When in Rome...

...do as the Romans do.

Rome is amazing, and I'm so glad I had three full days to explore the city. The first day was a bit rainy, so we decided to spend it doing the indoor sightseeing: namely, the Vatican. The Vatican museums are gigantic, so we made the smart decision to jump on a tour, which ran us straight to the Sistine Chapel since it was closing early, and then took us through the important parts of the museums. The Sistine Chapel is just as gorgeous as everyone would expect it to be, seeing all that famous art in person. Interestingly, the most famous part--the two fingers touching in The Creation of Adam--isn't even Michaelangelo's. That part of the ceiling fell off at one point a while ago and some unknown painter redid it. Sorry to disappoint. Also, you're not allowed to take pictures inside the Sistine Chapel unless you're Japanese. It was really dirty a few years ago so they decided to do some restoration (cleaning), and whoever won the opportunity to clean it got the rights to the art. Some Japanese company did it, and they stipulated that no one could take pictures except their countrymen. So there you go. Everyone's wishing they were Japanese now, right?

Anyway, after that we checked out St. Peter's Basilica, which is huge and quite beautiful. On our way back to the hostel, we stopped at the Spanish steps, took a walk through a shopping district (all designer brands, yikes), and finished at the Trevi Fountain. This was cool to see at night since it was all lit up, though it was raining a bit. That evening the guys who ran the hostel made dinner for everyone: bruschetta, pesto lasagna, tiramisu, sangria, and limoncello (all for 5 euros!). I love Italian food.

The next day was sunny and warm, feeling more like late September than early December, and we headed over to the Colosseum. First stop was Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum, which is where all the other ruins are. After a nice stroll through ancient times, we finally entered the Colosseum. It's just as impressive as you'd expect it to be. It's also gigantic, and you can just picture thousands of people gathering there 2,000 years ago to watch the gladiators duke it out. Next to the Colosseum is Circus Maximus, which is a massive oval area where they used to have chariot racing. There's not much left there except a big field of grass, but it's a nice place to sit down and watch people jogging and walking their dogs.

After walking back from the Colosseum, we satisfied our morbid side with a visit to the Cappuccini Crypt. It's inside a church and not very big, but the rooms are completely decorated with human bones: altarpieces made of skulls, bone chandeliers, and even full upright skeletons wearing monk outfits. Not only is it fascinating to see how they constructed all the designs out of bones, but it's also, in a gruesome sort of way, beautiful and artistic.

From there, we went to see the Pantheon, the famous temple to all the gods of Ancient Rome. It's amazing how well-preserved it is compared to the Parthenon in Athens: the Pantheon is one of the best preserved of all the Roman buildings. In the Middle Ages it was converted into a Cristian church, and today it's mostly a tomb with some famous painters like Rafael buried there. We didn't go inside because there was some kind of mass going on, so we just sat in the plaza eating gelato and people-watching.

For our last day, we decided to take it easy. We headed back over to the Spanish steps and then walked to the Trevi Fountain again to see those sites in daytime, and we wandered in and out of souvenir shops until lunch, which was gnocchi. Then we headed back to the hostel, got our stuff, hung out for a bit, and went to our little pastry shop on the corner. I am newly obsessed with hazelnut gelato. We also each got a cannoli, which was unbelievable. Italians really know food.

Then it was time to go. Unfortunately, leaving Rome was tainted by all sorts of airline mishaps, but I won't leave this on a bad note. Rome was totally worth the horrible traveling, and to prove it, I'll leave you with some of my favorite pictures:

Me in front of the dome of St. Peter's Basilica

Colosseum

Cappuccini Crypt

Spanish Steps

Trevi Fountain

Next weekend: my last weekend in Spain! I can hardly believe it. How sad! Look out for a wrap-up post in which I go over what I'll miss most (or least) about life in Spain.