rome in all its glory.

r o m e. huge city and not as romantic as julia roberts portrays in her movie about eating her way through italy, but it does contain a literal ton of historical treasures, which does make four whirlwind days go by super speedy fast. our journey began at 8:00 in the morning on thursday with a four hour bus ride through the gorgeous countryside. there's something about listening to music while watching the beauty of the rolling green hills and small villages pass by that energizes my soul. so good.

anywho, like i said rome was a blur to say the least, but the four days we spent in rome were planned out perfectly for us by the program (aifs) which was probably the best way to see everything in such a short amount of time. to be brief here is a list of places we saw and experienced:

d a y o n e : piazza di spagna and the spanish steps (tourist central, yet beautiful), sant'ivo all sapienza, the pantheon, santa maria sopra minerva (home to michelangelo works), saint ignazio, the trevi fountain, sant'andrea al quirinale, san carlo alle quattro fontane, santa maria della vittoria....so some really cool and traditional places to visit in the midst of a lot of beautiful churches...all in one day.

spanish steps.

pantheon.

make a wish! trevi fountain.

trevi fountain.

d a y t w o : st. peter's basilica and the vatican museum. now this was amazingly fantastic. i have never seen so much art or so many statues in my life! and i got to see the sistine chapel which was sort of surreal and also sort of disappointing. i guess my expectations of dim lighting and harp strings being plucked by little pink cherubs were squashed by the massive herd of people that continuously flowed through the small space and the loud commanding voice that demanded everyone to be silent and refrain from photography. of course i snapped a shot anyways...how often am i going to be in the sistine chapel?! even so, i was honored to be in the presence of michelangelo's great work. the basilica was breathtakingly beautiful; and huge, and we also were able to see peter's ashes, which was pretty sweet as well. also that day i went to the chagall exhibition at the museum of modern art and pretty much fell in love. i lost myself in the colorful world this man created with the stoke of his paint brush and found myself captivated by the figures he painted.

the vatican.

my sneaky snapshot of la capella sistina (sistine chapel).

drinking roman water straight from the fountain. very refreshing.

d a y t h r e e : colosseum baby! and the roman imperial ruins, as well as roman wanderings. the colosseum was such an amazing place to visit, with so much historical significance it was almost magical to be standing in a place that i had always only seen in pictures. the weather that morning was colder than we have experienced thus far, which was a bit of a challenge, but we had fun, nonetheless. the colosseum was followed by a visit to the imperial ruins where we were able to walk on the ground that was the first roman metropolis, also so fascinating to visit. on the same grounds we were able to see the place were paul was imprisoned and wrote philippians, which was a very special and intimate place to see. later that day we explored rome and found the piazza di fiori which conveniently offered a quaint little market. i bought 5 euro worth of walnuts and almonds, and yes, they were worth it.

the colosseum.

roman imperial ruins: arch d triumph.

the building that now stands on the place where paul was in chains for christ.

down in the depths of this prison paul wrote philippians! such a special and surreal moment.

cute little piazza di fiori market.

d a y f o u r : villa adriana and villa d'este. two beautiful places that were once the homes of roman emperors. at villa adriana we got to explore the grounds which are teeming with ruins of great halls, baths, living quarters, and chapels. set in the countryside, this was a sweet escape from city life. villa d'este, also in the countryside, boasts a beautiful garden that quickly became one of my favorite places in rome. as soon as we set foot in the gardens we were surrounded by elaborate fountains and green foliage that made my heart happy :) we were advised however, to not touch the water...mutant flesh eating bacteria? is that possible? i'll take their word for it.

villa adriana ruins.

one of the many baths at villa adriana.

villa d'este: so gorgeous!

villa d'este.