Rome

Brock, Calan, and I left Prague around 11:50 am for a 2 hour plane ride to Rome. Prague is so central to everything that it is very easy to travel. We landed in Rome and headed for our hostel, Sandy. IT was FUNNY because when our flight landed, they played "Charriots of Fire" on the plane. HA. We found it near the metro, which was nice and climbed the 5 flights to our hostel. We stayed in a 4 bunk room. Since there was three of us, each night we had a new roommate.

Since we were there for only 2 days, we immediately began our walking journey. Most of the things were closed or the lines were too long so we just sight-see'd the first night. We walked to the COLOSSEO and took pictures, and then walked to the ruins. We had dinner at Pizzeria Ponentino where I had the MOST AMAZING pasta. It was a meat sauce with baby dumplings...ahhhh...to die for. We ended up walking most places that first night but headed back to the hostel for bed around 10 pm.

Saturday morning we were up and Adam at 7 am to head to the Vatican. We took the metro there and rushed (because we thought we had to) to get in line at Basilica S. Pietro. The line wasn't long at that time in the morning. I was told I had to cover my shoulders....it was 7 am and 900 degrees and muggy as hell...but I wasn't going to be allowed into the church with sinful uncovered shoulders...luckily I brought a jacket so I threw that on. The inside of the church was breath taking and amazing. There was an actual service going on with singing and prayer. It was just absolutely silent otherwise and spectacular.

After the church I wanted to go to the 16th Chapel but the line was SUPER SUPER long. Apparantly THAT WAS WHERE we were suppose to rush to first thing in the morning. Next time, I guess.

We then walked to the Colosseo and saw the sights along the way. We paid an extra 8 euro to skip the line and go on an English tour. The line was outragous so it definitely was worth it and as it turns out, I actually learned something on the tour:

there was no visible brink in early Roman times, -Earthquake destroyed half of the colosseo, -Pope wanted to destroy the "Pagean Building" so let Romans come in and pilgrimage what they wanted, -Games could last up to 20 days, -animals, slaves were stored below florr and would "shoot" up to amaze the public, - would starve animals for 5 days so they would be tramatized and stressed with shot into the air....-and finally, they had yellow sand on the ground because it was a wonderful contrast with the red blood and entrails.

After the Colosseo we went to the Pantheon and many other sights of Rome. We walked EVERYWHERE and saw everything briefly. We ate as much as we could and soaked in the culture. One thing is for sure, Roman's drive CRAZY and you have to becareful when crossing the street. That is a story all onto itself. We left at 4am on Sunday and flew back to Prague. IT was a short weekend but I am so glad I went and had such an amazing time with the people I was with!!! Where to next????