*Roma*

*memorial to Vittorio Emanuele II, the first king of a united Italy*

Last weekend I traveled to Rome for 3 days with my classmates Olga, Olha and Felipe. We had planned on taking an overnight train (roughly 8 hours) from Milano to Rome, but after we packed up everything and got to the train station, we found out that the train was sold out. The next train didn't leave until the next morning, so we went back to campus (after taking the wrong metro twice) and decided to book online in the future.

We got on our train to Rome and were thrilled that it was so comfortable and fancy. We paid a bit more for these tickets, so it made sense that the cabins in the train were so much nicer. Unfortunately, we were sitting in the first class section and were kicked out after about an hour since our tickets were second class. By this time there were no seats left in the second class compartments, and we spent the next 5 hours sitting/standing in the corridors between the compartments. I myself sat on the stairs of the train, so nearly every stop required that I got up to stand in the tiny train bathroom while people passed.

But, we made it to Rome and found our hostel, who had given away our rooms. thankfully, they got us other rooms in a hostel owned by a Korean couple. it was nice enough, with free internet and free breakfast, and they gave us a nice discount.

The first night in Rome we went to the Colosseum, just to look at it, and to look at a bit of the ancient roman city center, called the Roman Forum.

A new exhibit had opened at the art museum, and I snuck myself and my companions into it. The guilt of sneaking in tainted my time there, looking at an exhibition of Paul Gauguin's work. But everyone else seemed happy to have gotten in for free....
Next we went to the Tritone fountain, where people jumped in after Italy won the World Cup. Supposedly, the phrase "all roads lead to Rome" originated from the fact that all roads lead to the Tritone fountain, so you are supposed to throw a coin over your shoulder, making a wish that you will come back and it will come true.

*Tritone fountain*

The next day the plan was to get up early to go to the Vatican, but we didn't all get up early enough and were only able to see the outside of St. Peter's Cathedral. After this, we separated and Felipe went on his own. I think he was tired of shopping with us. We girls walked back through several piazzas to the Colosseum to try and get inside, but we missed the open hours by only about 10 minutes and were left to walk around the city and see more piazzas.

*St. Peter's cathedral, Vatican City*


*Piazza Navona*

We also saw the Pantheon, which is the best example of ancient Roman architecture and is still in excellent condition. The painter Rafael is buried there.

*Pantheon*

Later in the day, we toured an ancient Roman house, which was discovered underneath the church of St. John and St. Paul. According to church tradition, this is the house formerly owned by John and Paul, and is also where they and other martyrs were buried and was the first home church for believers in Rome. It was a really great find, since hardly any tourists were there and it was such an incredible thing to see. Roman houses were made of brick and had hardly any windows, but the murals and the floor tiles were still intact in several places.

*one of the rooms inside of the Roman house we visited. the figure with outstretched arms on the far right side of the mural is highly disputed-- for those who think that John and Paul owned this house, it is supposed to represent a (Christian) female worshiper, while others link the image to pagan symbolism, saying she is a worshiper of one of the Roman gods*

The last day there we went to the Vatican, but were only allowed to enter the Vatican Museums, which were very nice. They were all connected together, so it's actually like one giant museum with areas ranging from Egyptian museum areas to Roman, to rooms painted by Rafael, to giant tapestries, to a modern art area. All of these museums lead to the Sistine Chapel, which is beautiful but very overwhelming. People are supposed to be respectful and refrain from talking and taking pictures, but no one follows this. So there are guards shouting at people to be quiet and kindly reminding people to put their cameras away. The paintings are all amazing and incredibly detailed in symbolism-- which is even more amazing when you realize that Michaelangelo had never really painted before doing this.

*wall painting by Rafael, in the Vatican*


*Sistine Chapel*

After the Vatican, we had about 4 hours to try and get into the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. We ran through the city, only to find a long line to get into the Colosseum. I suggested moving to the very short "for touring groups only" line, where they don't actually check to see if you are with a touring group. Our 1 hour plus wait was reduced to only 5 minutes. The Colosseum was very nice, especially if you get an audioguide or tour that will tell you information about the games there. After this, we went to the Roman forum, where you can see the remnants of palaces and temples, some of which are surprisingly still fairly intact.

*me inside the Colosseum*


*Roman forum*


*from the Roman Forum, an old temple next to a new building*

*me inside the Roman forum, in the gardens behind the Palatine hill, where the emperors lived*

Then we left, took the metro to the Spanish steps (which are often featured in movies), sat, took a picture and went to the train station to come back to Milan.

*spanish steps*

The trip to Rome was the longest trip I've taken, but it was also the fullest, since Rome is completely packed with of monuments, historical and modern sights. My biggest disappointment was my camera. I took over 100 pictures, but during my visit at the Vatican, the screen said "card error" and when I checked later, only about 20 pictures were left. The pictures here are from the Internet or are from the 20 pictures I had leftover.