It’s almost going to be exactly one month since we’ve been back from our 3 month European excursion. Yes one month. So what happened to all the other countries I was suppose to blog about during my trip? Rome, Naples, Sorrento, Florence, Pisa, Barcelona, Valencia, Granada, Seville? Yes, I got ridiculously lazy and had ridiculous fun that I put blogging at the very bottom of my list (if there was a list of ‘to do’ on this trip). Needless to say, I miss Europe…a lot. I’m back in my parent’s house in Eastern Long Island, back to job hunting and catching up with people I haven’t seen for the past 3 months. While the job hunting is going a bit slow, it’s giving me time to organize my photos and catch up on the blogs I was supposed to be writing.
SO, without further ado, Rome. Rome was fabulous. A city full of ruins, pizza and pasta to fill my belly, what’s not to love? We also met some great people at our hostel, which is the best part about traveling – making friends from all over the world.
There’s A LOT to see in Rome. Too much. Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, Vatican City, Colosseum, just to name a few. All these sites were ridiculously crowded. It’s Rome; everywhere we went was crowded.
We were sad that the Pantheon was crowded. It was also going through some exterior renovation and was partly covered by scaffoldings on the outside. But despite all this and the ridiculous Catholic ‘adjustments’ made to the temple, it was still beautiful. I just wished there weren’t so many people there.
The Trevi Fountain was crowded with tourists throwing coins into its body of water. One coin to ensure a visit back to Rome, a second coin to find new romance and a third coin to ensure a marriage...or a divorce. Little do they know that the money thrown into the fountain is collected on a regular basis to fund various needs for the city.
No gelato stands or flower stands on the Spanish Steps, as seen in the movie "Roman Holiday". In fact, food or beverage consumption is not allowed on these steps - you can get a hefty fine if you dare.
The Colosseum towered over surrounding tourists unlike anything else in Rome. It was an amazing structure, and once again, we wished it wasn't so crowded in there.
And no trip to Rome is complete without a visit to the Vatican. We decided to dedicate one day for the Vatican Museum, and another day for St. Peter's Basilica. This wasn't our original plan, but after dealing with the crowd in the Vatican Museum, we were absolutely exhausted. And my only reason to go to the Vatican Museum was to see Michaelangelo's masterpiece, the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Apparently, no photography was allowed inside the Sistine Chapel and we, like good tourists, obeyed the rules...just kidding. We took pictures like there was no tomorrow.
Our visit to St. Peter's Basilica was a few days later. Despite the crowd, due the massive size of the basilica we didn't feel as cramped as we did in the museum. And because it's the epitome of the Catholic religion, it was heavily decorated.
After the Vatican, we took a walk along the Tiber river towards San Pietro in Montorino to see the Tempietto, an excellent example of Italian Renaissance architecture. I also had to give a presentation on this building for my graphics class during my first year at architecture school.
We were in Rome a little over a week, so we were able to take some side trips from Rome (which I'll write about later). We met some great people, ate lots of yummy pizzas and pastas, and drank lots of delicious wine. I didn't bother throwing a coin into the Trevi fountain, but I'm pretty sure I'll make another trip to Rome one day.