This is a picture of the Trevi Fountain at night. We went to Rome this weekend and saw probably more than most people get to see in a week, and we were only there for 3 days. The most interesting thing we saw was the San Callisto Catacombs. They were intense. There were four levels but we only went down to the second, which was apparently fourteen meters down. There are sixteen popes buried there along with a boatload of martyrs and other christians because at the time, there was no land to be had for a cemetery, especially a Christian cemetery, so everyone who was Christian wanted to be buried in the Catacombs. We learned that there are over 500,000 thousand people buried there. Half a million, that's a whole bunch of bodies. Thankfully we didn't see anything too creepy while we were down there, but we did see a mummified boy and a mummified woman, as well as tombs that had been opened up. It was really interesting and super informative. The Catacombs are actually located a little outside of Rome, so we decided the most effective way to get there was to take a bus tour where we could get off at whatever attraction we wished and get back on whenever we were finished. It was pretty cheap and very educational because they tell you all about each place as you pass it or stop at it. We even got to see the Appian Way, which I was pretty excited about.
We saw so much that it is kind of difficult to remember everything. We took a class trip to the Pantheon, which I think is now a church and it's also where Raphael is buried. I took a picture with a "gladiator" and then we walked to the Trevi Fountain and saw a massive amount of people gathered around. I took a bunch of pictures and threw a penny in to assure that I would find my way back to Rome. Such a good scheme, I think. What better way to keep the tourist revenue alive? We had dinner in the area and by the time we finished we had the chance to see what the Trevi looks like at night. As you can see above it's gorgeous! We did some more walking around before heading back to the hotel and stumbled upon the Spanish Steps. I don't know what the meaning is of these but I'm not sure it's that important.
Friday we went to the Vatican Museum and St. Peter's Basilica. I didn't know this before, but St. Peter's is the second largest church in the world. There was so much to see in the museum that it took us a solid five hours to go through, and that was fast. We saw the School of Athens, which was amazing and then we finally found the Sistine Chapel. It was incredible and packed. So many things to look at that my neck finally just started hurting too much to look straight up and back. After that we went into St. Peter's Basilica. Absolutely amazing. It was beautiful and HUGE. I took a really neat picture of a dove mosaic behind the altar. I also met a real live Swiss Guard!
The next day, Saturday, we took another class trip to the Colosseum, the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. The Colosseum was ridiculously big and it was so cool to see where such epic events took place, like Commodus flooding it for a real naval battle. There was still marble in some places and you could see where the emperor would sit during the performances. They also had gladiator costumes and information on display. I didn't realize how much effort went in to each performance. The Roman Forum and Palatine Hill are really close so we walked over there. Right behind Palatine Hill is what I think is Emmanuel's Palace. It was all so ridiculously cool. After that we took the bus tour and ended up crashing hard. I'm on a search for boots so I think I'm going to have to go back to Rome to find them. Hopefully I can see more stuff once I go back.
