Rome, Italy

I have to say first off that I never thought I would be fortunate enough to be able to go to Italy so thank you to everyone for making this experience possible. My entire Rome experience was unforgettable. Michelle, Christine and I caught our first mode of transportation which was a bus that took us from Galway to the Dublin Airport at 12:30am Tuesday morning. Upon arrival Christine and I were freaking out that our bags would not fit into the blue basket that all carry items must it in, but all went well. This one bag yes let me repeat that ONE BAG actually I wouldn't even call it a bag it was a backpack that fit all of my clothes for 4 days, a towel, pjs, an extra pair of shoes, camera, and showering necessities. Yes I am that good. So getting back to the story I started off the morning pretty amazing by having a breakfast of champions.

(Sponsored by Grandma Carson. Much of Thanks!!)
At 6:00am it was time to board the plane. This part was crazy! We had to walk out onto the runway to board the plane, and we were able to board the plane from the front or rear. Just an FYI people do not walk on the runway. These people are serious at a dead sprint running to the plane! Crazy people I tell ya.

Once I got my heartrate up it was time to sit for the 3 hour duration to Italy. Luckily I slept the entire way. SCORE!! Once we arrived at the airport we had to take a bus into the city of Rome which took about 40 minutes and then the scavenger hunt to finding the hostel began, only it was a pretty easy scavenger hunt when you have Michelle on your team. She is an awesome direction and map reader. Thank goodness. This is a tour of our hostel.


There were 8 beds in a room. The hostel was almost nicer than my first dorm room. I was impressed! After setting our things down the 3 of us decided to head off and explore Rome. The first stop was the Colosseum.





So this was suppose to be a photo opp for the girls. I handed my camera to a group of what I thought were gentlemen and asked if they would kindly take a picture of the 3 of us posing as spartans, which would have been totally hilarious especially since we were actually in the colosseum, but one of their random friends decided to join us, not what we were expecting, but thought I would share one of the many random unexpected moments in our journey.

Next we went to Palentino where we spent close to 2 hours just admiring the beautiful scenery.






This is where the Chariot Races use to be held. I stood out on the ledge staring at this spot for quite sometime imagining the races going on. It was really neat!
Right next to Palatino was Foro Romano.

After a quick stop we headed to the Fontana di Trevi.




Following a long day of touring the city we headed to the hostel for a free pasta dinner @7pm. The pasta tasted like throw up so I washed it down with cookies and water.


The next morning came quickly seeing as we woke up at 6:40am in order to get ready and down to get a seat in the Vatican to see the Pope. On our way out of the hostel to catch the metro we noticed that the hostel was offering free breakfast. First thing that came to my mind was pancakes sausage and eggs. This is what was offered...

The rest of my day was dedicated to spiritual endevours by going to see the Pope and going to mass for Ash Wednesday. First we took the Metro to Vatican City and walked through Basilica S. Pietro to get to the building the mass was held in.


Heading into the building to wait for the Pope. We arrived at 8:30 and his speech was at 10:30.

Still waiting. We were really close to the stage. Thank you Christine for getting us tickets!!

The moment we had all been waiting for!!


Although the Pope did his address in Italian there was an English translator among about 7 other language translators. I was impressed that when the Pope blessed us he said the blessing in all 7 languages.


After leaving the Pope, we headed to the Pantheon.




(This is the whole in the roof... good thing it wasn't raining)
After the Pantheon we walked back to the Fontana di Trevi and up to Trinita del Monti (Spanish Steps).



We had plenty of time to do somemore exploring before mass started at 6:00 so we headed to Piazza del Popolo...





...and rode the carousel in the Galoppatoio which was a beautiful forest like park.

Later that evening we attended Ash Wednesday Mass at the Church of Santa Susanna. The mass was in English. Christine and I received ashes from who Christine calls the "hot guy" a.k.a the priest in training.

And finished our night off with what we thought was going to be one glass of wine. To make a long story short the night in fact wasn't short at all. The co-owner of the restaurant we were at fell in love with Christine, bought us all roses, comp'd our wine, desserts, and offered to pay for a cab to get us home.


Although we all woke up with "little" hangovers the next day we were on the move by 7:00am headed to Vatican City.First stop Musei Vaticani (home of the sistine chapel).




Then we headed inside the Basilica S. Pietro. This is the building you see on tv when the pope is speaking..



Leaving Vatican city we headed along the river to Castel Sant' Angelo on our journey back to the hostel.


Overall, I am blessed I have been given the opportunity to visit Rome, but I would like to visit the countryside of Italy if I were ever to visit again. Rome itself was just a bit dirty for me. Great history though!