Roma and Vatican City - 8/20/14

ROME, my lifelong dream. We started the day on an hour-long bus ride form the port of Civitavecchia to the downtown of Rome. The drive looked similar to my normal drive south to Corvallis on 99… except there was cacti. The hay fields, grapes and cattle all looked the same otherwise.

We arrived in Rome and passed through both roman walls and into the ancient city. Trevi fountain is under restoration, so there was no water and a bunch of scaffolding….

We walked through the downtown to the ancient roman Forum where we walked through the ruins. This part was cool… I cannot remember what half of the stuff was but I know there was a house where women had to live for 30 years and were considered goddesses. The women were in charge of keeping the roman flame lit that signified the life of the Roman Empire. If any of these women had sex then they would be buried alive because you cannot kill a goddess. There is your random fact of the day.

The next stop was the Coliseum ( MY FAVORITE). There are really no words to describe how magnificent the coliseum is, they just do not. The Romans are the smartest architects in my opinion building things with both looks, practicality and the ability to last for thousands of years. The whole coliseum is just mind blowing. I am a little upset that we only really had tome to run through and take pictures, but I will defiantly be going back someday. Go there; see it and you will understand.

For lunch, I ate the best lasagna I have ever had, drank Italian wine and enjoyed veal, potatoes and spinach. For dessert, I had the best Tiramisu I have ever had and the strongest Italian coffee ever. I was hearing colors after I drank it.

The final stop on the tour was to Vatican City. I thought we would only be able to go to St. Peters square but we actually got a chance to go into St. Peter’s Basilica (Largest church in the world). After a bit of a wait in line to go through security with a bit of entertainment. Some rude man cut the entire line into the basilica (Come on… its Vatican city...) and one of the English women we were touring with and her friends made a huge fuss over it. In the end, the rude person and his wife were taken out of line by security and were not able to go in. They deserved it, after rudely pushing the English woman and cutting everyone.  We made it into the Basilica with 15 minutes to tour it and it was breathtaking. Once again, there are no words to describe how large and magnificent the architecture and every detail throughout the Basilica are.