I’m sure everyone has heard about the volcano that erupted in Iceland about two weeks ago, which – as you probably already guessed – is the reason my trip to Italy was cut short. Originally I was supposed to fly to Milan on Tuesday, April 20, and take a train to Venice on Wednesday, but all flights to northern Italy were cancelled. The next flight out of Sevilla was to Rome on Friday, so we had to skip our trips to Milan and Venice. I can’t complain though – I know so many friends who were traveling in Europe and were stuck without a way home for over a week. At least I was stuck at ‘home’ and at least I made it to Rome at all!
So as I mentioned, I spent my extra days in Sevilla at Feria, which was a blast. The weather was great and it was so fun to see a traditional Spanish celebration like that. There was so much to take in, especially the dresses. I couldn’t get enough of them!
Friday afternoon my friends, Alex and Jackie, and I boarded our flight to Rome and got to our hostel without a problem. By the time we settled in and ate some seriously delicious ravioli and gelato, it was midnight and we decided to stay in for the night. One of my best friends from Fordham, Annmarie, is currently studying abroad in Rome so we planned to meet the next day. That was the plan until Annmarie’s friend who had visited Sevilla with her in March called back and convinced us that we are in Rome and we need to go out! So we jumped in a cab to Trasteverie, a trendy part of the city filled with bars and restaurants. Our first glimpse of the nightlife in Rome was a blast and it was so great to see Annmarie again.
We woke up the next day a bit tired but definitely glad we took advantage of our night in Rome. The first thing on our list of things to do in Rome was the Vatican. We were easily talked into a tour of the Vatican Museum, the Papal Apartments, the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica. It was definitely worth the money to have an educated person tell us things we would have never known on our own. Here are a few examples of what we learned…
- The Vatican city-state is its own country. There are 900 passports from the Vatican and they have a birthrate of 0%.
- For years after painting the Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo physically could not look down because he did not paint it on his back, he painted it bending backwards.
- There was much animosity towards Michelangelo when chosen by the Pope to paint the chapel out of jealous, but Michelangelo didn’t want to do it either – he was a self-proclaimed sculptor.
Photos are not allowed to be taken in the Sistine Chapel so I don’t have anything to show for going, but I can say it was one of the most beautiful places I have been in. When you first walk in there is so much to see, but somehow it’s not overwhelming. There is so much detail to take in that you need more than a few minutes to observe all of the beautiful art. My favorite was the panel of the creation of Adam. Also, I think the fact that pictures weren’t allowed to be taken only made me appreciate the artwork even more in person.
St. Peter’s Basilica is the biggest church in the world – although Sevilla’s Cathedral is not far behind! I loved walking through the basilica; I thought it was brilliant and so different from our cathedral in Sevilla. It seemed to me to be brighter and more colorful.
The weather had been fairly cloudy and rainy all morning so when we left the Basilica to meet with Annmarie, we were pleasantly surprised as it cleared up to a beautiful afternoon. Annmarie first took us to Piazza del Popolo, a popular plaza near a bunch of cool places. We walked up Via del Corso, which is a main shopping street leading us to the Pantheon, which is now a church. I had no idea that at the top of the Pantheon what appears to be a large skylight is actually a hole in the ceiling. Apparently it’s a cool sight to see heavy rain coming through the middle of the Pantheon.
After showering at the hostel quickly Annmarie took the three of us to a cute Italian restaurant for dinner. It was in Trasteverie, the same area we had been the night before, and the place was perfect. I had my best meal there – spaghetti carbonara!
Since we were already in the area of trendy bars, we headed back to a few of the same ones we had been to the night before and had another great night in Rome.
Sunday we woke up with slight headaches but excited to see the sun shining again. We got ourselves to the Coliseum in time to sign up for another tour, which might not have been worth the money this time. The Coliseum is huge and ancient and very cool to walk around, but I’m not sure we learned much that we wouldn’t have read about on our own, but one of my favorite facts (if I remember correctly…) is that nearly 300,000 people were killed during all of the matches held in the Colosseum, averaging 35 during every match.
All of that walking took a lot out of us and we were ready for another delicious lunch of pizza in a nearby restaurant, where we met an Italian man (who spoke to us in English…) but was also a tour guide. He informed us there was a church around the corner, San Pietro in Vincoli, where Michelangelo’s famous statue of Moses is kept. We went there after to check it out, and like all the churches we had previously visited, it was beautiful.
Alex, Jackie and I then met up with Annmarie again at Piazza del Popolo, this time to visit the Villa Borghese Gardens which overlooked the plaza, and were quite large. We walked to the back where there was a beautiful lake where we relaxed for a bit. Jackie and Alex then headed back to the hostel for a bit while Annmarie and I walked around less touristy parts of Rome to catch up. We stopped in a few shops, and even snuck into the apartment complex where part of Roman Holiday was filmed!
We all met back up for our last dinner in Rome at a cute restaurant near the Trevi Fountain. We all got pasta for the last time and of course, finished with more gelato. I would eat pizza and pasta and gelato for the rest of my life if I could. When we arrived at the Trevi fountain Alex, Jackie and I were surprised at how big it was. The fountain is so gorgeous lit up at night (much better than at day, I’m told) and we a million photos there.
After our photo shoot, we relaxed by the fountain watching tourists come and go and talking. It was a perfect end to our last night in Rome and it was so great to spend the weekend with Annmarie. I didn’t realize how much I had missed her and seeing her made me really excited to see all of my friends from home and also to spend my summer in New York.
We did have a little time on Monday morning before our flight back to Sevilla, so we spent our time doing some last-minute souvenir shopping and visiting one last church (which obviously, was beautiful). Then we grabbed our last slices of pizza (so sad) and hopped on a bus to the airport. Needless to say, none of us were ready to leave Rome after such an amazing weekend.
Back in Sevilla, I spent the (shortened) week going to class and catching up on sleep because on Thursday after class, my friends and I left for Lagos, Portugal for our last trip of the semester. It was one of my favorite weekends ever, and I will write about that in my next post!
No comments:
Post a Comment