Quando a Roma...

Sono andata a Roma! Era bellissima!!

Prima, siamo andate al Colosseo!

Il Colosseo!

See how the Colosseum looks like it's been torn apart? Well, that is because it was. Don't worry- I will tell you what the guidebooks won't tell ya.  See, the Colosseum used to be where the ancient Romans kept the dragons.  The problem was that the dragons grew too big and strong, and so naturally, the dragons wreaked havoc within the Colosseum.  

Un giorno, two dragons were fighting and one crashed into the Colosseum.  It still has the crack to this day.

This was the landing pad for when the Romans flew their dragons.  The landing pad is conveniently close to the dragon pen (aka the Colosseum). 

There used to be more to this building, but the dragons knocked it over.

They made a bit of a mess here as well.

This is called Il Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele II.  Up the stairs there is the grave of an unknown soldier with two soldiers guarding it.

Of course, we went to La Fontana di Trevi.  It was impressive and very crowded.  Roma is very fond of fountains. 

Tossing my coin in the Trevi Fountain

I tossed a coin in the Trevi Fountian, of course.  Not that I'm superstitious... but better to be safe than sorry.  All of the coins go to charity!  It was fun to sit and watch the other tourists.  One lady tossed a coin and her photographer missed the picture so she pretended to throw a coin for a picture.  Some people just kept chucking in coins with a more coins more luck philosophy.  As you can see, I did right hand over left shoulder.  I saw people do all sorts of variations.  (I hope I did it right.)

Trevi Fountain

The Spanish Steps

We went to the Spanish Steps, too.  I'll tell you their little-known history.  Rome was at war with Spain, and Rome was losing.  Spain invaded Rome and the soldiers climbed these very steps to storm the city and take over Rome.  However, the Romans had actually set a trap.  When the Spanish army was on the steps, the Roman soldiers let loose floodgates and the Spaniards were flooded and were literally washed out of the city.  Some of the soldiers drowned on the steps, and thus, the steps are forever dubbed "The Spanish Steps."

On my second day in Rome, we went to Il Vaticano! Fun Fact: The Vatican is the smallest country in both size and population, with only 832 inhabitants.

This golden ball is a remnant from the dragon days.  One of the dragons was playing with it and accidentally cracked it.

Gruppo del Laocoonte

This is a famous sculpture called Gruppo del Laocoonte.  The sculptor is unknown.  It depicts a Trojan War scene.  This guy knew that the Trojan Horse was a trap and he tried to convince the others of this.  Athena had snakes bite him to give him a violent end so that the Trojans would not believe him and would accept the Trojan Horse.  It worked and the Trojans let the horse into their city walls.  To their demise.

This was a dragon's water dish (obviously). 

This is an image of Jesus that was in a tapestry.  The eyes follow you no matter which way you look at him.  To me, he is saying, "Don't worry guys, I'm OK."

They're really strict about no photos in the Sistine Chapel.  So we were even more determined to take some.

The Sistine Chapel by Michelangelo [Photo Credit: Lauren]

Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel when he was an amateur at painting. From painting the ceiling, he   ended up with many health problems, including partial blindness and scoliosis.

The Sistine Chapel was huge and I could see why Michelangelo was not thrilled about painting it.  Some of the panels were just brilliant.  Of course pictures do not do it justice.  

We went to St. Peter's Basilica next. 

This is the Dome that Michelangelo designed.  The pope told him to make it larger than the one in the Pantheon and Michelangelo said that he would.  The sneaky sneaky man did not do so, however, because he loved the Pantheon.  And so, to this day the dome in the Pantheon is larger than the one in St. Peter's Basilica.

There were many pope graves in the Basilica.  I was fortunate enough to get to see two metallic dead popes!

I do not understand why their heads and hands are metal.  My friend thinks the popes took fashion advice from Santa Claus.

I'm in St. Peter's Basilica!

A Swiss Guard

Apparently it is very difficult to get the honor of being a Swiss Guard at the Vatican.  I wanted to see what would happen if I tried to walk past this guy, but the other Swiss Guard had a spear.

Il Vaticano!

After we left the Vatican, we saw a ton of street performers and human statues.  This guy was the coolest.

We went to this castle next. We climbed it for the view.

After this, we went to the Gelateria del Teatro. I was very impressed. I got one scoop of pumpkin gelato with dark chocolate and nuts in it and I got another scoop of white chocolate. It was amazing- it was like pumpkin pie but better.  Now I know that pumpkin pie needs dark chocolate bits.

This is another Roman fountain. There were oh so many.

The Pantheon!

The Pantheon used to be a place to worship all of the ancient Roman gods.  Today, it functions as a Catholic church!  (That cracks me up.)  It was surreal to go into this temple that was built in 126 AD! And it is unbroken!

The ceiling of the Pantheon

After this, we went to Dar Poeta off a recommendation by my wonderful sorority sisters who studied in Roma last year.  It took us a bit to find the place but it was well worth the walk. I enjoyed the best pizza that I've ever had in my life.  My friend and I split a pizza with sausage and mushrooms and a Sicilian pizza.  We were so, so, so happy.

It was a very, very good trip.  I had a wonderful time.  I think that part of my enjoyment came from eating very Italian the whole trip.  We would eat a croissant and a cappuccino for breakfast, pasta for lunch, and pizza for dinner.  Yum! :)  It's surreal to me that I get to see things that I've studied in high school.  Now I'm here!  And they are even better in reality!  Sono felice.

"Vivo ed amo nella peculiare luce di Dio." ~ Michelangelo (I live and love in God's peculiar light.)