Roma (part 1)

We are now in Roma. We were able to find our hostel really quick and headed out to explore the city. We started at the circo massimo (I haven't seen Spartacus so Greg had to fill me in on what it was used for).



Then we went to the palantino and the forum. The ruins were awesome.





We saw the tomb of the unknown soldier which was on a huge monument. I guess in Italy they take the ceremonial guard much more seriously than back home because those guys were carrying deadly looking AK's rather than the antique ceremonial rifles.



After that monument we went to the Trevi fountain where my camera promptly ran out of batteries (don't worry we definitely came back). Then we went to the piazza di spagna and the spanish steps. We went up to the park I remembered from last time my family went to Roma, and we sat and watched some roller skaters and roller bladers practicing some tricks in the street where a small course was set up with cones.



There were a bunch of those pedal car thingamajigs just like before, but we didn't rent one because we didn't want to spend the money. At the edge of the park there is a spectacular view of Roma, pretty much the pizzale Michelangelo equivalent for Rome. After the park we walked back to the hostel and went to a nearby grocery store for some pasta and tomato sauce. We cooked some pasta and afterwards met Dan again in the lobby of the hostel. We went with Dan to the coliseum and to the spanish steps, then back to the hostel for bed.

Our second day in Roma we woke up a little early and took the metro to the Vatican hoping to go to mass at St. Peter's. We ended up in a huge line but eventually made it into the basilica. Once we got in we accidentally went into a side chapel for mass instead of the main alter, although it still was an awesome chapel (just didn't have the beautiful choir). After mass we walked around the basilica and went to the Vatican treasury.



The treasury had some awesome reliquaries. My favorite were the sacred wood of the cross reliquaries which had fragments of Christ's cross on display. From the treasury we went to pay our respects in front of John Paul II's tomb.



It was really crowded as you might imagine, and we only got a few seconds in front of the tomb before we were told "avanti, avanti" by the guard. Oh yeah, we saw some Swiss guards too, I love their costumes, I mean uniforms.



The Sistine chapel and Vatican museums ended up being closed so we ended up going back to the hostel and cooked some more pasta for lunch. Then we went to the pantheon and the piazza navona. At the piazza navona we shopped for souvenirs and watched a clown perform a an act that was pretty entertaining. After the piazza navona we got some pizza and gelato then walked to the castle San Angelo. Then we took the via della conciliazione to St. Peter's square to see the basilica at night.



We hung out on the steps of the obelisk, Greg wrote some postcards while I wrote down what we did the past couple days. We got some cool pictures at the square then went to the trevi fountain again. On the way we overheard some awesome local music at a restaurant in a nearby piazza. The trevi fountain is by far the most beautiful fountain I've seen.



Greg and I both agreed we were going to have to get one for our own houses when we get older. After watching the fountain for a while we went back to the hostel where we got on then net and made a few plans for the rest of our trip (finding a hostel in cinque terre is going to be interesting). We met Dan who was also having a hard time finding places to book online and Dan, Greg, and I ended up going to a nearby pizzeria/pub. I tried a Guinness (I've decided I really don't like beer) and then we headed back to the hostel for the night. I hope everybody is having a great summer thus far. Thanks for the comments, I've been reading them, I just haven't really had the time to respond. Ciao!