Rome with Brandon <3

  Rome, Lazio, Italy
Thursday, October 16, 2008

   Late wednesday night Brandon got into Florence.  It was so nice because he was able to stay all the way until Tuesday so we got six days together :-)
   On Thursday morning we took a train to Rome! Brandon had an extra eurail pass and really wanted to go.  In the beginning I was not that excited because I had already been and there are so many places to see but the closer it got to the trip the more excited I became.  I had not been in six years and there are so many things to see!  We took a eurostar train so it only took 2 and a half hours to get there (versus four if we took a regional train).  It was a little more expensive but definitely worth it.  We got to Rome in the afternoon and found our hostel.  It is a really cute place right near the train station.  It is a very small hostel with a lot of character.  It was strange because we only saw the lady who owned it that very first day, the rest of the time we had our own keys.  She told us we could buy a bus pas for the day for four euro and ended up using one for both days because we never validated it (the bus drivers are very lax in europe).  So we took the bus to the colliseum first thing!
     We sat down for lunch at a cute little restaurant right across the street from the colliseum.  The people outside the restaurants are very persuasive at getting you to sit there and our guy was especially so.  Brandon recalled how his business teacher said that Italians are good salesman but its strange because they are also really lazy, I thought this was funny because it is so true! After lunch we walked across the street to the colliseum.

Brandon's Photo of the Colliseum

It is such an awe inspiring structure and it felt unreal to be up close to it. We found a tour of the colliseum where we could skip the line and have a guide for the colliseum and for the palatino so we decided to take it. 
       The tour guide was very funny and he taught us a lot about the colliseum.  We were also really happy to skip the line :-) We toured the inside of the colliseum and it was crazy to think back to a time when it was actually in use about two thousand years ago! He taught us about the elevators they used to bring the animals up from below the stage.  He also showed us where the lions entered and where the king sat.  I thought it was so amazing that they had to bring the animals from Africa to fight!

Inside the Colliseum

After the colliseum we got a tour of the palatino from a really an energetic tour gruide from Australia.  I learned that the Palatino was where the first Roman tribe was found.  He told us the story of Romulus (where Rome gets its name) and Remus.  Romulus was the king, then there were two more Roman kings and after that there were four Etruscans kins.  The Etruscan kings brought technology that they had learned from the Greeks with them.  All of the emperors lived in the Palatino.  We toured around and got to see the Emperors house and where the sports were held.  We also walked into the room where the emperor would see other leaders and make negotiations.  Brandon and I each went up to the rock that marks where his throne had been.  He sat on it and I stood!

Standing on the Throne

Right next to the palatino is the forum.  We stood up above the forum and got an amazing view of the ruins.

The Forum

I had forgotten how big the forum was and was amazed by the many ruins. Later in the trip Brandon found a piece of rock just behind the fence and brought it home -we are convinced that we now posses a piece of the forum!
       After the Palatino we took a bus to see the Trevi fountain.  The trevi fountain is a lot larger than I remembered it and there were people everywhere.  The fountain is one of my favorite parts of Rome.  The color of the water is so unique and the large statues are so beautiful.  We each threw a coin into the fountain in hopes that it will enable us to come back some day (it worked for me the first time!)  We found a cute place to have dinner on a nearby street and got gelato by the fountain afterwards.  After this very full day we went back to the hostel.  I loved getting to see all of these things with Brandon because we both have the same enthusiasm about wanting to see and do everything :-)
        On Friday morning we got up to go to see the Vatican.  We took a bus early because we were told by our tourguide that there would be a bus strike from 8:30-4:30.  This strike never happened but it was good because it got us to all of the sites early and we did not have to wait in any lines!  We headed strait for Saint Peters Basilica and saw where the Pope is! This was our favorite part of Rome.

The Vatican

The building is massive and the Basilica has hallways coming out on either side to look like it is embracing you.  The square in the middle is such a huge and impressive square.  The Basilica de San Pietro is the largest church in Europe.  The entire church is ordained with gold and impressive structures.

Saint Peter's Basilica

There are many tombs for the Popes that have reined throughout the years.  The biggest tomb is the shrine for Saint Peter, which has a huge wooden canopy over it in the center of the church.  We really enjoyed admiring the church and also found a little chapel that was just for prayer and spent some time there, being thankful for our trip!  As soon as we walked out of the Basilica it began to rain and we were glad that we were not standing in the huge line that had formed outside of the Basilica while we had been in there.
         Next we headed for the Vatican museum and the Sistene Chapel.  We did not have time to see many of the museum exhibits but we saw many paintins and rugs (hung on the wall) on the way to the Sistene Chapel.  There was a huge crowd in the Sisten Chapel but we were still able to marvel at the paintings.  It is unbelievable that one person painted the entire chapel with so much detail.  I can not imagine working on the same project for eleven years, but it definitely paid off, the chapel is amazing.  The guards inside silence everyone every few minutes and tell us not to take pictures.  In true Brandon fashion we were sneaky and took a few pictures anyway becauses we really wanted to have them!  We found seats along the wall and just sat and stared at the paintins on the ceiling and the walls.  I can truly see why the Sisten Chapel is so famous because it is so beautiful. After the Sistene Chapel we grabbed some pizza at an paneria nearby (I love Italian Pizza!)
        After lunch we took the Metro to the Spanish steps.

Spanish Steps with my Spanish Boyfriend

  We had the rest of the day left so we decided to see as much as we could.  The spanish steps were beautiful and from the top you got a nice view of the Basilica.

Boat Fountain

There was also this really cool boat shaped fountain there too.

Trevi Fountain

The Tevi fountain was nearby so we stopped there again for a view of it in the day time and it was even more beautiful! 

Pantheon

Next we went to Pantheon which is the oldest building in Rome.  It is this really cool dome shaped building with pillars on the front and you can tell how old it is from the looks of it.  We stopped at a few other plazas on our way back to the bus.  We saw the government buildings there. 
         After taking a nap (we were tired from the packed day) we went back to the colleseum to have dinner.  We found a cute restaurant and had the place to ourselves for a while.  The people who worked there were very nice.  We took a walk and saw the building that has two chariots on top it was really pretty.  Before going home for the night we explored some more old buildings across from the forum and took in our last moments in Rome.
*To see the rest of the photos you can go to these links*
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2073054&l=dba75&id=35805139
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2073055&l=9ca82&id=35805139 (this one has some pictures from the chocolate festival too which is my next blog entry)