Part V... don´t worry it is the last one!

Then we continued the climb to the top of the dome; the steps were quite narrow and they curved, as we got closer to the top. I barely fit there so you can imagine John trying to walk up those steps. Haha When we got to the top and glanced out, it was clear that the climb was worth every second! We could see all of Rome from where we were standing. It was amazing! Too bad that a few seconds later there was a cloud right above us and it began pouring. We then walked back down to the roof of St. Peters and waited for the rain to let down.

When it finally did we began our search for the Sistine Chapel. We followed some signs and ended up at the Vatican Museum. The fee to get in was not cheap but we did not really have a choice. A person cannot go to Roma and not see the Sistine Chapel. So we walked through rooms and rooms of paintings and sculptures before getting to the Sistine Chapel. Words cannot really describe how awesome this was. It really is as impressive as people say it is! :D We then walked back towards our Hostel, this time we were not harassed by people selling umbrellas which is always nice. Haha We had dinner at a little restaurant that we had seen before. They had Tortellini and it was pretty good. :) You can guess how cold we were after spending a day walking around in the rain. My shoes were soaked as soon as we got back to our Hostel I put on two pairs of dry socks! Haha I then found out the other girl’s name. Her name was Jude and she was from Poland. Jude enlightened me and told me other spots in Rome I had to see before leaving. She also thought I was an idiot for not having known about them before she told me to go see them. Oh well, I will never see her again. :)

So on our last day in Rome, we stood in a very long line for the Colosseum but we got combined tickets for the Colosseum, Roman Forum, and Palatine (if the second two mean nothing to you- these were things Jude thought I was retarded for not knowing every detail about). I am afraid I have used the words sweet, awesome, amazing, impressive and cool too much but the Colosseum and the Roman Forum were a combination of all these words. It was just so humbling to stand in a place where many civilizations have gathered and worshiped in their own way. It really gives you some perspective.

Later we walked down to Piazza de Navona and had lunch there (bread and Nutella), then walked to the Pantheon and walked around the basilica there. It was circular and had a giant hole in the center (this was also one of the places Jude said was Obligatory). Our final stop before heading to the train station was the Trevi fountain. Now- I had been looking for this fountain because I saw it in the Lizzie McGuire movie (laugh all you want) and I knew it was famous but I had no idea what it was called and even less of an idea where I could find it. When Jude asked me if I had seen the Trevi fountain and I responded with a blank face and an “ummmm… what does it look like?” I believe her response was a shocked “NO (Insert bad word here)WAY!!!” Poor Jude, she almost had a heart attack. She took a deep breath and then explained what it looked like and told me that according to the legend, if you go to this fountain and throw money over your shoulder you will go back to Rome, I wanted to tell her “Oh yeah! That is the fountain I saw in Lizzie McGuire!” but I figured she would call me a bad name and just walk away from me, so I kept quiet. :) haha

Anyways, it was evident this fountain was really famous because when we got there, there were only about a few hundred people crowded around the fountain taking pictures while throwing money over their shoulders. We could not afford to throw money into the fountain but we are also not superstitious (I am just afraid of the dark, that is different). So after our crowded experience with the Trevi fountain we made our way to the train station, arrived at Leonardo DaVinci airport, had our giant container of Nutella thrown away by an angry Italian woman, waited for a while, got on the plane, were not served anything to drink (a small glass of coke cost 3 dollars), arrived at Barajas, took the metro to the bus station, had dinner, took a 7 hour bus ride to Sevilla, walked home to find myself unable to open the door because Salud left her key in the door handle which makes it impossible to turn the key (her way of keeping people from breaking in), rang the door bell three times, walked back outside, stood at her window and yelled her name a few times, came back inside rang the door bell once more than she finally woke up. She said good morning, I said good night.

This sums up my weeklong adventure. I am sure I am forgetting something but for more details you should read John’s blog. :) Once again, thanks for reading my longest blog ever!

Peace and love my friends,

Karla <3