The Sites of Rome

So I am finally back in the swing of things! It is my second week in Rome and I have already visited the Vatican, Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, the Coliseum, the Spanish Steps, the Piazza Navona, Capitaline Hill, Largo di Torre Argentina, and the city night life.

Caitlin and I arrived in Rome with a little delay around 10pm. We got moved in and the next day we were off touring the sites of our apartment neighborhood and the areas around our school (displayed below).

We also went on a walking tour that week to the city center. We all got the ridiculously stylish tour ear phones and followed a professional tour guide on a walking tour- she was an amazing lady and would describe each site with such great detail!

On example of an interesting fact is that the Spanish steps are only called that by the Americans because of the Spanish Embassy down the road but in Italian they are called the French steps- this is because the steps are made on a hill towards a french church and in times of rain the parishioners had to climb this slope to get to mass and eventually they got sick of getting so muddy that they built these steps. They are actually the widest steps in all of Europe.

On Tuesday I, along with a group of five others, went to the smallest country in the world- the Vatican. I could write so much about what happened there but I will just make a list...
1. One of my friends was unaware of the dress code and was almost not allowed into the Vatican due to exposed knees but they let her by if she walked around with a sweater draped over her knees
2. the Vatican is the second largest church in the world
3. the Church has on display the bodies of 4 dead Popes, their bodies under glass but you can see that it is their hair and fingernails, only wax is put on the skin to reduce the decay
4. Inside the dome of the Vatican you can put the statue of Liberty comfortably inside
5. There is so much history from just a small tile on the floor to an angel in the corner of a painting that I loved it all

After we had mass at the Vatican (in Italian) we got a tour of the Vatican by one of the girl's in our groups second cousin who is going to Pontificate American College to become a priest. He also brought us to his college and we got a chance to go to the rooftop and see the most amazing view of Rome (above)

On Wednesday for my history class we toured the ancient city of Rome starting from the first buildings that were built up to how it formed into an empire.

Thursday after class we had a PIZZA and GELATO crawl sponsored through our school- it was amazing! I had pumpkin, yes pumpkin pizza and fig and chocolate gelato... so good!

Saturday I went to Subiaco to visit the monasteries of St. Scholastica and St. Benedict. Nestled in the hills of the city Subiaco we walked on the cobble stones of the past to catch a glimpse of our schools name bearer Saint Benedicto and his time that he spent in the caves near the monastery. St. Benedict fled Rome when he was around 14 to Subiaco and was taken in by a nearby monk. Around that time he also became a hermit and lived in the caves of the area for 3 years....

I have also at night visited the American bar of Rome called Scholars- they remind us of our home a bit so we have gone there three times and always have a good time

Hope everyone is enjoying fall in Minnesota enough for me and they are eating a lot of pumpkin :)

See you all in about a month and ten days!