Rome where you want to.... Rome 'round the world.

So Rome is my favorite city in the entire WORLD! It definitely goes on my short list of places to go back to in my lifetime.

So us four girls from Manchester met up with Jenny and Danielle in Milan at 11pm. Because there wasn't any transportation in Milan between midnight at 5:30am we had to camp out in the airport. Bergamo Airport is really small aka there was no carpet or chairs to sit in. We had tile floors, phosphorescent lighting, and really loud tvs going on all night. I did not get any sleep at all...not a drop. This was my first complete all nighter and I was up for over 40 hours. WOW!

While my unsuccessful sleeping was going on I used my phrase book to learn some Italian. I didn't want to be the typical tourist that relied solely on English to get around. So I learned phrases like well Do you speak English, I don't speak Italian, thank you, excuse me, I would like..., sorry, please, let me through, He stole my bag (hahah), how much is this...and some others I don't really remember. Although while using these phrases I really was surprised at how I could somewhat understand the Italians because it was so much like Spanish. And usually they always spoke English anyways but they would smile and it seemed like they were pleased that I at least attempted to embrace Italian language.

We arrived in Rome at 7:30am and went straight to drop off our stuff at the Yellow Hostel. The 4 Manchester girls went to Villa Borghese to explore. Then we went to our tour in Vatican City. I did no know that Vatican City was not a part of Rome and it had its own Pope. I always thought it just consisted of the museum and St Peters but people actually live there. The Vatican Museums were absolutely incredible we only got to touch on what was there because it is a HUUUUGE museum. We saw the Sistine Chapel and it was so much different then a expected. Much smaller, and dark because of the paintings. The ceiling done by Michealangelo was incredible so vibrant. I found it interesting that one of the disciples (?) that was next to Jesus on one of the paintings in the chapel was holding an entire bodies worth of skin. This was supposed to represent how he was skinned because of his faith. But it also was supposed to represent Michealangelo himself basically feeling skinned by doing the Sistine Chapel. Michealangelo didn't want to paint the chapel, he saw himself more has a sculpturer and has currently working on four pieces. Since the Pope insisted he do the ceiling he had to stop his sculptures and paint. The chapel took a total of six years and he was in his fifties. He had to be raised on scaffolds to get to the top and paint by candlelight. When he died he died nearly blind because of the strain he had to put on his eyes in that chapel.

Next we went to St. Peter's Basicilica the most beautiful place I've been to in my life. It is hard to describe how pretty this church is all I can say was the minute I went inside my body was covered in goosebumps from head to toe, tears came to my eyes....and I knew that St. Pauls was nothing compared to this church. We had arrived in the evening and the choir was singing, it would echo all throughout the domes of the church. We did not have enough time to go the top of the dome and see where St Peters bones might have been buried but I am okay with that because it just means I HAVE to come back :)

That night we saw the Trevi Fountian, another incredible sight in Rome. Although it was very crowded and you had to be extremely mean to all the people trying to sell you flowers you didn't want. It was so ridiculous I could see them coming to me and I would be like 'No Grazie' they come closer, 'NO' they are shoving a rose in my face NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. Until finally Danielle comes along (who speaks fluent Italian) and yells at him to get lost. This is pretty typical I don't know why people target me I try so hard to look mean!!!

The second day we had in Rome we started with the Collesseum. We had gotten pretty good at using the underground railway but were not sure if we were going to have to stop to ask for directions to find the Colleseum itself. Coming up from the stairs we saw it immediately this huge massive structure. The sun was so warm I felt like it was summer, not a cloud in the sky. We were ooing and ahhhing and the locals kind of laughed at us. But hey it was the COLLESEUM!!!! hellllooooo. Being there was really surreal seeing the underground where the lions were kept and the prisioners, seeing writing still on the walls and the stands were people stood or sat according to class...amazing.

Outside the Colleseum we had some classic Italian abuse. I've basically heard it all but this was the worst probably insulted sexually about 10 times from going from the Colleseum to Constatine's Arc (note: its one minute away). We ended the day by seeing Trevi Fountain once again, the Pantheon and the Temple. And were on our way to Florence.

Some Random Things I noticed while in Rome/Italy in general:
-There is no such thing as a line. It was so funny to me how even when you are supposed to be lining up to check into RyanAir they all just push and shove to get to the front. When I was getting on the Shuttle there was a lady behind me trying to shove her bag in between my legs!!! It's not really considered rude to push your way to the front in Italy.
-The caffeine drinks are really small. I ordered a hot cocoa and it was the smallest thing I have ever seen!
-The men are rude to the foreigners. I got followed around by five men singing about my chest, I had men offering me lollypops but hinting at something else. I had dads look up up and down five times right in front of their wife and baby girl...you get the point. My favorites were sexy princess and Barbie...I don't mind those.
-Gelatto is so amazing. We had gelatto every single day. My favorite flavor was Tiramisu.
-If they think you can't afford their products in a store they will straight up tell you to leave.
-They tend to be very helpful with tourists. Multiple times when we were looking at a map locals would stop to help :)
-They don't serve tap water. You have to pay for the water in the glass bottle.

Overall Rome is tight.