It is ridiculously hot in Italy. Everything I had heard before was not a lie in the least. I've tanned about 10 shades (not an exaggeration) in 3 days. Rome was absolutely amazing, but I felt like I was literally melting there.
We woke up at 6:30 and met the group going to Rome at 7 am. It was a four hour bus ride down to Rome, and we stopped once for coffee (which was much needed). My coffee addiction is up to 3 espressos a day. I keep trying to cut it down, but I end up drinking more. We got to Rome around 11:30, and got to explore the piazza outside of the vatican for about an hour. We then took a 4 hour walking tour through the Vatican, Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica. I can't even begin to explain how amazing and surreal it was to be in these places. I've spent years learning about the history of these places-and they are constantly being alluded to in books/movies. I have to say it would have been more amazing if the heat wasn't beating down on us. It was a little over 100 degrees in Rome this weekend. The museum in the Vatican was crazy. We saw the apartments the Pope lives in, all sorts of holy objects, and the catacombs (graves/tombs) of all the previous Popes. We saw the "School of Athens" which I've learned about in history, political science AND art classes. It was incredible. It spanned an entire wall, and the detail was shocking.
We then saw the Sistine Chapel which was stunning. They said not to take pictures, but everyone was. The room was literally packed like fish in a can with tourists, so it was a bit difficult to hear all the history behind the Sistine Chapel, but just looking at it was more than enough.
And then, St. Peter's Basilica. I usually think things are gorgeous, but I'm never moved to stop in my tracks and verbalize the word "wow". I did this and stared for a good 5 minutes before moving closer when I walked into St. Peter's Basilica. There aren't words to describe how beautiful and moving it is. The only other time I've been so stunned by something was when I saw the Taj Mahal with my family in 2004. I can't wait to upload my pictures so everyone can see. (I'm really behind on pictures-I'm sorry!)
We then had dinner in Rome at a famous restaurant called "La Gallina Bianca". It was delicious, as per usual for Italy. We then saw the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain. The Spanish Steps are built on a slope between the Piazza di Spagna and Piazza Trinita dei Monti. It's known as the longest and widest staircase in Europe. It linked the Bourbon Spanish Embassy to to Trinita dei Monti (the church that was under the patronage of the Bourbon kings of France).
It was really fun to see the Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain in the evening. There were lots os tourists from Spain who screamed with Spain won their soccer game on Saturday evening. It was a really fun and infectious atmosphere.
My roommates and I were pretty exhausted (it was midnight by this time) and decided to walk back to our hotel. The rest of the people in the group were going to explore Rome, but we wanted to get some sleep.
On Sunday, we had breakfast at 7:30 and were off once again to tour Rome. We saw the Colosseum, Palazzo Hill, Roman Forum, Capitol Hill and Pantheon. It was ridiculously hot, but it was surreal to be seeing all these places.
We took a train back to Florence in the evening, and were back within 4 hours.
It was quite a whirlwind of a weekend, but definitely a once in a lifetime experience.
As if my days couldn't get any better, Monday was fabulous. I was pretty exhausted when I woke up from walking so much in Rome this past weekend, but my roommates wanted to go to Lucca after class. Lucca is a small city about an hour and a half from Rome. Lucca is a beautiful city, and its unique because it still has Renaissance-era walls around the city. It's one of very few cities in Italy that still has the old walls around the city. One of my roommates had a friend living in Lucca who is on the women's U.S. Cycling Team. We met her and rented bikes and rode around the city. It was really relaxing and the atmosphere there was really calm. The city wasn't touristy like Rome or Florence and it was a big enough size to be called a city and not a small town. It was a wonderful way to spend a day relaxing without just sitting inside an apartment all day. I loved Lucca so much that I could see myself living there.
In other news, my photography class is going well. I think I'm slowly getting better at matching shutter speed and aperture to the object of my photo. It's really hard to measure these numbers and make sure there's enough light for a good photo-all within a few seconds.
The end of this week will be the end of the current session of classes. Next week I'll be taking Foundation Painting! I'm so excited to get back to an art form that I know something about (not a lot, but a little).
Learning the Italian language is going slowly, as almost everyone in Florence speaks English-especially when they know you can't speak Italian. I spend as much time as possible on the south side of the river, where more Italians live and where it would be easier to learn the language, but its a bit difficult sometimes. Its a good 35-40 minute walk to the other side of the river. I have learned the days of the week and numbers up to 10 and a few other numbers.
I think that's all for now. I love and miss you all!
A presto (see you soon!)
:-)
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