Roman Holiday

Ciao!

Here is the quick version of my blog post for my weekend trip April 18-19 to Rome that I did through my school program. I'm not going to write very lengthy anymore because it takes too long :) It was a great trip because my architecture professor was one of the chaperones, and another history professor was the other- so it was educational as well as fun!

-Walking tours of the city over both days in which we saw the Colosseum, Arch of Constantine, Trevi fountain (unfortunately under restoration so we couldn't throw the coin :( sad), St. Peter in Chains church, Quattro Fontane, a couple of other churches, Michelangelo's Spanish steps, the roman forum, the pantheon, Piazza navona with the three fountains, and probably other famous things that I have forgotten. Take a look at my Flickr page and tell me if I forgot something!

-Random- but right by the Pantheon is a fantastic coffee shop that everyone must go to sometime in their life. Called "La case del caffe" also "Tazza D'oro" right next to the Pantheon, literally can't miss it, and the thing to get is like a granita iced coffee slush basically layered between two mounds of whipped cream. I believe it's "granita di caffe con pana" is how it is written on the menu. I'd go back just for that!

-Vatican museum and St Peter's basilica was all in one day, and it was amazing! Vatican tour was very long, but we got to see everything: the papal apartments, ancient art pieces like the Doryphoros and the Laocoon group that are displayed there, through the long halls of tapestries and maps, and at the very end was the Sistine chapel. We had about 30 minutes inside, and it was spectacular. 

-St Peter's was close by, we got to go inside there (GORGEOUS) and see Michelangelo's Pieta and the beautiful bronze canopy (ciborium or also called a baldachin) that sits in the middle of the transept. We got to go to Mass there too! Beautiful. 

-St. Peter's square was equally spectacular, with the 4 column-deep rounded colonnade that surrounds the entire church and then extends downward, to encircle the people with the "church's loving arms" as Bernini was quoted as saying for the reason for his design.

That's all I can think of for this trip! Ciao