3/1/14 - I am in ROME!!!

I am not entirely sure if today can be classified as a distinct day from yesterday.  They sure seem awfully continuous to me.  However, we did make it to Rome!  The day spent in the Paris airport consisted mostly of attempting to sleep in uncomfortable airport chairs (I’m not sure how socially acceptable it is to lay on the floor for a nap in France).  I did have an espresso and croissant for breakfast before finally boarding the plane to Rome and promptly passing out again.

Once in Rome, we collected our baggage and boarded a bus to take us to our hotel.  After driving through the country for a while, we entered Rome quite suddenly with a grand view of the Coliseum (Oh my gosh I’m in Rome!)  It was a pretty amazing sight, if only briefly as we passed by.  I can’t wait to go back later this week for an actual tour!

The door to our hotel is massive.  And the hotel blends right into the wall so that I often walk right past it without even noticing.  I was surprised the first time it opened and only a tiny piece of the door actually moved.  It reminded me of the Wizard of Oz, and I felt like I was entering a castle.  Or just a really old building in ROME!  Our hotel room is very nice.  There is a creaky old elevator that moves through the center of the building, one of those that you see in movies with a gate and double doors.. I may just take the stairs net tome, but it is definitely part of the experience!

The group met up for a short evening excursion into the city.  The subway was much like the T, though everything was in Italian… It doesn’t seem too difficult to figure out.  The trains are wider and the whole area was packed with people!  Apparently you have to be very cautious of pick-pocketing here.  While boarding the train I noticed a teenage boy definitely try to pickpocket our group.  Good thing we all had a tight grasp on our possessions… I lucked out in Costa Rica without having anything stolen; I’m hoping to be just as lucky again!

The subway, or Metro as I guess it is called, brought us back to the Coliseum (Yippee!).  This time it was all lit up inside, making it look somewhat menacing.  I could definitely picture Gladiator events happening here…

I can't believe this is real!!!

For dinner we went to this little pizza place right by our hotel.  All of the restaurants are little here.  According to our professor “Anywhere you go will be delicious, even if there is only one table.”  This place had a few more tables than that, but still time and care was put into each pizza made.  It’s hard going with such a large group because then there is no chance of it all coming out at the same time, and all of us were quite hungry after traveling all night/day and sleeping through lunch on the plane.  Eventually everyone was satisfied.  I got a vegetarian pizza, and managed to remember to take a picture half way through!

Tomorrow we have another busy day planned, beginning with Mass in St. Peter’s Square.  Maybe I’ll meet the Pope!  We will also visit the pantheon and some other churches and I am very excited for that!  Tonight will be an early night with all the jet lag and lack of sleep catching up with me (also because I got to bed early anyway…) Tomorrow I head out in search of the best gelato in ROME!

Buonanotte!