These are pink trees all along the road.
There are fields and fields of them the whole way to Rome! These pictures really don't do it justice.
Rome!! What an exciting place to visit. It is so historical and fascinating. I am going to talk about Rome in two parts, because there is too much to explain in just one blog!! First I’ll talk about the sites around Rome and the city in general… then I’ll move on to talking about the Vatican!
So the origins of Rome come from the story of Remus and Romulus. Their mother was a vestal virgin and was considered very sacred, and she fell in love with a god and got pregnant. In order to protect her children she hide her pregnancy and sent her two twin baby boys down the river where a local fisherman heard the two boys crying a while later. He wasn’t able to produce any milk to fed the two babies, but he had a she-wolf with him and this wolf provided milk for the two boys. This milk made them very strong, good warriors in the future and they both ended up becoming leaders in the world. The twin brothers grew up together and conquered land which is now Rome. Romulus drew a line across his land and said that anyone that stepped across this line would be killed. His brother Remus didn’t think he was serious, and he “crossed the line” and his twin brother Romulus had him killed. Rome was later named after Romulus. Driving around Rome you can see numerous statues depicting the twin boys drinking the milk from the she-wolf. And that is the legend of Rome’s origin. Also the origin of the name barbarian is because when Rome conquered new places the people in those regions had a hard time speaking the language and they often stumbled over their words. Therefore the Romans called them ba-ba-barbarians.
This is a picture of Ancient Rome. Rome has been destroyed and rebuilt so many times that the level present day Rome is built is a lot higher than the past. So this is me looking down into ancient Rome from the street.
Driving around Rome the first thing you notice is how crazy drivers are here!!! It is a very intense city to drive in or walk in! It appears like the lines on the road are more like “guide lines” than actual rules here in Rome. People make a two lane road into five and that’s not even considering the motorbikes that zig in and out of traffic! Also there isn’t enough parking in Rome, and I guess they don’t give out parking tickets?? Because people park EVERYWHERE! And when I say everywhere… this includes but is not limited to sidewalks, double parking, triple parking, pedestrian crosswalks, and etc…
Yes this car is parked DIRECTLY in a pedestrain cross walk area!
Unlike some of the other countries we went to people like to drive in Rome, and there are just massive amounts of cars. Also, due to the fact that no building is allowed to be taller than St. Peter’s Cathedral there aren’t any high rises or parking garages in Rome.
The second thing that you noticed about Rome is the graffiti. It is literally on every single building you come across (except the historical buildings, and churches). Apparently, graffiti has only been outlawed recently and before it was perfectly acceptable to practice graffiti in Rome… so alas people did! I have some pictures of just a small section of Rome below.
There are a lot of cool things about Rome… I’m not sure where to begin! The first day we got to Rome we got to go on a walking tour, and we passed a lot of cool stuff. For any one that is a Dan Brown fan and has read/seen Angels and Demons I got to go to several of the church’s of science mentioned in the book, and I saw the not so secret passage way that the Pope uses to escape if the Vatican is ever attacked.
Here I am in front of the Parthenon that used to be a temple to the Gods. It is currently under construction so I didn't get to go inside of it.
Also during this tour I got to go to the famous Trevi Fountain...
So beautiful!
Here is a picture of my friends! Nyree and Bobby. Nyree is 24 and Bobby just turned 17. So it is a good match for us. We are a little bit different in age but close enough to get along and run around with each other throughout the cities. So it's nice.
And of course I threw three coins into the fountain!! It was really beautiful and extremely crowded, but of course most things are crowded in Rome. After visiting the Trevi we went out to dinner together in this restaurant. The service was amazing I told them that I didn’t like cheese and they specially made things for me without Cheese on it which was super nice. At the end of the night our Italian waiter brought all of the women flowers and kissed us on the cheek. One of the older men was laughing at this, and the waiter said “Ahh no worries, sir I don’t forget you” and he put on this whole bit about how he was going to give the guy a kiss. And he pulled a wig out and made the guy wear it before he pretended to do it. It was hilarious!! Such a great night out! Also that night I noticed that there are pictures of Mary on every corner in Rome. I took a picture of a few. Also there are TONS of statues and angels all throughout the city.
You would think that this would make you feel peaceful and safe, but the whole time I really didn’t have that vibe in Rome. I was really concerned about getting pick pocketed or having a beggar come up to me either begging for money or trying to sell something stupid. It happens quite frequently, and it’s pretty sad. I feel really bad for the people our restaurant was near the main train station, and after we had exited our 4 course fancy dinner heading towards our private coach in a great mood we noticed A LOT of people curled up sleeping on the streets… it was a really humbling sight and it made me really grateful for all the blessings in my life. While that last sentence was a perfect transition into moving onto talking about the Vatican I still have a couple more famous areas in Rome to talk about first!
The Coliseum was a really interesting building.
It has been stripped apart over the years by people. The Coliseum used to be covered with white marble, but after Rome fell and it was abandoned people stripped away the marble to use for other purposes… like other buildings throughout Rome. 
In this picture you can see some left over marble, and then you can see where it's just dirt around it.
This left HUGE holes all around the Coliseum. It looks like it has been attacked during a war or something… It looks like Swiss Cheese almost now! But we walked through the Coliseum and a lot of it is gone, but you can still see some parts.
The stage is no longer there, but you can see the under chambers where the gladiators lived and where the animals were kept.
Also in the next picture you can see where the Gladiators would have entered from. Ironcially the woman who put her hand in my picture happens to be pointing straight at it! Talk about good timing!
Also the emperor’s seat is adorned with white strips.
Back in the day the emperor had the final decision on whether or not people in the ring died by putting his thumb up or down. You probably already know this because it is depicted in movies a lot. While the emperor did have the final decision on whether or not people lived or died the emperor was pretty smart and he usually judged how the crowd was reacting. If the crowd was yelling mitte, mitte, mitte or save him, save him, save him… the emperor put his thumb up. If the crowd was yelling uggular, uggular, uggular… or kill him, kill him, kill him then the emperor would put his thumb down. There is a cross currently in front of where the emperor used to sit, and it was put there to represent all of the Christians that were killed because they were wrongly charged for burning down Rome. Years ago the emperor built his palace on the far side of Rome, and he didn’t like the fact that common people lived near him…. So he arraigned for a giant fire to wipe out the houses of the poor. The emperor also feared Christians because they preached that God loved everyone equally and that the poor should be taken care of. The emperor didn’t like this because he had slaves and he didn’t want his people to think that they were equal to him. Therefore, after the fire he blamed the leaders of the religion… including Peter and Paul who were both burned at the stake for the crime. Peter and Paul were killed on the same day, but in different sections of Rome so in artwork they are always shown next to each other. St. Peters Cathedral is built over the tomb of St. Peter. The main alter is above his body, and they know that it is him because he was well loved during his time and people marked his grave. Which leads us to talking about the Vatican.... The Vatican update will probably come either later on tonight or possibly some time tomorrow! It just depends on how busy I am!
