The Eternal City

These are just two (slightly random) pictures from Rome...the top one is my tiny, tiny hotel room and the bottom one is me, Robert, and Pablo sitting on the roof of Pablo's seminary, which clearly has one of the best, most expansive views of Rome in the entire city. A recap...

Thursday: obviously the aforementioned train trip, found my hotel after navigating the Termini train station, got lost trying to find the hotel, Robert & Pablo picked me up, we tried to go to the Vatican Museum (it was closed), went to St. Peter's Basilica, stopped by the convent where Robert was staying, went to Piazza Navona, Chiesa di Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps, searched high and low for pizza, and took the metro back to my hotel (I got us lost).

Friday: American style hotel breakfast, wandered around trying to find Robert in the line for the Vatican Museum, Vatican Museum, met up with Pablo, found lunch, took the bus to St. Paul's Basilica, saw the steps from Jerusalem (that Jesus reportedly walked on), went to the Coliseum, tried to go to the Forum (it was closed), went to the church where Bernini's "The Ecstasy of St. Theresa" is kept, St. Paul's of the Chains (where Michelangelo's Moses (that you can touch) is kept), took the bus to St. John's where the first Baptistry was built, took a bus way outside the city to a non-tourist dominated Peruvian restaurant, and stopped by the Piazza del Popolo on the way back to the hotel.

Saturday: Hotel breakfast, round 2, meet the boys at the Campanile in St. Peter's square, hiked up quite a huge hill to see the Tempieto (a small Renaissance building housed within the Spanish consulate), visited the Campo del Fiore (where the French Embassy and apparently a lot of nightlife was), saw some of Caravaggio's paintings in Chiesa di San Luigi, went to Chiesa di Ignacius (a Jesuit church with a fake dome and the tomb of one of the founders), visited the Forum, took the bus out to the Catacombs of Pricilla, went to S. Maria Maggiore (where Bernini is burried), visited Pablo's seminary, said goodbye to Pablo, searched for a pasta place for dinner but happened upon Rome's best pizza place for dinner (where the owner would dart in and out of the restaurant and hand pick people out of the ridiculously long line), and finished with Rome's best gelato.

Sunday: Mass at St. Peter's Basilica, packed up and checked out of the hotel, saw the Pope speak in St. Peter's square, and hopped the train back home.