June 13th, ROMEing Around

ROMEing Around 

    I'll skip the details of my morning routine and jump right into the good stuff because I'm sure your tired of reading about me choosing iced coffee over a cappuccino, and if you're not tired of reading it then I'm sure tired of writing it. 

  

To start our excursion for the day we got on a bus to take a tour of Rome. My aunt, Edie, and I hopped on the bus and sat in our cushioned seats each taking a seat for ourselves so we could rest a bit. I had woken up early that morning and gone to bed very late the night before and my body was rubbing my poor choices in my face. I could barely keep my eyes open, yet I couldn't sleep because the whole hour and a half bus tour our guide was talking and talking. She had some informative information that was interesting but she just had such an annoying voice I was about to rip my hair out of my scull one strand at a time. I don't have a problem with accents, I actually find them especially pleasing to the ears, but our guide's Italian accent forced her to end every work with an "a" sound which particularly bothered me. Though, in her defense, I'm very irritable in the mornings if I'm not well rested and her English was very good so I have to give her that. We drove and drove and after about 30 minutes I gave in and put my Sony headphones on setting the volume just low enough to make out the information she was saying into her microphone while I observed the city. Rome is very unique compared to the rest of Italy in the way that it is literally built within the ruins. All the buildings are made out of brick and stone and still have markings from the origins of city that used to stand. It was seriously like driving through a museum. The rest of Italy have buildings made of stone and brick but are still a bit more modernized where as Rome they didn't even try. They just took the buildings that were there and moved right in. It was something I'd never known existed. 

We got off the bus, which my ears were happy about, and had some free time to walk around. There were two places my aunt was set on seeing: the Trevi fountain and the Spanish steps. We walked down the pedestrian reserved cobblestone streets and scurried our way to our first destination of the Trevi fountain. The Trevi fountain was extravagant and stunning, all in white stone sculptures and clear blue water full of coins, and also very packed. I gripped my cross body bag and camera in hand since this was a very congested area meaning a hunting ground for pick pocketers. We walked down to the fountain to throw in a coin and take some pictures. Legend has it the first coin you throw will ensure you visit Rome again and the second coin will ensure you find true love. 

 

 I decided to only throw one coin- my thoughts were this: if I ever am to visit Rome again then I will throw a second and take my chances, but there's no point in wasting a chance on finding love when I'll only be in Rome for a day! So I threw my coin and wished to return and later realized there was no reason to ever throw a second because I had already fallen deeply in love with Rome itself. Next we resorted to the Spanish steps which were not very extravagant except for the fact that there were a lot, though we took a picture anyways. 

 

 We stopped on our way back to the bus for some risotto pasta and a drink that consisted of champagne and peach juice. We had a quick lunch, and by quick I mean only ten minutes which is unheard of in Italy where every meal should take three hours, but we did it and successfully made it to our bus on time. We walked around a bit more and ate and shopped while I took some street photos, here's my favorite: 

 

We boarded back on the bus and headed to the Vatican,  now that I was a bit more awake the guide didn't bother me too much. Though soon we were outside and walking up to the big cathedral anyways so I didn't  have much time to get annoyed. We skipped the line that was probabaly 1/4 of a mile long since we were with a tour and headed straight into the Vatican museum. 

  The museum was absolutely stunning with artwork form Michelangelo and other profound artists. I was astounded. Our new guide explained that this museum used to only be open to the pope which made lots of sense once seeing the artwork inside. 

This photo shows the hallway featuring "The Gallery Of Maps". On the left and right sides there are maps painted of the world showing what they (the Romans)  knew geologically at the time (established in 1509) which was especially interesting since obviously America was not painted on those maps. They (and everyone else alive) really knew very little about the world and it comes to show how different the world is now and how far we have come. On the ceiling you can see artwork that looks like is going on forever but actually is repeating every several feet or so. Or so I think, that's just what I thought I observed. 

We moved on out of the museum into the Sistine chapel. The rules of the Sistine chapel are you must cover your shoulders and knees, no pictures, and no talking. Simple enough. I wrapped my body in a scarf to abide by the dress code and I was set. We walked into the large room and it was full of stunning and graceful artwork including the extremely well known piece showing the creation of Adam. I was admiring the art and respecting the rules while walking through crowds of people when I noticed something; talking, shoulders and knees, and on my way out someone even pulled out their phone to snap a quick photo. Even when the guards were chanting silence the chatter continued. Now I am not a very religious person but I do respect it. The fact that these people were not abiding by the rules in such a holy and sacred place that we were so fortunate to be allowed to visit was disgraceful. I was actually getting heated. They opened this holy masterpiece to the public to what? Get disrespected because they want a quick photo to show their friends or had to make a joke about one of the naked guys in the paintings? Can people not just put aside their selfishness to appreciate something so special and above them for just a second? I'm getting angry just writing this so I'll move on. 

We exited the chapel to enter the actual bisilica. I got my camera out since we were allowed to take pictures there and snapped a few photos. 

 

There's me below looking extra mindblasted by the crazy architecture above me 

 

Again, I'm not very religious (I will not get into my religious views on the interwebs sorry)  but religion does facinate me. The things people do for their God or beliefs is amazing and romantic. Even if I don't believe in some of the beliefs I can still see the passion in people eyes when they talk about something they believe in and seeing something so insanely artistic and thought out as this just comes to show what amazing things people can accomplish when they do what they love. 

 

Thought the church was mesmerizing, I did enjoy the museum more. Maybe because our tour guide had ruined it for me and the rest of our group. We must have had bad luck with guides that day since our guide that day before had been so good. Our guide kept rambling on and on with boring information about each little thing, nothing significant like the stories behind the pieces but rather just going on about what the art showed and when it was made. He went on for about 7 minutes each and let me tell you, this is a huge building. It took about an hour just in the church.  Regardless of that, his microphone wasn't working very well, his English was terrible,  and he could not annunciate if his life depended upon it. By the time we reached the end of the tour it was time to leave so we had no time to explore for ourselves. Though over all the experience wasn't very good but the destination in general was something I hope I never forget. Truly touching and special. 

We loaded on the bus and drove back safely while I napped. We showered for dinner on the boat and ate a nice, calm meal, exhausted from the day. Edie and I met up with the group after dinner to play a game of hide and seek which got boring fast but along the way we met two other guys that night: Jake and Charley. Jake was brown haired, shorter and a little scrawny (definitely a freshman) and Charley was blonde and a mamas boy, both going into 9th grade. Charley didn't really like us and we didn't really like him but Jake was goofy and was great at taking jokes and firing them back and grew on the group fast. Soon he was added to the group chat and a frequent member of our shenanigans. 

 Soon it was an end to another great day of exploring a new place and laughing the night away with friends. It's funny because when my aunt first told me that we that we were visiting Rome and seeing the Vatican, I wasn't very excited. I was interested and all, but it just didn't seem as exotic as the rest of the trips we have been going on. Though what I didn't know at the time was that Rome would end up being my favorite place in Italy and I would be dying to go back as soon I left. I closed my eyes, satisfied with my memories, and driftes off to sleep.