When Thou Art At Rome

"When thou art at Rome, do as they do at Rome."

-Miguel de Cervantes

As our days throughout Italy progressed, we decided to take a 3 hour drive to Rome. We woke up at 6AM, and by 7AM we were on our way. We were all pretty tired, especially so early in the morning, but the sunrise greeted us with the loveliest warmth.

Driving through the Italian countryside was peaceful and smooth, which was a stark contrast to the driving conditions I faced in Rome.  Driving in Rome is like driving in New York City, except add more pedestrians jaywalking, cars swerving in and out of nonexistent lanes, and Miley Cyrus blasting through the speakers.  It was a very interesting (read: terrifying) experience, so when we found a place to park, we stumbled out of the car, relieved that we were all still alive.

Our first stop was the Monument to Victor Emmanuel II.  It quite reminded me of a monument you might find in Washington DC.  At this point, the sun was a big ball of fire up in the sky.  To illustrate this point, it decided to ruin all of my pictures of the monument that I took.  But that's ok, because we all preferred sun to rain for our day in Rome.

Big ball of fire!!! (aka the sun)

We walked over to the Colosseum, which happened to have one of the sides of the façade under construction (ruins? under construction? I feel a conspiracy theory coming on...), but it was cool to see nonetheless.  I felt like a Roman walking on the cobblestone street, except I was wearing shoes, a luxury not afforded to most Romans at the time.

You're gonna hear me ROOOAAARRRR

 Next on our list was lunch.  We were so so hungry after walking around in the sun for a few hours, so we headed over to Piazza Navona  to eat.  *ANGELS AND DEMONS SPOILER ALERT* Of course, I was really excited to be in the same place that Tom Hanks/Robert Langdon go to at the end of Angels and Demons.  When I saw the obelisk with the dove on top, I felt as if I was on a real life adventure through Rome to find a cylinder of antimatter.  Well, not really, but it was still really cool.

Robert Langdon, Rachel Levine, hmm...

After satisfying our tummies, we headed off to the Pantheon.  *ANGELS AND DEMONS SPOILER ALERT*  Again, another location that Robert Langdon goes to in the movie.  I was having all sorts of fun running around and reciting lines from the movie.

Another obelisk!!

The outside of the Pantheon was a busy busy place, but Alison and I spent a while outside admiring the architecture.  It always fascinates me how ancient people built such grand monuments, chapels, cathedrals (basically anything big and made out of rock) without heavy, modern machinery.  The inside was equally beautiful, but of course, I ran straight to Rafael's tomb.

Santi's Earthly Tomb

After the Pantheon, we took a quick walk over to the Fountain of Trevi.  Switching gears to The Lizzie McGuire Movie (not as exciting as Angels and Demons if you ask me), we all made a wish a threw a coin into the fountain.  Again, the architecture of the fountain was truly fascinating, and I'm not going to lie, I felt a tingle as I threw my coin into the fountain.

I wish for gelato!

The heat was finally starting to get to us, so we popped into a shop and got some gelato to cool off.  Obviously, all our diets were on hold for this trip; who can resist pizza, pasta, and gelato?

#foodienotfattie

Our last stop in Rome was Vatican City.  Since I decided that I was going to get a cap as a souvenir, Sidney suggested I get a pope hat.  However, when she said 'pope hat', she was envisioning a mitre.  I, on the other hand, thought she meant a cap with the picture of the pope on it.  Well, guess which one I actually found, and bought, in Vatican City?

POPE HAT

I'm not sure if the Holy Father would be too impressed, but he seems like a pretty chill guy, so I wore it around Vatican City to protect my eyes from the burning sun.

Vatican City, where Angels and Demons begins, was where our trip ended.  We sent a postcard to one of our friends (a devout Catholic), then walked back to the car, drove out of Rome (no easy feat) and back to the villa in Tuscany.

Rachel