ROMA :) You really just have to go!

At the Spanish Steps!

Rome was AWESOME :) What more can I say?

We got there at about midnight on Thursday, after the hour and a half delay of our flight and the 45 minute drive from the airport to the hotel. We pretty much went to sleep right away. The next morning we enjoyed our free breakfast at the hotel and headed out to the Vatican Museum. After about an hour wait in line.. we finally got in. And it was breathtaking. The whole place is astounding. Every room is everything you would imagine the Vatican to be like. The artwork and statues are unreal. And the Sistine Chapel... WOW. At the top of the Sistine, the picture of the two fingers touching (I don't remember the name) is right in the middle. It is so cool to see it in real life. :) I have picture on Facebook of the Vatican. You should look if you haven't already! After the Vatican, we headed over to St. Peter's Square and Basilica. The Square is massive. And the Basilica is so high! And we climbed all the way to the TOP! It was a total of 551 steps.. but it felt like a MILLION. It was so worth is though. The view from the top of the Basilica is unbelievable. You can see the entire city of Rome. AMAZING. After the Basilica, we were lucky enough to meet up with Megan's friend Brittany, who is studying in Rome right now. She took us around on a little tour of the city! And we all got some REAL ITALIAN GELATO together. It was absolutely delicious. We stopped at the Spanish steps were Megan and Brittany went their own way and Candy, Maria, and I took a free walking tour. We got to see so many neat things and hear the amazing history behind it all. The Pantheon is unreal. And there is a real hole in the top!! So when it rains, it rains inside! There are even drainage holes in the floor! And we saw the Trevi  Fountain!! We threw in our coins and made our wishes. :) We finally met back up with Brittany and Megan and had dinner at a local restaurant called Dar Poeta. It was cute. And for those of you that like Nutella.. it is huge here in Spain and even bigger in Italy. At this restaurant they had a Nutella Calzone for dessert. It was awesome! Haha :) It was a super long day so we crashed after that.

Saturday, Megan traveled to another city with Brittany since it was not her first time in Rome. Candy, Maria, and I went to the Colosseum!! ABSOLUTELY UNBELIEVABLE. I am telling you.. if you ever get a chance.. GO! It is amazing. It was so cool to be in such a old place with sooooo much history. Gladiators really fought there!! And we stood in the same spot!! With our tour of the Colosseum, we also got a tour of the Forum. It is where the Emperor lived wayyyy back when. :) We spent most of the day soaking up the amazingness of the Colosseum and the Forum. After we were done.. we walked around the city some more, we went to the Trevi Fountain to get some pictures during the daylight, and went to one of the main plazas for dinner. We had dinner at a cute little Italian place where Maria and I had pizza and Candy had pasta. And then, of course, we got some more gelato. :) We ate it in the plaza while we watch a group of guys break dance. It was so cool!! After that we headed back to the hotel to call it a night.

Sunday morning we had our free breakfast again.. and then headed out to do our souvenir shopping before our flight home. We also got paninis for lunch! We were really trying to experience Italian food. :) We finally headed back to the airport to catch our flight.. only to find out that it had been delayed. AGAIN. We tried our hardest, but the delayed flight caused us to miss our bus back to Pamplona from Madrid. So.. instead of getting back to Pamplona Sunday evening.. we got back at about 7am Monday morning. I slept a little and got up for class at 1pm!! It was rough.. but I did it. And it was totally worth it.

Roma was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. And would definitely recommend to anyone that gets the chance.. GO TO ROMA. It is something you will never forget. It is a city where you really feel like history is REAL. You can SEE the efforts of the people that lived there soooo long ago. I loved it!!! :)