ROMA

Alrighty, yet another one of my fun filled post. So thursday morning at approx 8 am we embarked for Rome with our school. One of the roughest bus rides ever as Halloween was the night before and lets just say it was another great Florentine night. Well anyhow, got in rome around noon to our hotel called Hotel Porta Maggiore..pretty nice.

Bout an hour after we got in, we headed to the ever so famous Colosseum. My favorite stop of the trip for various reasons including its age, size and of course Gladiator. yea it was pretty damn amazing, everything i imagined.Side note: learned tons of history this week as it was intensive learning sched. sorry if i dont remember ever little detail or what church was which....also im gonna try to keep this blog short..just the main details

Already forgot what happend after the Colosseum. think was just walked around Rome for a little then headed back to the hotel

Colosseum at Night

That night we took it easy and just went to a bomb ass restraunt which for some reason the waiters hated us, even tho we ordered of the menu turistici

Friday headed to the Vatican and Saint Peters (Basilica di San Pietro). Amazing and simply enormous. prettty cool do see the tombs of the popes just out there in the church..unfortunately did not get a chance to go see where Pope John Paul lays. either way artwork and everything was amazing and truly beautiful. very sacred

After St. Peters we headed to the Vaticano..never knew that it was so damn big. Sistene Chapel and Raphael's room were breathtakin. everything will make it into my best video to date..which will be up probly next week..one of the hallways..probly has a famous name but it was amazing

Sistine Chapel was amazing, however didnt realize it was so small...disobeyed strict orders and took some pictures which turned out nicely. Michaelangelo is a baller..last judgment is definitely my favorite peace of artwork
After about a 3 hour tour in the Vatican i was thoroughly exhausted and content. So what better way to celebrate with some great food from the world famous Hard Rock Cafe
Some of the best food of the trip. Only place with ranch and free water and free refills. I had nachos(best ever) and a beef brisket. it was extremely good.

After that went back to the hotel to take a little rest for the night. That night we headed to Campo di Fiori...a little plazza just packed with italians and americans and tons of bars. One of my favorites, as well as my brothers from many years ago, was the Drunken Ship. nice bar..also headed over to i believe Giganti bar where we got a pitcher of beer for 8 euros..overall another great night out, this time is one of the most recognize and famous cities in the world

Saturday was a day full of churches..18 to be exact. all of them were impressive in ther own ways. 1 that stood out to me was chiesa st. ignazio.. really amazin..artwork compared to the Sistine and ther was some crazy 3d and mind altering images..like a dome that was actually only a flat surface..it was pretty trippy and amazing

Churches were sweet and definitely appreciated them

Then we went to the famous Trevi Fountain..got a sweet picture of me tossin a coin in, however its on my friends camera and i dont have it yet...so these picts will do..got a day and night shot.

After that we headed to the Pantheon. remarkable. learned that the base walls our 18ft thick.. have no idea how they could build a dome that big so many yrs ago, and still have it intact. dont have a good picture..ull see it in the video

Sunday: headed to see worlds most recognized and sacred figure. il Papa (The POPE) at San pietro. wasnt expectin much as i knew it would just be a short blessing, however it was still awesome.. ithink he pretty much just came out his bedroom window and started talking..didnt understand most of his speech however he spoke 8 different languages throught his speech. heard somethin bout the fires and Iraq. either way..really cool to see Benedetto. felt pretty religious
After that, it was bout 1 and had to get back to the hotel to catch the bus back to Florence. bus ride back was etremely brutal..worst italian traffic i have ever seen.. a ride that should have taken 3 hrs took 6. felt like i was in LA. but whatever..just threw on the ipod and kicked back

heres probly one of the best nature picts i have ever taken..it was from the ride back outside a autogrill. gotta love that tuscan sunset

vespa vid up next...VENICE in 3 days.