ROME, you might need a small meal to get through this

Rome

Being so busy in Rome, I never found time to sit down and write.  Now I’m on a train to Berlin where I will be until I head up to Copenhagen on Friday.  Here’s my Rome Wrap Up.

Wednesday 20^th Day 1

Wayne and I got aquainted with the city and headed over to the ancient Rome area.   We checked out the Piazza Venezia, which isn’t ancient but rather a monument in honor of the first president.

 Colosseum was next.  It was pretty amazing.  The size of it alone is impressive, not to menion the impressive structure of arches brick and mortar work.  Part of me wonders what people were dong when these old things fell.  Hopefully they weren’t any where near it.  Also, there were crosses placed or marked around the Colosseum which is funny considering at the time when it was used, Christians  were persecuted , and also because such terrible unholy events took place in the arena.

We went across the way to the ruins and archaeological dig area basically to get baked.  It was so hot and poor Wayne was beginning to be sick.  The ruins were cool, but it was a long long day in the sun. 

On our way back to the hostel, it was necessary to stop for an ice cream cone at McDonalds to stop Wayne from melting.  We then had our nap time before doing a walking tour around a lot of the fountains and other sites that aren’t the Colloseum or the Vatican.

We ended our day with some amazing Gelato.

Roman style on newer buildings

One of about a million churches in Rome

Piazza Venezia

O hey ruins...

Typical

Gladiator you can pay to take your picture with

Old stuff

People wearing goofy costumes begging for money

Colosseum, spotted

This hat was just goofy

Cross that is just out of place

WAYNE TSE!

This graffiti is probably historic....

Bookstore inside the Colosseum

Inside the ruins

Map of the Ancient World

AMERICAN FLAG!!! WOOT!

Tourist trap to begin walking tours!

Spanish Steps

Our tour guide

Marcus Aurelius! Yes the one from Gladitor

The one side had very detailed engravings, and this side was slightly worn off.  The reasoning the guide gave didn't really make sense, so I'm not repeating it.

Old stuff, or stuff that looks old

Jesuit Cathedral

Pantheon

Looks like a small hole.... 8 something meters in diameter.

Rafael's remains

Trevi Fountain

Wayne making wishes

Gelato!!

Thursday 21^st Day 2

We woke up and got on the Metro early to head over to the Vatican. We wanted to avoid the mobs for tourists.  St. Peter’s Cathedral was huge and amazing.  The dead popes bodies around the church was a bit creepy, but I’ll get over it.  Most of the time when I was there I kept thinking about Angels and Demons. 

We then headed over to the Vatican Museum.  Wayne and I attempted to go through it on our own without any sort of guide, but quickly realized we’d just be walking by artwork without any meaning, and got an audio guide.  The Museum has so much stuff.  Not just religious art, but Egyptian and old Roman sculptures and pine cones.  The Sistine Chapel was really incredible minus that is was so touristy.  It kind of bothered me that it didn't feel like a chapel the way people treated it. 

That evening, we went to dinner and watched part of the football game.  The waiters had a fun time pulling pranks on me and Wayne. 

More random costumed beggers

O hey, a new country! Vatican City

Discrete speaker.... haha

Wayne Wayne Wayne

Security

Swiss guard

St. Peter's Basilica

Fancy Door

In the Vatican Museum, a Jackal

Oooo silly Pope adding leaves everywhere

Pinecone

Da Vinci's Tapestry version of the Last Supper.  The guy had way too many talents

Smart Cars... There were like 4 in a row ... but I failed to capture all of them

Escalator Wars

Our lovely waiter harassing us

Dinner and a football game

Friday 22^nd Day 3

Wemoved from Legends Hostel to Mr. Piece’s B&B which was a great life choice.  We could do this because Brandon (my big!) was meeting us and we would have a group of 3.  Wayne and I took this day to chill.  Wayne slept pretty much all day while I worked on my report.

We picked up Brandon from the train station in the evening and walked randomly around until we stumbled upon a gypsy festival!  (or what we think was a gypsy festival)  It was a ton of fun with lots of dancing and music and scarves. 

Just across from our B&B

Random old aqueducts

GYPSY FESTIVAL!

Brandon dancing like a fool

Work it Wayne

Saturday 23^rd Day 4

Basically, we did a whirlwind tour of all the fountains and anything of importance to see in the city.  Tons of walking but it wasn’t bad because we weren’t on any sort of schedule and just sort of casually walked around.

After the sun went down, we kept strolling around and the fountains are so much cooler at night.  We also made it to the Castle or Secret Pope Hangout and chilled in St. Peter’s Square.  Everything is just cooler at night, including the temperature which is a relief after a hot humid day.

On our way to the Metro, some statue

More excitement for the Olympics

This guy was amazing.  Had to do a double take to make sure he was a person

Brandon's favorite car

St. Peter's in the distance

People working out

For my BOTS crew, yes another News Cafe.

Trevi Fountain

Pantheon

Tiber River

Pinecones and a giant Dragonfly

Old Roman Toilets???

The Roman Forum

Back to the Colosseum

Piazza Venezia

You can have a dinner party inside of this horse. In fact, people did.

Chill time

'Why are they replaying the same game AGAIN!?' Because they love football... a lot

Tiber at night

Castle!/ Secret Pope hide out

HOLY WATER!! not really, but the fountain in Vatican City was one of the better ones.

Sunday 24^th Day 5

Wayne departed early in the morning L It was sad to see him go since he was such a great travel buddy.  I’ll see him back in the Cleve I’m sure.

Brandon and I then headed over the Vatican to hear the Pope’s weekly address.  As we waited in the square, random groups paraded in carrying their country’s flags and dressing in traditional clothing.  Very cool.  Pope Benedict came out and gave his blessing and then pretty much gave shout outs to different communities by speaking to them in different languages.  In English, he talked about John the Baptist.  After each language, that group of people would cheer and go crazy.

Brandon and I then just really slowly wandered back to the B&B as we had until 7pm to get to the train station.

BYE WAYNE!!

Latin America countries parading into Vatican City

The best tourist costumes ever

So many people

Hey Pope!

Big/Little Pic!

Secret Pope Passageway... that's not so secretive

Castel Sant'Angelo

Brandon looking fabulous

The Vatican

The Tiber

Big door, Little door

What we thought was the secret passage way door... but we were wrong

Voldemort Statue

This is actually the entrance from the secret passage

So there's this cool bridge that goes across the Tiber near the Castel Sant'Angelo with what Brandon and I determined to be the Passion.. kind of.  In reverse order from the story, we start with angels carrying the stick with sponge containing wine

Across this angel had the spear

Farther, this angel had the inscription above Jesus' head

Across this angel had the cross

This 

The crown of thorns

Garments

A whip

We couldn't place this, but it's like a podium

It  was so great to be able to meet up with Wayne and Brandon.  AXE Reunion European Edition was a success!

And in case you want even more pictures, here's Wayne's blog http://wayneseuropeanadventure.blogspot.co.uk/ Where more actual pictures of my face can be found.

Until next time!
M.e.