I Heart Roma

Hello all! I have a little bit of time to tap out a quick account of my Rome trip, which was full of information! Funny... it was a study tour for architecture and archeological students... a fulllllll 6 days of it. Oh, I tried SO hard to be interested the first three days... and was! I kept trying to connect it to things I knew about.

While trying desperately to be interested, I finaly heard a name I recognized... Augustus. They described him as the Emporer of Peace because he halted Civil War in the Italy. And most of the buildings we saw the first two days has something to do with him... Finally, it clicked! This is th e dude that was super intimidated by the prospect of Jesus disrupting all his peace and 'progress' and when I made the connection with Jesus, I felt like Will Ferrell in Elf when told Santa is coming, "I KNOW HIM!!!!" Hahaha and was all the sudden excited to see the stuff we were seeing! So, from then on, I connected it with how long it was from when He lived.... cool stuff. Okay, here we go!

So we arrive around 8ish and see the Baths of Diocletian and the main forum:

The next morning, after some ham and cheese sandwiches (the hotels idea of contenental breakfast. haha!) and granola, we went and saw the Spanish steps.

Next up was the Mausoleum of Augustus. I couldnt help but think about the irony: This "Emporer of Peace" slaughtered baby boys because he was threatened by the Prince of Peace, who was only a baby Jew! This is the wall of all his accomplishments:

Next up, the Pantheon! I couldnt believe its size!!!! And we think of people that lived 2,000 years ago as neandrathawls.... they were smarter than us! Who can build this without a Bobcat and Laser Cutters????Then, the Vatican!!! Reminder of summer nights on the front porch in Mom or Dad's lap, when Mom sang us "Feed the Birds, tuppins a bag..."

"Stairs" To the Vatican. Very cool stuff. Apparently the Pope lives here: They were selling his blessings for 300 Euro a pop... enough said.

This is where both Peter (Yes, best author of 1&2 Peter)and Paul (Best selling author of over 1/2 of the NT) got in trouble with the big guys... in fact. Peter was martyred here! And here's his tomb: Eery! Makes me wanna go read it! I read Romans while there, thanks Paul!

GELATO!!! MMM, MM!

Next up, the Mausoleum of Hadrian, another big shot emporerer after Augustus. (I think that's what this was, hahaha!)

Wow, the Roman Forum. I didn't know what this was until we got there. Its a bunch of buildings that were uncovered... Some were from 14 BC to 30 something AD when Augustus was Prez, then the rest people built on top or around them hundreds of years later. So you have this mesh of super old stuff!! Really neat.
This is where Peter was imprisoned.

GNOCCI! My new fav... Kels: I remember you talking about it! Oh wow. It's potatoes that taste like thick pieces of pasta.

Next, on that same day (I KNOW!) was the Collesum. Hello Mr. Gladiator.

And then the next day we went to Ostia. A 1st and 2nd century Roman port town of about 80,000 that they have only uncovered 1/3 of it! And its HUGE! It was preserved incredibly, even wallpaper on the walls!

They had a toilet room in the public baths... I couldnt help myself to a little relief (hehe:)

That afternoon, we stopped by the ocean... now THAT is my kind of vacation!

Next we went to the Etruscan tombs... kinda eery at first, but then boring. They don't know who was buried here beyond the etruscans... they were a bunch of big stone humps in the ground with openings.... and we had 2 hours to look at them. I found a pink coffee shop :)

This was perhaps my 2nd favorite thing. We went and saw Hadrians Villa in Tivoli. It was PHENOMENAL! He build fountains and gardens everywhere! I wish I had time to post all the pictures... and the technology! Little drains and pipes everywhere underground with no modern day plumbing! WOW!

Watch out kevin!!! They had a big statue area... somewhere... I dont remember where this is. haha.

The next day, my roomies (+ Steph and minus Madison) took a trip to Southern Rome. This was my #1! It was the quarters that actually felt like Italy. The rest of Rome was like a big city with graffitti... then random old buildings that were well kept. But this! It was the small streets and shops and everything.

Then, we chillaxed by the river for about an hour and half... I got my first tan lines! woo hoo!

For 6 days in Rome, I know this isn't very thorough. But, today is crazy! I am currently out the door to grab stuff from Asda (i.e. Walmart) and then to pick up my luggage from some guys house, repack, catch the 2:30 bus, then a 6:30 flight to Barcelona to meet Chels and her friend for 2 weeks in Spain! WOO HOO! Seeing the GORGEOUS Barcelona, then out to 2 days at the beach, then back to Seville for Easter! It'll be great!

Love you all and miss you VERY much... really. As we were walking to go to the airport in Rome, I got more excited to leave than I was to go, because only 2 more trips (Spain, then back to England) before home! 39 days! But, I am enjoying and attempting to soak up every moment possible.

For now...