Italy - Week 4

This has been a week of transitions. We left Florence on Tuesday and made the long bus ride down to Rome. Our trip was extended because it took so long to pack everything onto the bus. 44 girls after 3 weeks in Florence - an excellent city for shopping - you can imagine how much luggage that would entail. We are staying in a town outside of Italy. Below is a photo from my hotel window. It's a rough life I live.

Wednesday we set out for our first day in Rome - and what a day it was! Our day started by braving the Italian public transportation. This was a bit tricky with a group of 45+ people, but Paolo, our fearless leader, made it look easy. We took a bus and 3 trains/subways, and finally arrived in the heart of Rome.We made our way through the center of Rome and hit almost all of the main sights. We started at the Square of People, checked out the Spanish steps, meandered our way over to the Trevi Fountain (see photo below), saw the Pantheon, the Roman Forum and the Colosseum. I think I was most impressed by the Colosseum. I have read so much about it and seen so many movies that have featured it that it was unreal to finally be there. We finished the day with a long and somewhat harrowing ride back on the subway. It had been a very long day and we were tired!

Thursday we repeated our travels into the city and found ourselves at the gate to Vatican City. Our day at the Vatican did not involve as much trekking around the city, but it was definitely an overwhelming day. First, we went to St. Peter's Basilica which was extravagant and huge. It definitely made every other church we've seen on this trip pale in comparison. However, I found myself thinking some decidedly un-Christian thoughts as I was being pushed a shoved by a lady and her young daughter who were trying to get closer to a very well-preserved Pope John XXIII. We also saw the Pieta by Michelangelo which was extremely beautiful. After lunch, we ventured to the Vatican Museum. I was excited to finally see the Sistine Chapel (or as some people incorrectly refer to it - the Sixteenth Chapel). Our group tickets had been purchased for 2 p.m.; however, we found out shortly before we got there that the Sistine Chapel would be closing at 3 p.m. for a Roman Catholic holiday. For those of you who have been to the Vatican Museum, you may remember that the Sistine Chapel is at the end of a very long one-way maze of rooms leading up to it. The entire way it was just crowds of people pushing and shoving trying to get to the chapel before it closed. It looked something like this - needless to say, I was very uncomfortable.


The last few days have been spent hanging out at our hostel in Ostia. I have my final paper which is due tomorrow, so I've been working on writing that (I know - you thought all I did here was travel to awesome places). Tomorrow will be our last day in Italy and it is definitely bittersweet. I have very much enjoyed my time in Italy, but am excited to travel to London for a week. I am also very excited to return home to my family and my best friend Moose! My mom sent me this photo today. He obviously misses me.

Until next time - arrivederci!