Rome in 48 Hours

CLASSES

Classes started this week and the class sizes are really small (especially the graphic design courses). My Elementary Italian class has 9 people including me. Web animation has 3 people (incl. me) Avant-garde and modernist art 12 people (incl. me). Hidden Meaning in Renaissance Art, 7 people (incl. me) and Graphic Design for Advertising, 2 people (incl. me).

ROME

Day 1:

I opted to go on a school group tour because I felt that it would be cheaper (included accommodations, food, attractions, and transportation) and was a good way to meet other people. We had to catch the bus at 5:45 a.m. We arrived in Rome around 10 a.m., and headed straight to the Colosseum. The lines were crazy long, and we waited about an hour to actually go in.

After, we headed back onto the bus and went to St. Petersburg and Vatican City. Again, the lines were incredibly long. We were supposed to go to the Vatican museum and Sistine chapel- but of course this weekend, the Pope was having a private event there- so it was closed. After waiting another hour in line, we finally got through security. We met up with a tour guide, who explained the history behind different aspects within the Basilica. We then went to the Castel Sant’Angelo. It had amazing views of the city. Afterward, we went to our hotel and had about a two-hour break before dinner.

Day 2:

We started the day going to the Pantheon, and then went to the Spanish steps, Trevi fountain and then the Trajan column. At that point, we got about three hours of free time. I went with a couple people out to lunch. We then went to an “Irish Pub” and got some drinks and talked. The last stop before going back to Florence was the Catacombs. It was kind of eery and creepy. We also couldn’t take pictures in there. A lot of the area was blocked off because there were bones not extracted yet. Where we could walk, there were no bones, but some really pretty fresco paintings on top of the tombs. Apparently, some strange tourists took some of the bones as souvenirs, which is super strange and weird.