Distinti Saluti: Roma

Rome

Rome. Rome. Rome. It is true that you cannot see Rome in a day. I would not see two days even as being a sufficient amount of time to see it. It is funny to see ruins sprinkled about a bustling city. We were lucky enough to see, in my opinion, the most important sights.

The Coliseum

Millions upon millions of people have passed by these walls. I wonder how often these walls change these people’s lives forever. I wonder if they realize these walls have been here for hundreds of years before them and will most likely be here hundreds of years after them. It does not take a look at the stars to know how insignificant you are and discover how significant you can become.

The Coliseum is every thing you would expect it to be, maybe a little smaller. It takes a minute for the fact that this has been standing since 70AD to sink in.

The only warning I would give is to be wary of roman soldiers in sweatshirts and Nikes, they will charge you five euro each for a picture.

The Vatican

It has been calculated that if you spend one minute looking at each piece in the Vatican, you would spend twelve years doing so. If that does not reveal the grander of this city within a city, nothing will. I suppose we got the crash course then. It was interesting to learn about all the paintings. Raphael's rooms were stunning. We had an excellent guide. I highly suggest doing your research on the art before you go in, especially when it comes to the sistine chapel. It gives you something to look for. Everything is so over whelming that having some information helps you appreciate it even more. I did not realize the artists often included likenesses of other artists and scholars in their paintings. There were also many pieces of art that reflected ancient Egyptian religion and other pagan religions. It was ironic to see that in the catholic capital.