Thursday, March 27 2008

We left Venice around 8:00 and got to Rome around 2:00.We weren't planning on hitting anything big until Friday or Saturday so we hung out for a little bit in our hostel and then decided to go exploring.It was raining when we got there, so Hannah and I were able to use our new umbrellas that we bought in Munich.Most of our day and night was spent walking around Ro We went to the Republic (plaza), bought food from a grocery store, hung out in an international library, and searched for a Hard Rock Café.

Friday, March 28 2008

Hannah and I got up at 6:30 to take showers and get ready for the day.We went to the colosseum frist and immediately signed up for a tour.We learned about the gladiators and how they fought in the colosseum.After that we went to the area where most of the Roman sports were held- Circus Maximus.It was the place where chariot races were held.We walked around until our second tour started of the Roman Forum.Inside the Roman Forumwe saw Caesar Augustus' house, the spot where Rome originated, and the city council.We were so tired and hot from walking around so we found a Pizzeria to hang out in to collect our energy again.After pizza, we set out in search for gelato.It obviously isn't hard to find gelato in Rome, but it is hard to find really good gelato.There were 2 gelato places that we heard we had to go to so we hit up one, checked out the Parthenon, and then hit up the other.Since being in Italy we had probably been to 8 different Gelatorias and none of them compare to those last two!After all our touring we went back to the hostel and celebrated Eric's 21st birthday.We met an Australian couple in our hostel that ended up celebrating his birthday with us.

Saturday, March 29 2008

We explored the Vatican City all day on Saturday and it was my favorite day spent in Rome.We first got in line to get in to the Basilica and then found out that the Vatican Museum closed at 1:45 and it was already 12:30.We were at the front of the line but we didn't want to miss the museum so we ran to the museum and on the way found a tour to take us to the Vatican Museum and the Basilica, and we didn't have to wait in any lines!We sat outside waiting for our tour to start and randomly Rachel Trampel (the girl we visited in Wales), and a couple of her friends walked right by us!We had no idea that she was going to be in Rome!I wasn't too excited to be going on another tour but it was probably the second best tour I have ever been on!Our guide took us through the museum and told us stories of the Pope, Raphael, and Michelangelo.She told us that if someone looked at every artifact in the museum for 60 seconds it would take 12 years to walk through the entire thing!She wasn't kidding, the place was huge and it took us forever to get to the Sistine Chapel.The Sistine Chapel was a lot bigger than I expected, it was so amazing!We took a sleeper train out of Rome that night.