So, it'd be totally awesome if I could fly this post under the radar and pretend like I posted it 2 years ago, as per the original plan. Unfortunately that would just be a sad lie. Here we are though! Two years later and all of our Europe photos have made it to the internet! It seems a bit like a miracle. And it's partially due to all of the free time I've had lately. (That reason will come in another post.)
Anyway, here it is! Roma! We really loved this city. It was the last stop on our trip and because of that, we felt a little more comfortable getting around and exploring. While we definitely hit the big tourist stops, there was a lot more adventuring in us than in the other cities. We did a bit more wandering and it was worth it to get lost a couple of times. :) This post is mainly a big photo dump, but it had to be done!
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| On our way to Rome! |
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| On the bus from the airport. Hahaha, oh the jet lag! |
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The view from our very pleasant hotel.
Seriously, it was probably the best stay of the whole trip. Though
it did take us waay too long to find it.
After a bit of mixed directions in Italian and
some hangriness on my part, we found it!
And it was glorious. :) |
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| Welcome to Italy! |
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| And the wandering begins! |
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| Our first stop was the Trevi Fountain! |
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So, I totally thought that this place would be much more out in the open,
but it was actually surrounded pretty closely by several buildings.
It made the actual fountain look much grander and it felt like we
encountered upon it on accident.
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| Yes, it was crazy busy. But we saw it! :) |
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Our first Italian dinner! Yes, it was quite the touristy place, but it was yummy!
And who cares? We were eating FOOD in ITALY! |
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This place was the real star of the show. I think we went to it every night to get a
crepe and gelato. Not enough times if you ask me... |
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| Day 2! This was our view from the bus stop. Quite lovely. :) |
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Starting off with gelato! I got Nutella and
I was pretty hooked after that.
Sooo delicious! |
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| Day 2 brought us to the Vatican! |
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| This place is so unreal. How gorgeous! |
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| Love him. :) |
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| I loved this room. It was all painted maps. That blue color just gets me. :) |
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I couldn't believe this was just painted to look 3d.
Could've fooled me! |
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On our way down to the Sistine Chapel.
There were no photos allowed in the actual
chapel, but I had to document the amount of
people we were stuck in the stairwell with.
Holy moly, not the best moment of the trip.
The chapel though...so gorgeous.
Michelangelo is amazing. My favorite
part was that everyone was asked to be
reverent and quiet in the chapel, but in order
to keep the silence the guards would yell out
a reminder every so often.
Probably not the most effective thing... |
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"Laocoön and His Sons" Such an interesting and
dynamic sculpture. One of my favorites. :) |
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| Outside in the Vatican gardens. :) |
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| Afterwards, we headed to St. Peter's Basilica. |
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| I thought all of the saints perched at the top were so cool. I loved that they were all posed differently. |
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One of the best parts of Rome
are the little alleyways and
gorgeous architectural details. |
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| We spotted this artwork and flower pot on a wall as we were on the bus. |
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This is part of the view from the Spanish steps.
I really couldn't help but take photos
of all of the quintessential Italian scenes,
so there are a lot coming up! |
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I thought the stone they used had such an interesting texture.
It was very weathered, but smooth at the same time. |
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| How Italian is this little place!? |
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| Our second Italian dinner! Such a cute, bright little restaurant. |
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It might look like delicious pasta,
but I do remember that this was actually
a poor choice...How sad, right?
Turns out I need help ordering real Italian food. |
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| This pizza went over much better. |
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| Day 3! Also, the final day of our Eurotrip! |
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I can't remember if we accidentally found this place
or if we went looking for it. But there were these
old ruins in the middle of the palazzo.
There are so many reminders that Rome
is most definitely an OLD city. |
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| And holy cow, there were a billion cats in there! |
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| Watering station! :) |
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| We found the Pantheon! |
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| The palazzo outside the Pantheon. |
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| Heading on in! |
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This dome was built around 126 A.D. Holy old.
It's still the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome. |
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It was all so well preserved and beautiful for being over 2000 years old.
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| This painting was...interesting. |
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| Just wandering around...:) |
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| Haha this guy. |
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| Another example of ancient ruins in the middle of the city. |
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| These steps were killer. |
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| The views were pretty incredible though. |
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We found this church by accident.
Oh man, it was so so gorgeous.
Look at that arch of crystal chandeliers.
What a lucky find! |
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| Our first glimpse of the Colosseum. Yes, it is covered in scaffolding... |
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| Domes like this are everywhere! |
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| Just a few Roman detail shots. :) |
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We stopped at a little cafe for lunch and
these cute old ladies were just sitting
and chatting and people watching. |
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These were all that was left of our after
lunch gelato. He just couldn't resist... |
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| On our way to the colosseum. Lots of these little stands. |
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| It's Caesar! |
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So, we had this awesome Colosseum guided tour
booked and the tour guide never showed up....
We were super disappointed. Luckily we were
refunded, but we waited at this metro
station for over an hour. |
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| There was this guy for some entertainment. |
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We gave up on waiting and headed to the Colosseum.
We ended up getting the listening devices
and it was great! We still learned so much! |
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| I still can't believe this is a real place and that REALLY crazy things happened here. |
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The Colosseum was truly one of the best parts
of our whole Europe trip. The stories and
history is so incredible. |
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| This little guy was down in the Colosseum's ground level. |
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| Afterwards we headed out to Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum. |
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| What a fun, colorful tower. :) |
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This pigeon was out to get me.
And Bri clearly wasn't going to save me... |
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This fountain was beautiful. I don't think they meant
for the plants to take it over, but it was a pretty sight! :) |
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| Such a cute boy. :) |
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Bri was really brave to put his hand in this hole in the wall.
Not because it would be melted off or something
like that, but because I'm 98% sure there were
definitely spiders in there. |
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The following pictures are from our very
serious explorations of the ruins. |
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| This looked like a little hidden hobbit house. So cute. :) |
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Sometimes you are told to pose next to flowers
and you're not sure why, but you do it anyway. |
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Our day was winding down and we were feeling it.
Lots of walking and exploring. |
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There was no shortage of gorgeous views in this city.
Italy definitely deserves more exploring,
so I hope we get back there soon. :) |
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| Very sleepy and on our way home! |
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| Catch you later Europe. We will most definitely find a way back someday. :) |
