Rome Continued

Hopefully by the end of this post I will have completely caught you up so I am not behind on chronicling my days.

On the second day in Rome we walked to the Coliseum and spent most of the afternoon in the ancient quarter of the city. The Coliseum was in excellent condition, considering that it had withstood over one thousand years of wear and tear. It truly is a wonder of the world, I think, and the size alone was impressive even by today's standards. I tried to imagine what the scene would have been like when it was first being constructed, with hundreds of laborers, chariots, and senators in togas, and it was such a cool realization to know that I was standing where so much history had been made.  It really made me feel that I was in Rome.

After the Coliseum we walked across the road to the Roman Forum, which was the central meeting place and cultural heart of the ancient city. It was incredible to see so many ruins in such good condition; there were over a dozen columns, part of an aqueduct, a villa, and more, all mostly intact. I really enjoyed it as it allowed me to metaphorically go back in time and catch a glimpse of how the city would have appeared over one thousand years ago.

We concluded our day with a visit to the Pantheon, which was worthwhile but definitely not as striking as the Coliseum. Then again, I think most buildings would not fair well being compared to it. We ate dinner on the rooftop terrace of the McDonalds by the Trevi Fountain and then stopped by the fountain again before walking back to our hostel.

On my last day in Rome we took the metro to the Vatican, which was my primary sightseeing objective for the afternoon. As an interesting side note, Rome only has two metro lines and neither pass through the central district. I suppose that because the town is so old it is difficult to construct underground lines underneath the buildings. Anyways, we went to the Vatican and waited in line for St. peter's Basilica, all the while thankful that we were not part of the unlucky few that were denied because they were wearing tank tops or shorts.

As it turns out, they don't like certain types of dresses either because Ashley's was deemed "too short" and she was told to "step this way." Ah the irony. Thankfully I was still able to go inside and I spent at least half an hour wandering up and down the central hall and looking at the multitude of statues, frescoes, and side chapels. It is the largest cathedral I have been inside. It was truly colossal and a very impressive demonstration of the church's wealth and power. It was about 4pm by the time we left and started walking to the Vatican Museum. 

Unfortunately, the last admission to the museum was at 4pm exactly, so I wasn't able to visit. That was alright though, as I would have needed several hours to really appreciate it. Instead, we walked back toward the center of town, stopping to go by the Castel sant'Angelo and the sant'Angelo Bridge. I especially liked the bridge as it had winged angel statues standing as sentinels on top of the railings.

We stopped for dinner at a small street side restaurant tucked into a little secondary road; both ordered the special of the day, which included bruschetta, salad, bread, wine, and tortellini. It was a great finish to the day, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.