Ciao Rome!

This past weekend I went to Rome with 6 other girls from the BCA program. What an adventure. It's so wild to think that one of the long-awaited trips is already over! We had a great time walking the streets of Rome, getting caught in the rain, sleeping in a hostel and enjoying one other's company!

I heard mixed reviews of Rome going into the trip; but I was excited to make a decision about the city for myself. Although it is SO touristy, and I honestly think I heard more English being spoken around me than Italian... I thought it was buzzing, beautiful, and just enthralling. I threw a coin in the Trevi Fountain... so I should be heading back!

The first night we arrived we headed straight to the Spanish Steps and to the Trevi Fountain. I had heard great things about the Trevi Fountain at night. The piazza was PACKED but people watching there was half the fun. There was also a beautiful (and delicious!) gelato place right next to the fountain. It was hard to get pictures without tons of other people in them... and even harder to get clear pictures because of the time of day... but I did my best.

(Side note... I think something may be going wrong with my camera... and advice? I keep getting blurry pictures... not matter what time of day... flash or not... it seems to just be temperamental because sometimes my pictures are great and sometimes they're an utter disaster! Anyway... it's frustrating. End of side note, onto the pictures!)

The Spanish Steps... you can't tell that behind me there are TONS of people.

This place was SO full!

Trevi at night. Packed also. Good thing we like to people watch!

Gelato is everywhere. Seriously it's easier to find in the streets of Rome than bottle water.

Does it look great! I actually didn't but any from this place... you'll see pictures of cones I had later on. I did taste a friend's chocolate gelato from here though... man oh MAN it was awesome.

Back to the Trevi...

A coin for luck and a coin to return...I admit it, I'm not actually throwing it in this one... the real picture turned out really blurry AND a man walked into it. 

On Day 2 (well 1.5) we got up and headed straight to the Vatican Museum. The lines for the Vatican are notorious but we only ended up waiting like 15 minutes, which was great! Again... packed... but the highlight was definitely the Sistine Chapel... where I admit I snuck a picture or two. 

The Vatican museum is HUGE and has tons of different exhibits and courtyards. We went to all of them I think. We ended up spending about 5 hours in the museum! Never thought that would happen in my life! (I enjoy a good museum on the rare occasion... but it's honestly not a passion of mine.)

Anyway... pictures.

The line at the Vatican

I just never thought about turkeys in the garden of Eden... so i took this picture.

St. Peter's Basilica... don't rub it in that we didn't make it over there. Story to follow.

Courtyard.

ALL the hallways in the museum look like this. I couldn't believe the details of every square inch. Everything around you, from the floors to the walls, to the handrails, to the ceilings, had something exquisite about it. It really was amazing.

SHHHHH

The story behind this cone of gelato... prior to heading into the Sistine Chapel there were huge crowds EVERYWHERE and one of the girls we were with got separated. Phoneless, we walked everywhere and all took posts trying to find her. Finally we decided to wait outside the ONLY exit for her hoping she would eventually just come out. We waited there for two hours (and got gelato at a little cafe across the street) hoping to catch her on her way out.

We were pretty anxious (not only to keep sight seeing... but that we wouldn't find her!) only to find out she had coincidentally run into some other girls from our program and was ACROSS THE STREET two blocks down, getting pizza. We were SO relieved to know that she was okay and wasn't wandering the streets of Rome alone...but admittedly a little frustrated with our inability to communicate or use cell phones. Our hands were really tied and museum security couldn't/wouldn't help us find her because we're adults. 

Anyway... it's over... we're safe, (still have pathetic cell phones)... and at least I got a super yummy cone of tiramisu and menthe stracciatella (mint chocolate chip!) gelato.

Day 3 was jam packed because of the time we lost looking for our friend... but we got everything in and everything went smoothly! Day 3 visits included the Colosseum, the Arch of Constantine, Roman Forum, Palatine Hill, Piazza Venezia, the Pantheon, Piazza Navona and Campo De Fiori! What a great day (with of course, another cone of Gelato!)

The view, right after walking out of the metro station.

Arch of Constantine.

Inside the Colosseum

Again!

Palatine Hill

Looking out across the Roman Forum (Piazza Venezia is back there!)

Roman Forum

Piazza Venezia (and this was when we got caught in the downpour!)

Pantheon from the outside.

Ceiling of the Pantheon... we were sad that it STOPPED raining by now. It would have been cool to watch the water draining into the floor.

Piazza Navona

The fountain in Piazza Navona.

Me... with GELATO ( who knew!?) and Piazza Navona.

Last one. Piazza Navona. 

I bought a headband in Campo de Fiori in a cute little boutique (the old roman market... it's full of cute restaurants but had pretty much cleared out of the "market" thing by the time we got there on Sunday) Unfortunately... my camera was acting up and my pictures from there were all pretty bad.... it also wasn't all that picturesque it seems. Anyway... that was Rome!  

Ciao!