Roma!!!!

Rome was awesome! I really enjoyed all my activities in Rome. And, now that a friend has posted a couple pictures of me in Rome, I can now write about the experience.

Traveling was uneventful. We left Granada Friday morning, and arrived in Rome Friday night. On Friday night, we began our trip by visiting the Trevi Fountain. I will include a picture of me (with friends) at the Trevi Fountain. It was absolutely beautiful! And it helped to make me feel like I really was in Rome, and not just in another random place in Spain. As will be a common theme in this blog, the food in Rome wasn't spectactular. I was thinking back to what I ate in Naples long ago, and it did not compare, especially the pizza. After visiting the Trevi Fountain, we ate our first gelato at, according to Ashley(UT), is the most famous gelato place in Rome. It was very very good, as all the gelato was in Rome. In the pictures, you will see the same people: in the picture above, from left to right, is Shaz(also from UT), Jackie(Boise St.), me(Clemson Go Tigers!), and Ryan(Univ. of Massachusetts), my roommate. I will identify Ashley in a picture she is in. This, minus Ryan most of the time, was the group I traveled around Rome with. Also on the first night, we walked by the wedding cake, which is a memorial to the unknown soldiers and Vittorio, a famous person in Rome's history; we saw the place where Mussolini would come out and give his speeches to the masses; we saw some cool ruins, including a tower thing with an intricate continuous scroll telling a story on the outside; and last, we saw the ruins where Caesar Augustus was killed.

The next day, we began with a group bus tour of the city, where we were told a bit of the history of Rome. We also stopped near the Coliseum, where we walked around there and the Forum. It was fun to see; however, I remembered this area from my younger years, and did not feel the need to see it again in detail, so that was pretty much all of the Coliseum I saw. We then got back on the bus, and ended the tour at St. Peter's Basilica. At this point, I started the day which wins the "most walking in a day" prize. First, we booked it away from St. Peter's Basilica, and made it to Campo de Fiori, just in time to shop at the outdoor market. Besides touristy items, they had lots of fruits, vegetables, spices, and other cool street shops. Next, we booked it to a church farther away than the Coliseum, named Saint Mary of the Snow. The reason it was named this: a rich man had a lot of extra money, and prayed to God (in September in Rome) that he would build a church at the spot where it snowed. And, apparently it never snows in Rome, especially not in the fall. And, it snowed on one of the seven hills. So, he built a church there. It is a beautiful church. My favorite part of the church was a colorful, striking stained glass window at the back of the church. It may have been a bit newer, because there was even hot pink featured in the window. Another cool part was the outside; you could see old murals behind the newer facade that were really well preserved for being outside. After this, we tried to visit the Pantheon, which was closed at the time to visitors because Mass was going on.

Alright, this is getting long, so I will end it here and continue with the Rome post later. Hope this is interesting! Oh, and in this picture, to the most right is Ashley. She had been in Rome studying abroad last summer for a month, so she really helped us get around the city. You can see in this picture how intently I am concentrating on enjoying my wonderful ice cream.