Rome : Mike

Rome 1st Day:
Today was a very eventful day in Rome. We woke up a little later then expected around 9:15 but we made it to a somewhat fulfilling breakfast in time. Then we got all our clothes and went to the laundry mat, the second time we have washed our clothes so far on this journey. So after we finished that we went straight to the Colosseum on the metro and saw the amazing structure. I really tried to picture how the Colosseum must have actually looked during its real time because I was a little disappointed by how much in ruins it is. Another crazy thing that happened is that we saw the tour guide Francisco who we met on our boat to Rome inside the Colosseum. After the Colosseum we headed up the Palantine. This is where all the emperors of Rome built their palaces and is mostly in ruins. It was very interesting all the same though to think that all of these emperors of Rome must have been walking around in the exact same place as you all these years ago. We then headed down the other side of the Palantine and went to to the forum. We actually got to see the spot where Julius Caesar's body was burned by the mob after his assassination. Moving on to meet Tim's friend Lindsey we discovered the tomb of the unknown soldier, and the Pantheon. Both of this buildings were extraordinary in how they were built and how beautiful they looked. We finally met Tim's friend at Piazza Novanna and from there we headed to the famous Spanish steps. I don't really know much about the Spanish steps but its famous so we went to see it. The fountain Trevi was our next stop where Lindsey told us that if you throw a coin over your right shoulder with your left hand into the fountain it means that you will be back to Rome, if you throw two it means you will fall in love while you are in Rome, and if you through three it means you will fall in love with a roman while in Rome. I expected Matt to throw at least two but he only threw in one coin like the rest of us. We were all getting hungry at this point so we decided to go to the Hard Rock Cafe that was way out of our budget but good nonetheless. I really wanted to get postcards at this point and Lindsey said there was this really cheap place she knew by the Pantheaon so we decided to walk down there to see what they had. While passing the Pantheon we saw a huge crowd and so we decided to see what was going on only to find that Michelle Obama and her two girls were touring the Pantheon at this time. So we actually got to see the First Lady and the Presidents kids in Italy. Isn't it crazy that we have to travel to the other side of the world to see our own First Lady? I wonder how many famous people we are going to encounter on this trip. Anyways, we ended the day by heading to a gelato shop to buy some wonderful tasting ice cream. After such a hot day the ice cream tasted so good I wish I could have it everyday.

2nd Day:
Today we went to the National Museum and got to see a tone of art older then us. I think the best part was getting to see all of the coins made for each new era of the Roman Empire. All of the coins were so detailed and awesome. After this we headed to the Vatican where we got into its museum and saw works from Da Vinci and Michelangelo. Unfortunately for us as soon as we were about to enter the Sistine Chapel the security guard stopped us and told us it was closing because Obama and his family were going to be visiting it in 20 minutes. So we went all the way to Rome and did not get into the Sistine Chapel. So after this we decided to go to Saint Peters and we saw Obama enter the Vatican.. Saint Peters is elaborately decorated inside but what we wanted to do most was to climb the dome in it. Yet again the dome was closed due to Obama's visit so we were unable to. Besides the fact that our own president kept us from seeing the best sites in the Vatican the day was pretty amazing. I mean how many people can say they have been to the Vatican.