the offer, which saved us about 2 hours of standing in the rain. Inside the Vatican there are rooms filled with sculptures, paintings, and most importantly the Sistene Chapel. All the walls and ceilings are beautifully painted with religious images. After walking around inside for a good chunk of time, we next wandered over to St. Peter's Basilica, which has the largest interior of any Christian church in the world. We waited in line for this as well, but this line moved along much faster than the line at the Vatican (lucky for us, since there weren't any chances to skip the line here!). The inside is beautiful and it's no wonder why the church is considered one of the holiest Christian sites. There is a huge altar at the front of the church and it is said that Saint Peter is buried underneath it. Saint Peter was one of the twelve apostles of Jesus and is regarded as the first Pope by the Catholic Church. After admiring the inside of the church for quite some time, we left and took the metro to the Fountain of Trevi. There were a million tourists there, so we only stayed long enough to take a couple pictures and throw our coins in the fountain (doing this means that you will return to Rome some day). By this time it was late, so we took the metro back to our hostel, went out for dinner again at our restaurant, and went to bed so we could get up early the next day.
Sunday was the day to see Roman ruins. When we got off of the metro, the Coliseum was right there! Although I wanted to go inside right away, we first went to the Roman Forum right next door because entrance to the Coliseum was free with the Forum ticket. The Roman Forum is basically a huge area filled with Roman ruins. It was amazing to see. It took us about 3 hours to walk through, and afterwards we went inside the Coliseum, which I loved. The Coliseum is well preserved despite the fact that the top part of it is broken off on one side. Here is a small description of the events that took place inside the Coliseum (which I read from an information pole at the Coliseum): "The games would begin in the morning, following a parade of all the participants, with hunts of exotic animals (lions, panthers, leopards, bears, rhinos, giraffes and gazelles, imported by the Romans from their conquered territories)... The animal's death had to be preceded by a search for cover, skirmishes and combat in which more than a few of the hunters were killed; they were allowed to defend themselves only with a lance and a shield. During the lunch interval, it became common to throw criminals in the pit. Naked and unarmed, they would inevitably end up in pieces. Other kinds of shows would also be put on during the intervals; these used to range from jugglers, acrobats and magicians to entertaining parodies and the re-evocation of ancient fables which would often finish with the tearing apart of the actors, to general acclaim. The afternoons were reserved for the eagerly awaited gladiatorial combats. The protagonists of these combats were usually prisoners of war or slaves, but there were also free men fighting for wealth and fame; they were distinguished by their armor and combat techniques. Individuals defeated in the duel met a certain death unless the emperor or public were prepared to show mercy, in which case the loser could be made free." Let's just say I'm glad I didn't live during this era...
After viewing all of the Roman ruins, we went to a nice restaurant nearby and had the most wonderful bruschetta and pizza ever!!! (I love Italian food if you haven't noticed). We walked past Rome's city hall and other beautiful areas on our way to see the Parthenon in Rome, which was located in a really neat area with fountains, live music, and people everywhere. We sat around the square for a while soaking it all in. Afterwards we walked to the Spanish steps which were lit-up and really beautiful at night. The Spanish steps are the widest and longest staircase in Europe with its 138 steps (all of which we climbed!). We then headed back to the hostel, ate again at our restaurant, and headed to bed because we needed to fly out early to Athens the next morning! I really enjoyed Rome, and I think it was actually one of my favorite places I visited in Europe.
Picture #1: My friends and I inside of the Vatican
Picture #2: Inside the Sistene Chapel... you can see the famous image of God's hand reaching for man's hand in the center of the picture
Picture #3: Eating Italian food... nom nom nom
Picture #4: Outside of Saint Peter's Basilica
Picture #5: Roman ruins in the Roman Forum
Picture #6: An aerial view of the Roman ruins with the Coliseum in the background
Picture #7: Me in front of the Coliseum
Picutre #8: Inside of the Coliseum
Picture #9: Jumping pictures standing in the Roman Parthenon
Picture #10: Spanish steps!
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