Hello Georgio...

Ahhh Rome. The city where history is everywhere you look and incredible structures that make your head swim stand next to fairly modern buildings. Where seedy Italian men lurk and where we arrived from Barcelona.  We made the mistake of assuming that our hosts would speak English (even though we had to translate their listing) so when we arrived at our accommodation a game of charades was started.  Through skilful acting and the help of Google translate we finally communicated that 'yes we would like breakfast at 7:30' and 'can we wash some clothes?' This last phrase was particularity desperate as we were down to almost no clean pairs of clothes.  Unless you counted our UK gear which in sunny Rome of 30+ degrees was definitely not going to cut it.  So the lady took our money and took our clothes saying (we think) that she would return them to our room. So we settled in and headed into the city of Rome.  Just to get really boring here; but if people are planning on traveling to Rome, get a Roma Pass.  We picked ours up at the airport and it gave us unlimited public transport and passes to two sites.  So helpful.  

Anyways we headed into the city to see if we could visit the Trevi Fountain.  We walked in to find that it was completely hidden by construction. 

We were sad... 

We then roamed the city, purchasing some gelato and wandering the long way back to the metro station. We also had another London moment where we found a lovely old building and the question was asked "I wonder what this building is?" to which the answer we speedily found was; "The pantheon. Only one of the most famous buildings in Rome." Yay for another super intelligent moment!

 The Pantheon

 Ice cream of course

The next day we were up and raring to go. We had a desperate moment where we didn't know where our clothes were (the ones we had given to our host to wash) and we literally were wearing our last pair of clothes. When we went to breakfast we saw them still in a washing machine and groaned knowing that we would have to wear our dirty clothes. Yay for traveling! Our plan this day was to do the Colosseum and the Roman Forum and that is exactly what we did.  Because we had the Roma pass we were able to skip the queue and walk straight into the Colosseum. What a structure that place is.  It is hard to reconcile such a brutal history with such a beautiful architectural structure.  It shows how beauty can be so corrupted and that the human sinful heart is so present even in the most beautiful of places.  What I found really encouraging was the placement of a large cross on one side of the terrace.  It gave such a visual reminder that Christ is still Lord over all and that even in the darkest of places, he is present and his sacrifice applies for all.  I loved that reminder in the midst of that incredibly touristy place. 

 After the Colosseum we then headed next door to the Roman Forum, an area in Rome where they have left ruins in tact and are actually still currently excavating sites. What a privilege it is to be able to see the history of such a rich culture. 

 After the Roman forum we then walked to the Mamertime prison, a prison where Paul and Peter were said to be have held captive.  This is also where it is reported that Paul wrote 2 Timothy so that was really awesome to be in the same room as that piece of history. 

After that we waited around for a free walking tour to start.  It was supposed to start at the base of the Spanish steps so we decided to get gelato around there and then find a park that was supposed to be at the top. 

 

The tour wasn't Sandeman's sadly as they didn't run tours in Rome but nonetheless we were determined! We waited in a park for hours taking selfies and talking about silly things before heading back to the Spanish steps where we were supposed to meet the group.  We made it to the first church before deciding that we would be better off on our own so we headed off to find the Pantheon again.  We found it and successfully identified it this time before deciding to go to dinner.  Now I know I promised not to feed you every single detail of our lives but this is a funny story so hang in there for me.  

A friend of mine (who has also been traveling) wrote on her blog about seedy Italians.  Now if you are Italian and reading this blog please do not be offended as I am sure that this a small population of a wonderful nation, however there are some very seedy Italian men. After the Pantheon we were persuaded to go to a certain restaurant due to a particularly beautiful looking Italian man who promised free champagne (which Amelia enjoyed as I don't drink).  This particularly beautiful looking Italian man's name was Georgio and he was a waiter trying to real in customers for the restaurant. Georgio took quite a liking to Amelia and he started hugging her and asking for a kiss (to which she politely refused), then started to give her a shoulder massage asking her if she would like him to massage her in her sleep (that escalated quickly).  At this point Amelia was looking very uncomfortable and repeatedly told him that she didn't want that to which he didn't seem to quite understand.  He kept going until his boss called him away to which we are fairly sure he got into a little bit of trouble.  Despite that and being charged for bread that we didn't order, the gnocchi that we ordered was delicious and we finished our dinner quite pleasantly.

The next day we were going to the Vatican! We made it to St Peter's square with only one harassment from the "tour guides" wanting to sell us tickets to the Vatican (which we had already purchased online).  We hung around the square in front of St Peter's Cathedral wondering things like, "I wonder what the pope wears to bed? Does he have special pope pajamas?" and, "I wonder if this water from the water fountain is holy water?" We don't hold back from the deep questions. We then went to MacDonalds to try and get out of the heat and to get some food before going into the Vatican.  Fast food over here in Europe is not fast.  We experienced this at the Barcelona airport where we paid a fortune for Burger King thinking it would be quick before our flight.  Wrong. Slowest fast food ever.  Rome is exactly the same. We ended up having about 15 minutes to eat before we needed to head off.  So off we trotted to the Vatican (which technically was another country).   Again I would recommend buying tickets ahead of time as we walked straight into the Vatican museums. 

Amazing.

Just stunning the art work and the rooms of the museum. We walked into one room called the Hall of Maps and I actually got emotional with how beautiful the room was.  That has never happened before, almost being brought to tears by paintings. The photos do not do it justice at all. 

The hall of maps

 

Then there is the Sistine Chapel.  We actually stayed in the Sistine for almost an hour, doing horrible things to our necks but gazing at this masterpiece.  No photography was allowed in the Sistine Chapel so I don't have any pictures but no picture that I could take could do the master piece justice. 

We were very tired from the heat so we then headed home and that was the end of our Rome stay. Next stop was beautiful Florence where it is currently storming. 

Ciao!