Roman Holiday

Eventually our night train rolled into Rome at 6am, and we went off to find our hostel, the Hotel Barry. This hostel had a great location, right in the heart of Rome and next to the train station, so perfect for us! The only problem was we got there too early, so the hotel wouldn't let us in. It wasn't really even a hotel/ hostel it was 5 rooms which held about 4 to 6 persons per room with 2 bathrooms and one shower. Anyways, they wouldn't let us in yet, so we fell asleep in the hallway outside once again like hobos. Around 7am they let us in, and by in I mean we got to sit in the hallway now inside the hotel, opposed to outside. We also got to shower and put our stuff into a storage room, so we wouldn't have to worry about until later that afternoon when we checked in.

Once we were all clean and feeling a bit more awake, we decided it only seemed right to go to mass at the Vatican since it was after all Palm Sunday. We took the metro, which only has 2 lines and went the wrong way. Then, we got back on the metro and finally made it to the Vatican. Before we could get in, we had to have our purses searched by security. The Vatican is huge. It is gorgeous. It is breathtaking. There were so many people there, I could only imagine what it was like on Easter; I'm sure it was packed. We pushed our way as close to the front as we could get, really not that close with thousands of other people present. Despite all the others, we were still able to see the Pope and listen to him give mass for 3 hours. After the three hour mark and mass still wasn't over, we had to sit down. The sun was beating down on us and we hadn't had anything to eat yet, so we were in quite the state. We left saying our prayers, I got some palm leaves for donating to the scouts, and we found ourselves lunch as some restaurant nearby.

Christy, Kelly, Katie, and I at the Vatican!

Palm Sunday Mass

The Pope

 After lunch, we went to the Colosseum to meet up with Casey and Elisa, only to find out they had already done it. Since Christy wanted a guided tour, we signed up for some tour with a dodgy tour guide, despite the fact that the Colosseum was free this day. Nevertheless, we saw the Colosseum, its truly amazing how these structures have survived the tests of time.

Colosseum

Inside the Colosseum

Katie, Janice, Christy, and Kelly inside the Colosseum

 We were given a 45minute break to keep looking at the Colosseum before we were to meet up with our tour guide to view the Forum Baths. In that time, we continued looking at the Colosseum, then met up with Casey and Elisa. After a reunion, we went back to meet up with our tour group to find no one! So, we went to the baths ourselves to realize we had been scammed and our guide had peaced out after the Colosseum. Rough, but the Baths were cool until it began to rain, so we left.

Arch

Inside the Forum Baths

 By the time we got out of the Baths, it was sunny out again, so we just walked down the street to the Museo Centrale del Risorgimento. Then, we walked back to our hostel to officially check-in and just sit for a while. This is where we met Joe, Joe was sharing a room with Christy, Kelly, and I. He was traveling by himself, so ended up joining us for dinner and on a few excursions around the city. Once we were all situated, we went to the Spanish steps, the Trevi Fountain (where I made a wish), and then to dinner. Dinner was like all meals in Italy, delicious! I had pasta. SO GOOD! After dinner, we went out for gelatto and stumbled upon a Pinocchio store and the Pantheon. Its funny what you find when you're looking for something else and when you are looking for something in particular you can never seem to find it! Once we had passed by a few more monuments, we made it to the hotel and went to sleep.

Museo Centrale del Risorgimento

Spanish Steps

Trevi Fountain

Pinocchio

 The next morning (April 18th) we got up, showered, and went in the direction of the Vatican Museum. Before we did anything too strenuous though, we started our day by eating lunch. Then, we had some sketchy tour guide get us to the front of the 4 hour line and we went and toured the Sistine Chapel. Since Christy had already seen it in high school she refrained, instead just sat in the Basilica Square, where mass had taken place the day before. The Vatican is gigantic! And the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel while breathtaking is ruined by being rushed through the room by Vatican Museum staff and thousands of others pushing their way through to properly view the ceiling.

weird globe in the middle of Vatican gardens

Rodin's The Thinker

Sistine Chapel Ceiling

Sistine Chapel Ceiling

Bronze statue of Hercules

 After the museum, we met up with Christy and took the metro to Piazzo where we got gelatto. Then we walked in search of the Pantheon, and whilst lost we stumbled upon Gelatti (the gelatto place we had been trying to find with over 70 different kinds of gelatto!). It was so great. If any of you ever get to Rome, go to Gelatti. Its worth the trip, believe me! NOM NOM NOM

Piazzo

After our little gelatto stops we visited the inside of the Pantheon. From there, we walked to the Republicca where a bird took a shit on me. That's supposed to be good luck, right? Well it happened, whether I like it or not. From the Republicca, we returned to the hotel where Joe was napping. Whoops! He then decided to join us for dinner in some back alley that he had discovered, turns out it had some of the best food ever as well. Once dinner had ended, a few of us decided to walk to the Colosseum to see it at night. Worth it. Then, we walked back to the hotel, packed, and went to sleep.

Partheon

Republicca

Colosseum at night