Rome

Rome was the biggest history lesson I have ever received. Like Venice, Rome will be hard to summarize because there was so much, but I will try my best.

The most amazing part of Rome is its history and the pizza. A lot of the ancient Roman ruins that I saw were from around 700 BC, they were enormous. The pizza was very good too. The best I have had in Europe so far. It was thicker than Northern Italy and with a lot of cheese. The gypsies, as they call them, were all over the place trying to sell stuff to tourists and there were a lot of tourists.

We arrived by bus at about noon on Thursday and it was down-pouring. Our professor’s originally had St. Peters planned as a group tour, but decided to give us a free day and let us roam in Rome. I was happy about that. The closest thing to the hotel was The Pantheon, so I decided to go there. The Pantheon is ancient; I think the largest concrete dome in the world? Since it was raining, the rain was falling through the oculist, circular hole in the roof. This added another level of interest to it because it was pretty cool when it started pouring inside the building. Then the rain slowed down and eventually stopped. We walked around the city and hit some of the major sites; Trevi Fountain, some Piazza’s, the Spanish steps, Tomb of Augustus. A great aspect about Rome compared to Florence is Rome is attempting to bring contemporary architecture inside its city. So, we saw the Ara Pacis by Richard Meier too.

That night, we ate pizza a couple times. They have little shops you walk into and grab a giant piece. Then we went to the Vatican, which was amazing. I was able to take some good photos of it during the night. I walked around Borromini’s Piazza for awhile. Then back to the hotel, where we played some cards and had a few drinks.

In the morning, Friday, we headed straight to the Vatican. Vatican City is a country separate of Italy, which I though was cool. We were able to get right into the St. Peter’s Church. The largest church in the world! It was amazing. Saw a sculpture, Pieta, by Michelangelo. Our tour guide rushed us. I could have spent much more time in there but we left and headed for the Vatican museum, which has ancient works by Raphael and Michelangelo, a LOT of art. The best part of the museum is the Sistine Chapel painted by Michelangelo. The piece where God nearly touches the finger of Adam, it was incredible to look at.

Then I took off with the architecture group and saw works by Zaha Hadid (under construction), Renzo Piano (three beetle-like auditoriums), a Nervi basketball stadium, and finally the 1960 Olympic Stadium complex. Then ate some pizza and went back to the hotel. That night a group of us went out and experienced the bar scene of Rome which was awesome.

In the morning, an early morning it was, we went to the absolutely amazing Roman Forum, Capitaline Hill, and Palatine Hill area. I love the stories of ancient Rome so the whole time we were there I was captivated by the tour. This is where all the ancient ruins are, the Arch of Titus, Arch of Constantine, and the Coliseum! We spent about half of the day there and then a small group went out to the EUR area of Rome which has a lot of Fascist architecture. It was a designed city, so it was an interesting thing to see.

In the evening the villa went to the Villa Borghese. I had no idea what to expect, but I am glad I went. We saw pretty amazing sculptures by Bernini, Raphael, and Caravaggio. The villa then went back to Florence, but I decided to stay another day. We tried to get into the catacombs, but they were closed by the time we got there.

I went back to the Coliseum to take photo’s at night. After the Coliseum I walked around and saw a lot of the tourist stuff in the city. Just kind of walked and experienced the city. Everywhere I went there was a swat team of police officers because students were protesting something. Had McDonald’s for dinner and headed back to the terrible hostel.

In the morning, Sunday, I went to St. Peters and climbed up to the top of the dome and caught some amazing views of the city. We got there early, so there was not a line for anything. Then went down into St. Peters and spent awhile in there, watching people go to Mass. At 11 we thought the Pope came out of his window and gave the Sunday blessing so we went out to see him. But it was 12, good thing we went out early though because the piazza was packed with people. It was pretty incredible to see the Pope and listen to him deliver his blessings!!

Then we went and walked around the inside of the Coliseum. Then went to a Richard Meier Church of the Year 2000 which was 30 minutes out of town. We couldn’t find a taxi back, extremely worried that I would miss the train I asked a young Roman couple who were taking pictures of the church how they were getting back, they said by car and asked if I need a ride. Absolutely we did so Matt and I jumped in their car and they gave us a ride to the train station. They spoke very little English, but it was an interesting conversation in the tiny car.

Made it back Sunday evening at about 10:30 and found out that I have another nephew! I couldn’t ask for a better surprise!