Rome, Round 2.

Hello everyone!  The semester is finally ending, and things are starting to wind down...or up, whichever you'd prefer.  Finals start on Wednesday, and I cannot wait until they are over.  I also just went on my last weekend trip of the semester--Rome.  But before I detail you on my little excursion, I'll give you a recap of the last week.

Of course I went to the Christmas markets a few more times and got delicious pancakes and waffles--so no surprise there.  Katie's family was also here this past week, and it was a great visit.  However, Katie's mom was a bit sick the entire time, so she was couped up in the hotel most of the time, which was quite sad.  However, I did meet up with them in Galway for lunch and dinner one night.  It was great seeing them, and I know Katie had a stellar time.

On Wednesday we celebrated Jessica's birthday since she was leaving early.  We got her a little caterpillar cake, ice cream, a card, and an Irish Writer's poster.  It was a great little gathering, and I think she was thoroughly surprised--which is good since I'm horrible at keeping surprises.

On Thursday was Jessica's going away dinner.  We headed down to the Front Door for dinner, and I had a Hoegaarden and chicken pot pie--both were scrumptious, and I'm excited to go back before going home.  She left early Friday morning and made it home safe and sound :)

On Friday Michelle and I went into town and did some shopping at Penneys.  I managed to get a few little cute things to add to my wardrobe.  Afterwards we said goodbye to Katie's family.  It was early to bed as we were leaving for Rome Saturday morning.

Our bus left Galway at 10:45, and our flight departed Dublin at 4:30.  We (Michelle, Katie, and I) arrived in Rome around 8:30 with the time change.  We hopped on a bus to the main station, and then found our hostel from there, which was really close.  Our hostel ended up being more of a hotel, and it was rather quite nice.  We went to bed early since we had to meet Liz at 8:15 at St. Peter's Square, which was completely across town.

We woke up, and took the metro to St. Peter's where we met up with Liz.  We grabbed some cappucino and pastries (which were quite delicious) and headed to St. Peter's Basilica for mass.  I must say mass at St. Peter's was one of my favorite parts of our trip to Rome.  The mass was in Italian, but I could still follow the general order.  The Basilica was absolutely breathtaking!  I don't remember going there my previous time in Rome, but am definitely glad I did this time--how many people can say they attended mass at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican?  Well I can now :)

The Basilica is home to many relics, sculptures, paintings, and tombs.  Perhaps one of the most fascinating sculptures at the Basilica is Michaelangelo's Pieta, which is pictured above.

We also saw many tombs of Popes that are located beneath the Basilica.  I saw Pope John Paul II's tomb, which was heavily guarded, so I could not snap a photo.

Outside of the Basilica is St. Peter's Square, which is a gigantic square where the Pope usually gives a blessing.  Unfortunately he was not blessing the square while we were in Rome. 

We then left St. Peters and headed towards some gelato.  It was delicious, and everything I remembered.  After we headed towards the Pantheon, which I don't remember visiting before either.  It's one of the oldest churches in Rome, and has a hole in the center of the ceiling.

The next stop was the Trevi Fountain, which was gorgeous as always. If you throw a coin over your right shoulder, legend has it you'll be back in Rome--it happened once already, maybe it'll happen once more.

We then grabbed some scrumptious cappucino and chatted for a while.  I loveeee cappucino, and it definitely is not the same at home.

After that we grabbed some dinner and called it a night.  We met up Monday morning for the Coliseum, and luckily it was a bright sunny day :) The Coliseum was great the first time around, and even better the second.  There were a lot less crowds, and you could actually get some decent pictures of the Coliseum and the ancient ruins.

After the Coliseum we checked out some of the Ancient ruins.  We stopped in two additional Basilicas that were in the ancient city.  The first was Basilica Damiano, which was quite beautiful.  The ruins were quite lovely, and it was amazing how much excevation is still occuring.

After the ruins we grabbed some pasta for lunch and then got gelato at a littler gelataria.  To our dismay, the gelato (mind you, small gelato), was 7 euro.  We were flabergasted, but had already eaten it, so we had to pay.  Michelle, Katie, and I split off from Liz for a while and explored the area surrounding the Cavour metro stop--which didn't have much.  However, we did stumble into the Santa Marie Maggiore Church, which was stunning as well.

Next we went back to the San Pietro Vincoli, which is where Liz had to give a presentation.  It is dedicated to Saint Peter, and holds some important relics--the chains of St. Peter.  The Vincoli also is home to Julius II's tomb, which was sculpted by Michaelangelo.

After Liz's presentation, we split off again.  Michelle, Katie, and I went to Barberini to meet my friend Andrew from elementary/middle school.  He goes to Tulane for architecture, and is studying in Rome this semester.  I hadn't seen him in forever, and it was great to catch up.  He showed us around Rome, and we stopped at the Spanish Steps, Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain, and Piazza Navona, which is where he lives.  The Trevi Fountain is absolutely gorgeous at night!

After exploring with Andrew we met up with Liz and some other Duquesne students at Scholars', which is an Irish pub they go to frequently.  It was nice, but rather expensive--and I much prefer the real thing :)  We all went our seperate ways and called it a night.

On Tuesday morning Katie, Michelle, and I went to the Vatican.  To our surprise, there was no line, and we got in right away.  The exhibition featured this season was Egypt.  It was an excellent exhibit, and there were mummies!

The Vatican features many sculptures of great significance.  Below are a few of my favorites.

The architecture and ceilings at the Vatican are also quite spectacular.  Here's a little snapshot of some of the beauty I saw.

We also entered a more of a modern art portion of the museum which featured many scenes of Italy and portraits of Jesus.  Some of them were really neat, and I'd love to get some prints.

After that we headed to the Sistine Chapel, which is one of Michaelangelo's most famous pieces.  I tried to sneak a couple of pictures...

After the Vatican we grabbed some pizza closeby, and also got a god view of the Basilica's dome.  Afterwards we wanted to go to Piazza Popolo, but the metro was closed.  So we had to find buses that would a, get us there, and b, get us back to Termini.  We eventually figured it out and ended up at the Piazza and Via del Corso, which is a large shopping area.

It was a great weekend, despite the rainy weather.  We saw a lot, and it was quite relaxing compared to our other whirlwind adventures.  It was good seeing Liz, and great seeing Andrew--it had been quite some time.  These next few weeks are going to be spent studying like crazy and packing.  There's only 17 days left here in Ireland, so I'm going to try to live them up--and study of course.

Peace & Love
Christy