Study Abroad in Riva San Vitale, Switzerland: Rome

We just had our first ten day break. After going to Munich, Germany for Oktoberfest for two days I met my parents Sunday night in Rome. I was very excited to be able to meet them. I got a little lost coming out of the train station for about 45 minutes because I wasn't sure where the hotel was, just that it was near the train station. I guess I underestimated how big Rome was, and how many hotels there could be in one block. The city, to me, had a much bigger feel to it than it actually was. I think that's because there are so many tourists. But Rome has about 2.5 million people compared to about 8.5 million in New York City. Fact of the day.

We stayed at the Hotel Mediterraneo, which was a fairly old building, built in the early 1900's I think. It was noticeable, but nice. I felt the staff was a little unfriendly though. We just went to a small pizza place down the street because I got in so late, but I really liked the pizza.

The next day, we went and did some minimal touring, but didn't see any major sites as we were on our way to do a wine tour on the outskirts of Rome. These were some of the sites we saw on our walk through the city.

Basilica in Piazza Della Repubblica

These pictures are in St. Maria Maggiore Church

I'm not exactly sure but I think was a common house for a lot of the people in the area. It was located in a nice park.

Just showing how congested the streets were. There was a train strike in Rome that day though. They happen frequently in Italy and their all planned ahead of time.

This is the St. John Lantern Basilica.

After we saw these sights we got some pizza and gelato before we took our Frescotti wine tour on the outskirts of Rome. The tour was on a 200 acre farm where they also grew olives and produced their own olive oil. The ground was very fertile, sitting on volcanic ashes which made the grapes very good. An interesting fact I learned was that roses are set at the end of each row of vines. If there is disease in the ground the harvesters know because the flower is the first to be affected. This way they can protect their grapes. We also had a wine tasting of four different kinds of wine ranging from light and heavy wines to a dessert wine. It was a lot of fun. That was pretty much the extent of our first day.

The second day we saw a lot of things and did an incredible amount of walking. We started off by taking the metro to the Vatican, which was an experience in itself. Luckily we had tickets and we didn't need to wait in the long line to get in. I didn't realize how massive the Vatican Museum actually was until we entered at around 10 and didn't leave till around 2. There were so many exhibits of art and culture. I have heard that if you took time to look at each exhibit for 2 seconds, you would be in the museum for 10 years. The art, sculptures, and history was amazing.

These are only some of the pictures. I took a lot

I also took some pictures of the Sistine Chapel, which is where Michelangelo painted his masterpiece. I technically wasn't supposed to take pictures but I had to try and capture this.

Pictures can't exactly capture the detail and all of the attention of this incredible room.

After we left the Vatican Museum we went down the street to see St. Peters Basilica. This was the most amazing church I seen yet. The piazza itself that it was located in was beautiful and even the outside of the church was massive. But the inside is what was even more gorgeous and appeared even more massive. It was interesting to see Swiss soldiers guarding it too.

After Vatican City we made our way over to Castel Sant'Angelo. This is another amazing structure, not made from marble, but bricks. The castle was made for a roman emperor around 135 AD but then turned into a military fortress around 401. It was a different kind of structure moving away from the typical Roman look.

I would have liked to see this device in working condition.

We made our way across the river back into the heart of Rome. We went into the Piazza Navona which had many street artists and another church to look at. This was a very nice piazza and busy with restaurants and street acts.

We continued to the Pantheon. This building was not what I expected. You had the marble on the front side but the interior and everywhere else around the building was brick. It was another large structure and interesting to see the popes buried inside.

We saw two other structures before my parents started to rebel and needed to rest. So we stopped for lunch right next to Temple Adriano. This was was the best meal I had in Rome. I had an alfredo. We had a nice dinner with some wine, and of course dad got the beer. Then we went and saw the government building before eating a a recommended gelato place, Geoletti, which is my favorite so far in all of Europe. I had oreo and caramel.

We had one more stop to make on our way back to the hotel. I wanted to see the Trevi Fountain at night, and I was not disappointed. This was one of my favorite sites in all of Rome. It was very crowded and touristy. It wasn't only the fountain that made it so beautiful but the water, lights, and the fact that is was connected to a very nice building as well. And of course we had to take part in the ritual of throwing coins in the fountain.

We called it a night after this. We saw a few more things on our way back to the hotel like the opera house but it was safe to say that we were exhausted and slept well which was good because we may have done even more walking the next day.

The first thing we saw the next day was a huge open field called the Circo Massimo. I couldn't understand why everyone was looking at what looked like just a track for joggers but I later found out it was a huge arena for chariot races and probably looked awesome at the time.

We then roamed around on Palentine Hill and the Roman Forum for a few hours. It was difficult to grasp the place without the knowledge of the history but seeing some pictures of what they thought it looked like back then, it really makes you appreciate it more. The Roman Forum was really cool and it looks like it used to be an amazing place.

This was a room in Emperor Augustus's house

This was called the stadium where they had chariot races

Arch of Titus

From here we went to the Coliseum. It was definitely something to see in person. Its one thing to hear about the stories and see it in movies but another to actually see. We took a guided tour which was interesting, I was really bummed to hear that they just recently closed the "basement" to the Coliseum where the gladiators and animals were, but it was still amazing to even look down on. There were 60 spaces available underneath for all different kinds of animals that could appear through trap doors on the surface at any time.