When in Rome...

Roma was not one of my favorite cities in Italy. I enjoyed seeing all of the cool sites, but I'm not sure if I'll ever go back. It was just very crowded and a little dirty. I am also not a tour person. I like to wander around on my own and go at my own pace, which is usually faster than tour guides. Sometimes I get bored staring at a picture for 20 minutes learning about the history. I have to say that the night life in Rome was very alive. Every piazza was full of locals and tourists each night. One night we sat at the Trevi Fountain for a couple of hours just taking pictures and enjoying our surroundings.Those couple of hours were my favorite hours spent in Rome.

Day 1:
We went to Vatican City the first day. We visited the Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter's Square and Basilica. Vatican City felt the Disney world. It was packed! It was cool to visit one of the smallest countries in the world. At one point I took off my sweater because it was so hot and I got yelled at by one of the guards because I was showing my shoulders. I had high expectations for the Sistine Chapel, but once we got inside it was so loud and everyone was taking illegal pictures. The police had to get on the microphone twice to tell everyone to stop being disrespectful. It kind of took away from the experience of seeing one of the prettiest chapels in the world.Walking around St. Peter's Square was very pretty and the Basilica was one of the prettiest churches I have been in (lets be real, all of the churches in Italy are pretty).

 

Day 2:

Another morning full of tours, but I guess that's what you get when you go to a touristy city with a lot of sites that need to be seen. Today we visited the Coliseum, Roman and Imperial Forums, Capitol Hill, and Piazza Venezia. The Coliseum was by far my favorite place of the day. I have seen so many pictures online and in movies and it was so cool to finally see it in real life. It was incredible to think that the gladiators fought in it so long ago. Also, I learned that gladiators were slaves, which I had no idea about. The tour ended around 1:30 and then we had free time for the rest of the day. Free time consisted of wandering Rome, taking a nap, and getting ready for the rest of the night.

Day 3:

My favorite day in Rome! Today was less touristy and more walking around the city and seeing places I really wanted to see. We visited Piazza del Popolo, Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, Piazza Pantheon, and Piazza Navona. The Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain were my favorite places in Rome. The Spanish Steps are so pretty and surrounded by colorful flowers. The Trevi Fountain is an incredible work of art that also grants wishes. If you toss one coin with your right hand over your left shoulder you will return to Rome. The money thrown into the fountain is collected daily and is donated to an Italian charity.

The Tourist In Me Is Finally Coming Out

After being in Florence for the past 4 weeks my friends and I decided it was time to visit the touristy places in town.

Firenze Synagogue
We recently discovered that our apartment is 5 minutes from the only Synagogue in Florence. The Synagogue is only open for services during Shabbat and high holidays, all other times the Synagogue serves as a museum for the traveling Jewish community. When we walked inside we were all amazed. It was one of the most beautiful Synagogues I have been into. The walls and ceilings were all hand painted with such detail. After wandering around by ourselves we got a brief history about the Synagogue and Jewish community in Florence from one of the guides. He pointed out a small but important detail on the walls. He pointed to the wall at about 7 ft high and showed us how from the floor to about 7ft the wall was a little darker than the 10ft mark to the ceiling, all around the Synagogue. He explained to us how there was a flood that ruined the entire city and 7 ft of water sat in the Synagogue for days. He also explained to us how the Nazis tried to blow up the Synagogue by placing 30 bombs in and around the Synagogue, but luckily somehow something went wrong and only 2 of the 30 bombs went off, making very minimal damage.

Gallerie dell'Accademia
The time has come for me to finally see the famous naked masterpiece of Michelangelo, the statue of David. My museum pass makes me feel like VIP. It allows all students to skip the line at most of the museums in Florence. The statue was huge and intricate! The sculpting on his body made him seem like the perfect man. I'm not really a museum person, but I walked around the rest of the museum and appreciated some of the works of art. It was a short visit, but well worth it.

We were not allowed to take pictures of the real David, but here is the David in modern times.

Duomo
The Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, otherwise known as the Duomo, is the main church of Florence. It serves as my landmark in Florence and is basically the only reason I know how to get around Florence. When you see the Duomo you know you are headed in the right direction. We decided it was time to finally climb the Duomo. We put on our hiking outfits and Nike shoes and set out to climb the tallest building in Florence. Unfortunately, the Duomo is not on our museum pass so we had to wait in line like ordinary people. While in line we thought of every possible staircase that we might have to climb. Would it be a spiral all the way up? Can we just take a elevator? What if we fall? We walked in an the adventure began. The climb up wasn't too bad (of course we were all out of breath half way through), it just felt like it was never going to end. We finally reached a point that was almost to the top. It was one of the steepest staircases I have ever climbed, and it had no railing. We were a little scared, but then we saw a cute old couple coming down and they gave us motivation. We reached the top and it was magnificent. We were standing on a balcony at the top of the largest building in Florence. We could see everything surrounding Florence. After about 20 minutes of admiring the view we headed back down. The climb down was scarier than the climb up. I consider myself and adventurous person, but these stairs did not seem very trustworthy. The were thin and small. Once we arrived at the bottom we decided to reward ourselves with a refreshing cup of gelato.