Rome was an absolutely beautiful city, but I found it even more special because I got to be there with my family. It was so great to see them, and even though I haven't been exactly homesick, I have really missed them. If only they could have brought my puppy...
March 27th, 2014 (Thursday)
My flight out of Luxembourg didn't leave until later at night, so by the time I flew to Zurich, got on my connecting flight to Rome, and got a taxi to the hotel my parents had booked in Rome, it was pretty late (but still before midnight, so I was able to wish my dad a happy birthday!). Thursday was pretty uneventful except for eating about 30 Girl Scout cookies when I got to the hotel because I hadn't had dinner (or Girl Scout cookies...they don't have those in Europe!) I showered and fell right asleep because I knew we would have a very long day ahead of us in the morning!
March 28th, 2014 (Friday)
My parents, Ben, and I grabbed a quick breakfast before heading out to meet our tour group at around 9:30am on Friday. My parents had arranged a five-hour tour of the Roman Forum and the Colosseum. I was a bit nervous about being on a tour for five hours since I don't usually like guided tours, but I was so happy we did it. Our tour guide was extremely knowledgeable, and I got way more out of the Forum and Colosseum than I would have had I just gone on my own. The Forum contains ruins from a bunch of temples, churches, monuments, walls, etc. from thousands of years ago. Our guide told us the legend of Romulus, the man who founded Rome, as well as educating us on all the temples built for the gods, including Jupiter and Saturn, and how the vestal virgins were in charge of making sure a fire in one of the temples was constantly lit. We saw several Arcs of Triumphs (I have no idea if that's the correct plural), which were constructed in honor of men who had completed a certain number of triumphs (a triumph equalled killing 5,000 people, so if you had five triumphs, you had killed 25,000 people). Then, we headed toward Palatine Hill, where we climbed to the top and looked out at the city. We also saw the remains of some hut villages the ancient Romans used to live in.
March 27th, 2014 (Thursday)
My flight out of Luxembourg didn't leave until later at night, so by the time I flew to Zurich, got on my connecting flight to Rome, and got a taxi to the hotel my parents had booked in Rome, it was pretty late (but still before midnight, so I was able to wish my dad a happy birthday!). Thursday was pretty uneventful except for eating about 30 Girl Scout cookies when I got to the hotel because I hadn't had dinner (or Girl Scout cookies...they don't have those in Europe!) I showered and fell right asleep because I knew we would have a very long day ahead of us in the morning!
March 28th, 2014 (Friday)
My parents, Ben, and I grabbed a quick breakfast before heading out to meet our tour group at around 9:30am on Friday. My parents had arranged a five-hour tour of the Roman Forum and the Colosseum. I was a bit nervous about being on a tour for five hours since I don't usually like guided tours, but I was so happy we did it. Our tour guide was extremely knowledgeable, and I got way more out of the Forum and Colosseum than I would have had I just gone on my own. The Forum contains ruins from a bunch of temples, churches, monuments, walls, etc. from thousands of years ago. Our guide told us the legend of Romulus, the man who founded Rome, as well as educating us on all the temples built for the gods, including Jupiter and Saturn, and how the vestal virgins were in charge of making sure a fire in one of the temples was constantly lit. We saw several Arcs of Triumphs (I have no idea if that's the correct plural), which were constructed in honor of men who had completed a certain number of triumphs (a triumph equalled killing 5,000 people, so if you had five triumphs, you had killed 25,000 people). Then, we headed toward Palatine Hill, where we climbed to the top and looked out at the city. We also saw the remains of some hut villages the ancient Romans used to live in.
After lunch, we began the second half of our tour, which was at the Colosseum. The Colosseum was a lot bigger than I had expected it to be, and it was amazing to see how intact it still was over so many thousands of years. It was really interesting to hear about the games and events that went on there, and one of my favorite parts was seeing graffiti that was carved into the marble seats by spectators. People drew pictures of animals, names, and their favorite athletes. I could have stayed there a lot longer, but our tour ended at around 4pm, and we wanted to go to the Trevi Fountain. We did some walking around and found the Italian president's palace on the way to the fountain. The Trevi Fountain ended up being probably my favorite thing we saw in Rome. It was huge and absolutely gorgeous. The water was so blue, the statues so immaculate. There were hundreds and hundreds of people there, which, in my opinion, only added to the wonder. Of course, my family and I threw our coins in (American coins and euro coins) to symbolize our return to Rome (however, upon further research, I have discovered we did not throw our coins in properly, but I think the universe understood our intent and will arrange for us to return anyway).
Once we left the fountain, we did a quick run-through of the Pantheon and an artist's plaza, where we saw so many different kinds of art including handmade crafts, paintings, spray painting, and prints. Starving, we headed out to a nice restaurant recommended to us by our guide for a belated birthday dinner for my dad. Of course, my mom brought the (in)famous Birthday Hat, a tradition my family has (and by family, I mean our whole family...the Clarks, Bennetts, Tiptons, Bartels, everyone) where whoever's birthday it is must wear the hat during cake, dinner, and presents. A little embarrassed while the waiters played "happy birthday" in Italian, my dad did get tiramisu with a candle out of it. Since the drinking age in Europe is sixteen, Ben and I got to have some wine with dinner (Ben REALLY liked the wine). Very full and even more satisfied, we headed back to the Colosseum after dinner to see it lit up at night, before getting a little sidetracked on our way back to the hotel and stopping by some more ruins, these of the Temple of Mars. It was a perfect first day, and I couldn't be more excited for our second full day.
March 29th/30th, 2014 (Saturday/Sunday)
On our last full day, my parents arranged for another tour of The Vatican, which I was very excited for. Our guide, once again, was so great, and you could tell he was really passionate about the art and religious aspects of the churches and museums inside the Vatican (which is it's own country, by the way....how cool is that Rome has it's own country inside of it?). We saw all kinds of paintings and sculptures including works by Giotto, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Caravaggio. It was so cool seeing things I'd studied in my art history class in person. There were even several rooms, called "Raphael rooms," that included paintings done exclusively by Raphael, including "School of Athens," one of my favorite paintings. We saw the Sistine Chapel, which was my favorite part of the tour. I absolutely loved how the paintings of the creation of the world on the ceiling were juxtaposed by the last judgment painted on the wall over the entrance to the chapel. We then toured St. Peter's basilica, saw the tombs of several deceased popes, The Holy Door, Pieta by Michelangelo, and mosaic recreations of famous paintings, including Transfiguration by Raphael (there are no paintings inside St. Peter's, only mosaic recreations). After our tour, we took the metro to get to the Spanish Stairs, which were pretty cool. There were so many people, and none of us actually knew why they were famous, but we climbed them anyway and had a gorgeous view from the top. We didn't stay long because we were getting tired, so we went back to the area near the hotel. My dad took a nap while Ben, my mom, and I went to Il Vittoriano, a museum near our hotel. There was a really cool costume exhibit we looked at before climbing up to the observation deck and watched the sunset. We stayed up for about twenty minutes before going back to get my dad and grab dinner. We then went back to the Trevi Fountain, since we wanted to see it at night. I liked it even better at night than during the day. On our way back to the hostel, we got some gelato, and then called it a night.
On our last full day, my parents arranged for another tour of The Vatican, which I was very excited for. Our guide, once again, was so great, and you could tell he was really passionate about the art and religious aspects of the churches and museums inside the Vatican (which is it's own country, by the way....how cool is that Rome has it's own country inside of it?). We saw all kinds of paintings and sculptures including works by Giotto, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Caravaggio. It was so cool seeing things I'd studied in my art history class in person. There were even several rooms, called "Raphael rooms," that included paintings done exclusively by Raphael, including "School of Athens," one of my favorite paintings. We saw the Sistine Chapel, which was my favorite part of the tour. I absolutely loved how the paintings of the creation of the world on the ceiling were juxtaposed by the last judgment painted on the wall over the entrance to the chapel. We then toured St. Peter's basilica, saw the tombs of several deceased popes, The Holy Door, Pieta by Michelangelo, and mosaic recreations of famous paintings, including Transfiguration by Raphael (there are no paintings inside St. Peter's, only mosaic recreations). After our tour, we took the metro to get to the Spanish Stairs, which were pretty cool. There were so many people, and none of us actually knew why they were famous, but we climbed them anyway and had a gorgeous view from the top. We didn't stay long because we were getting tired, so we went back to the area near the hotel. My dad took a nap while Ben, my mom, and I went to Il Vittoriano, a museum near our hotel. There was a really cool costume exhibit we looked at before climbing up to the observation deck and watched the sunset. We stayed up for about twenty minutes before going back to get my dad and grab dinner. We then went back to the Trevi Fountain, since we wanted to see it at night. I liked it even better at night than during the day. On our way back to the hostel, we got some gelato, and then called it a night.
After getting about five hours of sleep (thanks to daylight savings), we got up early Sunday morning so my family could walk to me to the train station, where they had to activate their train tickets to Cinque Terre and Venice and I had to catch a shuttle to the Rome airport, where I flew to Frankfurt, had a five hour layover, and then flew back to Lux. Overall, it was a wonderful weekend with the best family I could ask for, and I can't wait to show them around Lux and Bettembourg this upcoming weekend!