When in Rome
May 17, 2013 15:30

When I told anyone that I was going to Rome, their response always included a reminder to wear comfortable sneakers and be prepared to walk. Well, they were right. Rome is big. Really big. After a full day of walking on Friday, my body nearly hit a wall. As a twenty year old, I know that sounds pathetic, but I really felt like an old man.

Given that we did not have Friday classes this week, we left really early Friday morning (I had my alarm set for 4am, but I must have missed it and didn't get up until just before 5am which made for a fun, rushed morning) and booked a hotel on Friday night so we could maximize our time in the city. Over the next couple of days, we hit nearly all of the major attractions.

It was truly a great time, but I have to say, I'm glad that Rome was not my home base this past month. Florence is much more manageable, much less touristy, and overall an awesome city. But of course, I'm biased.

I tried to split up the main attractions below for some sort of organization. With that said, the times are definitely approximations. Given that we didn't have a tour guide for the majority of Rome, I've learned just as much in this process as you will. It's fun piecing together the photos I took to their historical context.

The First Taste Baths of Diocletian May 17, 2013 09:30

Directly outside the train station were the Baths of Diocletian, one of the many old relics of the Roman Empire built back in 300. Unfortunately, the baths were closed when we passed them early this morning, but I managed to snap a few photos from the outside (amid the familiar raindrops of Italy). Directly opposite of the bath house is the Repubblica Teatro dell'Opera, a small square with a cool little...

The Central Park of Rome Villa Borghese May 17, 2013 10:00

When we arrived in Rome, we did glance at the map, but in any foreign city, I feel like you end up just deciding on a direction and going with it. So, that's essentially what we did. And we ended up at the Villa Borghese public park. The park was really cool – and really big. It certainly didn't feel like we were in Italy's most populated city. There were a lot of great scenic photo opportunities including...

The Spanish Steps Piazza di Spagna May 17, 2013 12:00

After finally figuring out how to get out of the Villa Borghese park, we continued on our exploration of Rome. Our next stop was the iconic Spanish Steps. Leading up to the Trinità dei Monti, the Spanish Steps are the widest staircase in Europe. The whole area is packed with tourists throughout the entire day.

The Trevi Fountain Piazza di Trevi May 17, 2013 12:30

Just a couple of blocks down from the Spanish Steps, is the famous Trevi Fountain. If you thought the Spanish Steps were packed with tourists, try visiting the Trevi Fountain in the early afternoon. It's crazy. I think we managed to visit Trevi three times today. Somebody forgot to throw a coin in the fountain the first time around, and the third visit to Trevi was a long story. But I didn't mind. The...

The Hotel Saga Hotel Tempio di Pallade May 17, 2013 12:45

After visiting the Trevi Fountain for the first time, we split up into a couple of groups. There were eight people from our program all-together in Rome today, but only three of us (including myself) decided to stay in Rome overnight. So, Ben, Heather and I decided to check into the hotel while the rest of the group visited the Colosseum and other sites we had planned on visiting the second day. Well,...

Streets & Churches Rome May 17, 2013 13:00

Despite the scale of the city, Rome is definitely manageable. There are no straight paths to anything – the streets are more-or-less zig-zags (I took a handful of photos of weirdly edged buildings jutting out into the sky representing the nonstandard angles of adjoining streets), but once you determine a cardinal direction, you can very well just make an approximately straight path without consulting a map...

A Monument Altare della Patria June 01, 2013 15:00

The Altare della Patria, or Altar of the Fatherland, is a monument built in honor of Victor Emmanual, the first king of a unified Italy. The marble monument is seriously impressive, and I even got to see the "changing of the guards" ceremony in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Solider.

A Taste of Pittsburgh La Botticella May 17, 2013 19:15

We stopped into Rome's "Steelers Bar" on our way to the Vatican. I had heard about it many times, and I'm so glad that we were able to check it out. It was much smaller than I had anticipated, but it was really cool. Inside, they have a bunch of college flags including of course the University of Pittsburgh. We went back to the Steelers bar later that night for some drinks. The group who didn't stay in the...

The Vatican Vatican City May 17, 2013 19:30

Before we got to Rome, we purchased night tickets for the Vatican Museum. We got over to the Vatican around 7:30pm in time for our 8pm appointment. I was expecting at least some sort of security check upon entering into the city state, but there wasn't anything at all. We had to weight fifteen or twenty minutes, but overall, it wasn't too bad at all. It was definitely worth pre-ordering the ticket which...