Let me preface this by saying I enjoyed Rome more than I expected. A lot of people told me that Rome was dirty, had a lot of pigeons and the men were always cat-calling women. Needless to say I was shocked at how clean Rome was, barely any pigeons, and I guess there were so many tourists, all the Romans were hiding.
By the time Robin and I started planning our days in Rome weeks ago, we just wanted to finish as quickly as possible. We picked out things that we wanted to do, and just put them into a list. We then looked to see if there were any tours that we wanted to do. The first day we did a three hour tour of Vatican City. We were so happy to have picked this tour because Vatican City is very overwhelming. With the tour, we were able to skip the line into the City. The first stop inside the walls was the Vatican City Museum. Thankfully we had a tour guide. There is so much to see, we would have been there for DAYS. The guide showed us paintings that she deemed important, and gave us explanations. We were also able to see courtyards, and hear the history of the city being made. While in the Pine Cone garden, we heard about the Sistene Chapel and how Michaelangelo painted the whole thing standing on a scaffolding. She explained some of the pictures on the celing, and how they were to do with the Bible. She also told us how he didn´t have room for some pictures, and that is why the stories are not all in order. The guide also told us about the Last Judgement. One person in the painting is a picture of the Pope at that time. There is also a picture of Michaelangelo in there as well.
To get to the chapel, we had to walk through a few really long halls. We got to look at tapestries and paintings of maps. They were really pretty, but I was more interested in the ceiling. One room had a ceiling that was completely painted, but it looked like there were carvings. The other room had a ceiling that was carved out. I could not take my eyes away from it.
We finally arrived at the chapel. It is so overwhelming. There are so many different paintings to look at, it was hard to take it all in. There were also so many people in there. I constantly heard the guards shushing people. We were also not allowed to take pictures, so that guards were going around yelling at people. I found a seat on the edge, and just looked all around, trying to focus in on some sections. Once outside the chapel, we went to go see St. Peters Cathedral. This Cathedral is HUGE. It was designed to hold 60,000 people. Since this is the place for pilgrimages, it had to be able to hold everyone. The guide told us that every 25 years a special door is opened. People from all over the world come to visit and ask for their sins to be abolished. They get to go through a special door that is only opened that year.
Inside the church was amazing. There were huge statues every where, as well as many paintings. It took them 120 years to build this church, but honestly after seeing it, I would have expected longer. Robin and I could not imagine starting to build something and never get to see the end result. Those people were very dedicated. It´s amazing to think about everything that was built so long ago, and they didn´t have any help. There were no big machines. It was all done by hand. I get the chills just thinking about it.
Our tour concluded inside the Church. We were free to continue walking around on our own, or leave. Robin and I walked around for a few more minutes, looking at some of the statues. We also went downstairs where the bodies of the popes were burried.
When we left Vatican City we were not sure which way to go. We also wanted to get lunch. We started walking around the area surrounding the Vatican City. As we left, we walked past these large columns. They were to represent the open arms of the Vatican City as people doing pilgramages walked through. It was hard to find a place that was not too expensive, but we finally found one. I got a pasta with pesto sauce, and Robin got a pasta with white cream sauce. She was very impressed by her dish.
After lunch, we decided to go and see the Spanish steps. We took the metro there. Right in front of the steps was a large fountain that people were sitting around. There was also a spout on the end with fresh water. Even though you can´t drink the tap water in Italy, there are fountains all over that have fresh water from streams. Let me tell you, the water was amazing! I wish I had known earlier that I could drink it. While at the fountain, I decided to spill out my bottle water (since it tasted so bad) and refill it with the stream water. Once we rested a bit, we headed up the Spanish stairs. There were so many of them, especially in the heat. The stairs are made out of marble. At the top of the stairs was a small chapel. We went in for a few minutes, but wasn´t impressed. It was a little smelly, and after seeing such great Church´s we were disappointed. On the way back down the stairs, we heard two little boys ask their parents the importance of the stairs, and why they were called the Spanish Steps. Their parents did not have an answer, and Robin and I were pretty disappointed. We wanted to know how the stairs got their name.
Robin and I did not know what to do after seeing the Spanish Stairs. We had a tour planned for tomorrow, and not much on our list. We decided to just walk around and try to find a square called Campe de Fiore. During our search we found the Fifth Avenue of Rome and the Fountain di Trevi. Let me tell you, the fountain is beautiful. It is in a small oval shaped square. The actual fountain is HUGE. I didn´t realize how big it was going to be. There are steps near it so people can just sit and hang out. Some people tried putting their feet in the water, but they got into trouble. We also saw a man allow his dog go into the fountain to cool off, but of course he got into trouble too. The only bad thing about the square is that it is built up with random stores. There were two gelato places, which was fine, but then there was also a souvenier shop and a clothing store. I wish the area had been a little less commercial. But that is Rome for you.
Leaving the fountain, we continued to look for Campe di Fiore. Eventually we gave up and found a cute little place to have some wine and cheese. It was on a side street, and very relaxing. My only complaint is that cars should not have been allowed down the street. Our table was placed in the street next to the sidewalk. When cars drove past, it looked as if we were about to get hit. Done with our snack, we decided to go back to the hostel for a bit. The day was really hot, and we had gotten an early start to the day. We wanted to rest up, especially since we were going to go to the bar in our hostel that evening.
All in all, our first day in Roma was very fun. I enjoyed getting lost in the city, and seeing what it has to offer. The old buildings are gorgeous to look at. I keep wondering how difficult it was to install electricity and plumbing in those places.
I will try to write about day 2 in Rome tomorrow.
Sammy xoxo
Robin and I did not know what to do after seeing the Spanish Stairs. We had a tour planned for tomorrow, and not much on our list. We decided to just walk around and try to find a square called Campe de Fiore. During our search we found the Fifth Avenue of Rome and the Fountain di Trevi. Let me tell you, the fountain is beautiful. It is in a small oval shaped square. The actual fountain is HUGE. I didn´t realize how big it was going to be. There are steps near it so people can just sit and hang out. Some people tried putting their feet in the water, but they got into trouble. We also saw a man allow his dog go into the fountain to cool off, but of course he got into trouble too. The only bad thing about the square is that it is built up with random stores. There were two gelato places, which was fine, but then there was also a souvenier shop and a clothing store. I wish the area had been a little less commercial. But that is Rome for you.
Leaving the fountain, we continued to look for Campe di Fiore. Eventually we gave up and found a cute little place to have some wine and cheese. It was on a side street, and very relaxing. My only complaint is that cars should not have been allowed down the street. Our table was placed in the street next to the sidewalk. When cars drove past, it looked as if we were about to get hit. Done with our snack, we decided to go back to the hostel for a bit. The day was really hot, and we had gotten an early start to the day. We wanted to rest up, especially since we were going to go to the bar in our hostel that evening.
All in all, our first day in Roma was very fun. I enjoyed getting lost in the city, and seeing what it has to offer. The old buildings are gorgeous to look at. I keep wondering how difficult it was to install electricity and plumbing in those places.
I will try to write about day 2 in Rome tomorrow.
Sammy xoxo
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