Roman Holiday!

(The Colosseum, Rome, 2010).

We just arrived back from our weekend in Rome. Emily, Helen, and I took a train after Helen's Italian class in Florence and met up with their parents at the station later that afternoon. After dropping off our things at the hotel, we went straight to the Colosseum where our passes allowed us to skip the line and go right on inside. It was pretty spectacular. It was easy to stand there and imagine that you were waiting for the well-armed gladiators to start battling lions and, of course, one another.

From there we made a mad dash to the Pantheon, which was even better than the Colosseum, in my opinion. There is hardly any point in trying to explain how beautiful, as words just wouldn't do it justice. Thankfully, I took photos. A whole lot of photos.

After the Pantheon, we ate dinner at beneath white, outstretched umbrellas. The food was good, but the wait staff, and even the owner, were incredibly rude. Startlingly rude, even. We enjoyed the food though and spent the last part of the day at the Trevi Fountain. We all threw in a penny and wished for a second visit, as local custom suggests to tourists.

The next day, we woke up early and went to the Borghese gallery. The Borghese was, without question, my favorite gallery yet. The statue's were phenomenal; my favorite being Apollo and Daphne by Bernini. Helen and I went back several times to look at it. I don't think I've ever seen a statue that... perfect. Daphne's fingers were turning into leaves and her toes into roots. And Apollo's cloth seemed weightless, as though it were blowing in the wind. Of course, all the Bernini's were brilliant. The Rape of Proserpina brought tears to your eyes. Pluto's hand against Proserpina's skin seemed so real, creasing her flesh and her mouth was dropped open as if caught mid-scream. It nearly hurt to look at it, but you couldn't look away.

After lunch at a fantastic panini shop, we walked to Vatican City. Having been raised Catholic, it was a place I heard about all my life. The line wasn't long, thank goodness, and we managed to get inside pretty quickly and out of the heat. Once in, we made our way down hallways full of religious tapestries, beneath ceilings of gold and enormous paintings of bible stories we all knew: Noah and the flood, Adam and Eve. We ended up in the Sistine Chapel, which was so full you could hardly breathe. But it was all worth it to look up and see the paintings overhead.

At some point during our day, and perhaps one of the most frightening parts, Helen became trapped off a bus. She had stepped out of the bus ahead of us and the door was quickly snapped shut, nearly taking my arm with it. She was pounding against the glass as the bus began to move, leaving her standing alone on the sidewalk. We all started screaming at the bus driver to stop and I managed to hit the red 'stop' button on the bus hard enough to hurt. Thankfully, the bus came to a jolting stop and we all exited this time around. Helen's knuckles might still be red.

Helen later got stuck in an elevator, which left before the rest of us could get on. Oy.

Our last day in Rome, we went to the forum, which was also one of my favorite parts. I suppose I have a thing for ruins. We wandered around broken pillars, some of them wider than I am tall and made out the former foundations of what were once magnificent buildings.

It was all sort of surreal. Rome seems like the sort of place that devours you; full of good food, loud people, and beauty. I don't know if there would ever be enough days to see it all.

With Love,
Lindi