Last stop in Italy….Rome!

We arrived way late the first night, so the only adventure to be had that day was some quick late night grocery shopping…but I figured out how to use the produce weigher/sticker printer outer thing so that was pretty cool!

On our first full day we went to the Colosseum. When I was talking about Florence, I’d mentioned that the monuments seemed to just be plopped down amongst the city, well, Rome was no different. As soon as we came out of the metro station, all we had to do was cross the street and then we were there! We toured around the inside for a while. I like really old things, so this was pretty cool! In some pictures you can see the floor…and lack thereof. The area under the floor was kind of like the prepping area, like the back stage of a play. I don’t think I’d want to be back stage or on deck for those performances. It was kind of fun to learn that the understage area had to be unearthed 2 times. When it wasn’t being used for long periods of time, the area would fill up with water and dirt.   

View of the newer part of the city through the ruins

My adorable travel group

 Next it was on to the Roman Forum! Quick side note….we were tired….real tired. We’ll blame it on traveling with our mammoth bags. We went to the forum…but sad to say we didn’t see as much as we could have. This picture was taken from our moping spot. I’ll have to get it from someone else, but we have a great picture of the 6 of us sitting by this outlook, no longer even trying to smile for pictures. Rome was hot when we were there, it didn’t help our energy levels at all and at this point we’d been walking around for a long time. We wandered along for maybe a half hour more into the heart of the forum, the area where a lot of commerce took place. It reminded me a lot of the ruins of Delos, a Greek island, although there was a disappointing lack of lizards in these ruins.

This is our tired look out point

Day two was packed! We had breakfast by the Spanish Steps then it was on to the Bridge of Angels! I wish we could have been at that bridge a bit longer, look how pretty they are! We couldn’t stay too long though because we had an appointment with the Vatican! 

This horse was by the Spanish Steps....look at his cute ear socks!

Angel Bridge!

 In Vatican City, we went through multiple wings of the Vatican museum, the Sistine Chapel and then it was on to St. Peter’s! It was really nice to be in the Sistine Chapel. I found a seat against one of the walls (miraculously…. Seriously, that chapel was like a Japanese train at rush hour…not fun) and could just stare at the ceiling paintings for a while. I’m really not one to interpret paintings much, but something stuck out to me in the center painting in the chapel (the one of Adam about to touch the finger of God), God was trying a lot harder than Adam was. I thought it was a great lesson by Michelangelo, we’re not the only ones trying to make the connection, God is reaching out for us too. 

This painting had lots of animals, but the camel was the best!

St. Peter's Basilica

Si, me gusta ;) Love you mom and Haley!

 On our last day in Rome, we visited the Trevi Fountain and the Pantheon. The Trevi Fountain was so pretty! I loved the detail that was put in to all of it, not just the main figures. I made a wish…although for the life of me I don’t remember what it was. It was another hot day in Rome so I really should have wished to just go swimming in the fountain…but I don’t think the guards would have appreciated it. On our way to the Pantheon, there were lots of policemen and loud Italian men…I don’t know what it was for exactly, but what we thought might be a protest turned out to be more like a parade, with a long line of men just singing through the streets.

 The last leg of our trip was super exciting just because we knew what awaited us after all the travel. We didn’t quite know where to go for the bus, but with some help we made it just in time. The full Romanian crew met up finally at the airport (the two groups of two joined our group of six) and it was fun to do some story telling while waiting for our flight to Iasi. We took a little bus out to our plane on the tarmac. The airline was Romanian, so as soon as we got on board it was time to put our language prep to the test… oh dear. I knew she told me to go to seat 17…that’s good right?

Goodbye Rome, it's time for Romania!

Let's do this!

The flight was about 2 hours long and I got to talk with Jodie for a majority of the time which was awesome! I didn’t really know her before the flight, but she’s so great! She had joined our internship group late winter semester and I’m so glad she did, she’s such a sweetheart and I love having her with all of us!

And now, the moment we’d all been waiting for….TOUCH DOWN!!!!!