There aren't enough words to describe my amazing day in this city. But first, more about last night. I basically had an amazing time, just hanging out with my friends after a home cooked meal of ziti by Giovanni, which was wonderful. I can now say I have friends from Germany, Japan, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and Brazil! Talk about a hodge-podge of people! It was just so interesting being able to talk to people from all over and get their perspectives on life. We talked about so many different things from politics and the balkan war to reality TV and whether "It's always Sunny in Philadelphia" and "The Jersey Shore" are accurate portrayals of the real like in America. It's almost sad that they believed that was normal. Anyway, I got up extremely early and took a morning train to Roma!
View of the Swiss Alps from the plane to Naples (I've always wanted to ski them)!
Giovanni and the two Australian friends
The World's Smallest Cup of Coffee on the train
When I got here, I decided I would go to the Vatican City because I found out the Vatican Museums are closed on Sunday because that's when the Pope addresses the Crowd in Saint Peter's Square! So after checking in to my hostel, I headed to the Vatican City and stopped to see the Spanish Steps on the way-- there are 131 steps to be exact (I did a lottttt of climbing and power walking through the city today)! I got into the Vatican museums without having to do the 1 hour wait to get in because I pre-booked my ticket. I spent about three hours wandering around the 7 km long complex, just being completely amazed by everything I saw. Lets be serious: I'm adding pictures because they're pretty and all, but in actual reality there is absolutely nothing that equates to seeing this stuff in person- basically every inch of space has frescoes over it, everything is a piece of art. If you were to spend one minute looking at every piece of art in the entire Vatican Museum, you would be there for twelve year - real statistic, I promise.
All 131 Spanish Steps!
View of Saint Peter's Square
One of the many gorgeous ceilings in the Vatican Museum
The Sistine Chapel was absolutely breathtaking (I must say, it was nice spending an extra five euros and buying the audioguide for the museum complex, because it tells you so many minute awesome details about the artwork, especially in the Chapel).
I then left the chapel and went to Saint Peter's Square and Saint Peter's Basilica. I must say, I wasn't sure the hour long line to get through security would be worth it, but as soon as I stepped inside the entrance I literally was in awe. And I'm not using the term in awe loosely either. It was so overwhelming, words don't do any of it justice. It was just amazing. and I also got to see the tomb of Saint Peter - yes they found his remains- how amazing is that? and then I decided to go to the Dome of the Basilica and save an extra two euro and just climb all the steps - ALLL 534 of them to the top!! I'm not going to lie, I'm surprised I made it. It was so worth it, even despite the feeling of lack of oxygen due to very little ventilation and stairways so narrow I could barely get through. When I reached the last step, I finally figured out why it was so worth it. The view was absolutely gorgeous!
La Pieta inside of Saint Peter's Basilica
View from the Dome of the Basilica
After the Basilica I headed to Piazza Nuova, saw the Elefantino, the overwhelming Pantheon (largest unreinforced concrete dome in the world), the Trevi Fountains (and of course I threw a coin in so I WILL be coming BACK)! I finally got back to my hostel and changed into some nicer clothes and had a great dinner (I couldn't even tell you what it actually was, but it was so good I ate every bite) which is reassuring because I forgot to eat lunch!
The Dome of the Pantheon
Raphael's tomb in the Pantheon
Elefantino
Coin into the Trevi Fountain!
After dinner I headed to the Colosseum to see what it looked like at night (and it was AWESOME - see below)! I can't wait to do more exploring of the historical section tomorrow!
The Coliseum and the Arch of Augustus
But my awesome Lizzie McGuire Movie elevator to take with my heavy bags!
Til imorgen!!
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