Rome Saturday July 7th

Here I am on my last day in Rome completely exhausted. Every bit of energy has been taken from my body but I'm so thankful for seeing all the sights I wanted to see.

After another night of waking up multiple times, we had breakfast at 9am and got ready for our long, hot day. I haven't slept through the night once while in Europe! So ridiculous and I've been feeling it, especially with all my traveling.

We got to the Colosseum and were greeted with disgusting long lines. Rome is WAY too crowded in the summer. Luckily, we bought tickets online so we got inside in like 5 minutes. We turned on our Rick Steve's podcast and walked in. Again I was speechless. The massiveness of it all takes my breath away. How did they manage to make this in 10 years? It was interesting to hear about the traditional gladiator fights and see beneath the arena floor in the backstage area. I tried to imagine what it would look and sound like which amazed me even more. It's said that 50,000 people could file into the arena in 15 minutes! The Romans should give some tips to sporting events and concerts!

We continued onto Palatine Hill, where Rome was founded. My roommates are pretty into Greek/Roman mythology so they knew much more than I did about the gods and such. Next was the Roman Forum which was incredible. It's crazy to think of all the hustle and bustle that happened on the streets. The grand arches and columns that still stand baffled me with their grandeur. We had a podcast which was extremely helpful. Most of the people there were so lost on what anything was, can't imagine not knowing the significance of the sights.

This day of Roman ruins reminded me of the ruins I saw while in Lebanon 2 summers ago. Both were incredible in their own way, and probably walked around in the same temperature too! It's amazing to think of how vast the Roman Empire was at its peak.

After we walked to the Mouth of Truth where we had to wait in line for the first time since we've been here, rough life! We got our classic picture and headed off to lunch at a local family Italian restaurant. I've been having so much pizza and gelato and my stomach has been completely fine! Such a blessing.

We walked over to the Trevi Fountain to grab gelato at a place my friend Nicole recommended, San Crispiano. Super delicious and hit the spot! We quickly headed back to our hostel because my roommates wanted to attend 5pm mass at St. Peter's. Both of them are pretty strong Catholics so I can see why they wanted to go. I've never been to mass and didn't really feel comfortable going so I stayed back at the hostel to cool off and nap a bit.

We looked up a good place to eat dinner and found this awesome restaurant that was cheap too! I had supa yaummy bruschetta, pasta, and wine. We had such an enjoyable last dinner in Rome that we didn't even realize we had been there for 2 1/2 hours! It's so nice to chat the night away.

We had our last gelato at Valentino's by the Trevi Fountain (recommended by Nicole) and it was the best gelato we've had so far! Great way to end the trip. We finished our night sitting by the Trevi Fountain and headed back to our hostel to get ready for a long day of traveling.

Rome was truly amazing, so grateful to be able to have seen so many sights I've only heard or read about. I wish the city was a bit more romantic, kids dirty, so many beggars and people trying to sell you ridiculous things but all in all, I have to say the trip was pretty successful.

Back to Prague for a full week of school (whhhhat?!) and then Berlin on Friday!

Love and miss you guys! Less than 3 weeks till I see y'all!

Ciao,
Whit