Roma!

For some reason I had really low expectations for Rome and thought I wasn't going to like it because of the two times we have traveled through there.  It was one of, if not the coolest city I have ever been to.

We left Friday morning at 6:30 by bus.  This trip was an included trip from our school so we didn't have high expectations since it was technically free.  We arrived in Tivoli which is a small town in the hills about 45 minutes outside of Rome.  There we did a tour of Villa d'este which is a world heritage site.  Surrounding the villa are huge gardens that put Florence's Boboli gardens to shame.

After our tour we went to a group lunch at Agriturimo San Clemente which was a vineyard and oil farm right by Tivoli.  There we got a really good 5 course lunch and tried their wines.


After lunch we went to the hotel and checked in. We also met up with Tiff's mom who had just arrived in Rome. That night we took a bus to another inclusive dinner and realized how huge Rome is compared to Florence.  Rome has a population of over 2.7 million where as Florence has around 360,000 people.


After dinner we went out to a local bar that Frommer's claimed had world famous mojitos.  It didn't, but we were able to watch a Roma vs. Lecce soccer game with all the locals.


On Saturday we woke up early for our tour of Rome.  We started out at the Coliseum which was amazing, then went to the Monument to Vittorro Emanuele II, the Castle st angelo, the trevi fountain, and then the Panthenon.  After our tour we had free time until dinner so we went to the Vatican.  We learned that Vatican City is only populated by 800 people and that there are very few times when regular Roman citizens are granted access into the city. Our plan was to go to the Vatican museum (where the Sistene Chapel is) and then walk over to St Peter's Basilica.  The line to the museum was so long and not moving that we decided to go to St Peter's Basilica since both close their doors at 4:30.  The basilica was absolutely breathtaking.  People were crying inside because they were so happy to have walked in it.  We also viewed the tombs of the past Pope's and there were still a ton of flowers and candles around Pope John Paul II's tomb which was cool to see.


After our full day of sight seeing we went back to the hotel to get ready for dinner and to go out.  We went to another Italian restaurant for dinner and after we went to the world famous Scholar's Pub.  Rome's nightlife definitely beats Florence's.  After scholar's we went to campo de fiore which is a huge plaza of bars. On our 
way back to hotel we saw a mcdonalds and got french fries which were another highlight to the weekend. 


Today we had til 1:00 to tour so we decided to go to the Spanish Steps.  Right when we got there a parade with a bunch of really cool floats started.  We assumed it was for Carnevale even though the Romans weren't really celebrating it that much.  Most of the floats had subliminal political messages on them even though it was all kids who rode on them.  My favorite one was the giant float of Hillary Clinton, they think she is really funny here, I don't really know why.

at the villa

part of the gardens

Kat and Tiff

 me and nikki

row of 100 sprouts

its an organ under the waterfall

Tiff and her mom at the mojito bar

coliseum 

 It rains wherever we go

 monument to Vittoro Emanuele II

 again

Trevi fountain

 Tiff, Hannah, Kat, and me. You're supposed to throw with your left hand for good luck

The Panthenon

Ceiling of the Pantheon

Inside the Pantheon

The guard at the Vatican

Where the Pope comes out

Inside St Peter's Basilica

Me and Kat at dinner

Part of the parade

The weird floats

Me and Tiff at the Spanish Steps

Hillary Clinton?