If I could say one thing about Rome it is that it is utterly overwhelming. It is a much bigger, dirtier metropolis than I was expecting, though perhaps I was tainted by spending time in the quaint, quiet, traffic-less streets of Venice. Either way, it was amazing to see all of the relics of ancient civilization around Rome. It is amazing the time, effort, and care put into the buildings by cultures like the Romans, especially thinking about them creating these structures without the modern technological luxuries abundant today.
I did however get very sick in Rome. We are still not sure whether it was something we consumed or someone we came in contact with, but Mary, Stepho, and I all came down with a fever/chills/nausea/vommitting mess the first night we were there, which sort of hindered plans from that point onward. Jackie and Jenae were fine, so it must've been something that was consumed or nearby before we met them in Rome.
Despite having to spend most of the late afternoons napping/running to the bathroom, I did still manage to see almost all of the things I wanted to in Rome. As Jackie and Jenae would say "I powered through that flu like a champ". Mary and Stephanie were more ill (Stephanie has since had to have her appendix removed in a hospital outside of Berlin!) and I just couldn't pass up the chance to see all of the very famous architecture and historical sights throughout Rome despite feeling under the weather.
We went on an ancient city tour the first day which stopped at such sights as Santa Maria Maggiore, San Pietro in Vincoli (with a very famous Michelangelo statue of Moses), the Colosseum, and the Roman Forum. We went back out in the evening (because most of us did not make it through the whole tour due to aforementioned mystery sickness) and saw the Colosseum again and walked to Trevi Fountain, which was probably one of my favorite parts of Rome! So beautiful.
The second day we spent at the Vatican, which is much more massive than I realized. We paid for a tour because there is very little information in the actual museums as to who the artists were and the history behind the pieces. There were some very famous works there but it was difficult to tell what was pillaged from other cultures and which pieces were simply Roman copies of Greek and Egyptian originals. Either way, quite an impressive body of artwork. The guide spoke perfect English which was awesome, he was born in Italy then lived in the states and went to school for art history and art restoration. Now he gives awesome tours of the Vatican. Though I do wish the tour had been longer, we could have stayed in the museum but we wanted to hear what he had to share about St.Peter's Basilica. The Basilica was stunning and I forced everyone to pay the extra money to go up into the dome (per Aunt Joanne's suggestion) and needless to say we were not disappointed! The walk up there was really fun, when you get to a certain point the stairs are encased within the dome so it is actually a slanted dome ceiling enclosing you in. And the view from the top was very nice, the landscaping in Vatican city is pristine, and looked awesome from the aerial view. We spent the evening in the Jewish ghetto where there were many more relics to ancient times and saw one of the fields where chariot races were held!
The next day we went back to the Colosseum to actually go inside and walk around. Then we walked to the Spanish steps, another Rome hot spot. Mary and Stephanie left this day after going to the health clinic and not feeling good, so I had to take the train back by myself (for 17 hours...) and spend a day alone in Rome because Jackie and Jenae's flight left early in the morning. I pretty much sat at a nice park with some ruins in it reading a book, not too exciting, but after a week of being sick I had little energy to spend going to tourist attractions again.
It was really hard throughout Rome to pick out what was actually old and what was new but intended to look old. The amount of excavation constantly going on was pretty cool, we walked by an area where they were uncovering ancient mosaic work. We were told during one of the tours that they are working on putting in another subway line but it will take over 10 years to complete because they could run into ruins or precious artwork from ancient times. I was really glad I saw almost everything, but I still missed the Pantheon. It was a good trip but Rome is not a good place for vacationing. It is something that I am really excited that I saw but won't be traveling back anytime soon because it was quite stressful and overwhelming. But a definite must to see once especially for any art or history buffs!
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