This past weekend, I went on a solo adventure to Italia. Far from being lonely or solitary, I had an amazing time, feel very capable, and perhaps a little bit old. I'm going to give just a quick overview of not even everything because I did so much and will be so busy these last few days in Spain.
So, first stop was Rome, the Eternal City. I got there a bit late because my flight was delayed, but I was able to give myself a quick tour in the evening.
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| The Spanish Steps |
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| Trevi Fountain- At night, I went back the next day. |
I had dinner, pizza in a restaurant near my hostel with a couple traveling from London and a girl from Australia, then we moved next store to have a glass of wine as watch the people go by. Before I knew it, it was midnight, and I went straight to bed so that I could get up early for day 2.
My first stop was the Colosseum. Inside you wind your way through a museum filled with all kinds of things they have found inside/around the building, and tons of information about how the building was used. I thought the games and things that they found left behind were really interesting, because it gave you a look at the everyday lives of people who would have come to watch an event.
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| Colosseum |
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| Colosseum |
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| The Arch of Constantine- Dedicated in 315 |
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| The Roman Forum, which would have been the center of public life in ancient times. Like all archaeological sights, this requires a certain amount of imagination. |
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| Pantheon built in 126 AD. It was impossible to get a good picture but it was absolutely amazing. It is the largest unenforced concrete dome, and is one of Rome's best preserved ancient buildings because it was converted to a church in the 7th century. |
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| The oculus, 142 feet high. |
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| Gelato, which I had twice a day. |
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| A coin in the trevi fountain is supposed to insure a return to Rome. I guess it worked because I threw this in and was back in Rome two days later. Hopefully I'll make it back another time even without a second coin. The money is all donated to the Red Cross now, because they realized that people were scooping coins out at night. |
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| Trevi again. |
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| The Column of Marcus Aurelius |
Pasta, bedtime.
The next day I walked to the Vatican City with Michael, who I had met at dinner the night before and who happened to be doing the Vatican the next day as well. We stopped off to tour the Castle of Saint Angelo, which was used by the popes as a fortress.
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| View of the Vatican |
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| Lord Voldemort? |
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| Apoxyomenos |
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| The Pietà sculpted by Michelangelo |
We also saw the Sistine Chapel, toured St. Peters and climbed all the way to the top. The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel was very strange to see in person because I've seen it so many times in pictures and postcards and such, but photos were not allowed to I don't have any.
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| Swiss Guard |
And onto Florence:
I took a train from Rome to Florence and had the pleasure of staying with some really fun girls. I was able to see the sights, go to the Christmas Market, and we all went to a party one night. It was nice to see the city with people who had been living there for a while. The main attraction in Florence is the Duomo, the 4th largest in Cathedral Europe.
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| All Duemo Pictures |
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| Basilica of Santa Croce, burial place of some of the most illustrious Italians, such as Michelangelo, Galileo, and Machiavelli. Too bad it was closed. |
After Florence I took the train back to Rome, and am now back in Granada for 11 more days. See you soon America. Weird feeling!
