Venerdì- Rome day 2

The Ancient City

Friday we were up quite early to get over to the ancient city. But first, we went on a mission to find pastries, which were delicious. We started at the Palatino to see the ruins of the Roman empire (our new friends in tow- so 6 of us total) and spent hours there. It just doesn't seem real and it's difficult to wrap your head around people building these immense structures and living there so long ago. 

Brick upon brick

I feel like we were there forever, when I think we left around 11am. It was just so huge and I never really knew where I was or where it started and ended. And then we were on to the Colosseum!

Colosseo

So incredibly huge and packed with tourists. Thankfully Greg's dad told us to get our tickets at the Palatino and we got to feel special as we skipped the line of hundreds of people. I really loved going up to the second level, because we went up these crazy, steep stairs that were worn from millions of visitors. 

When we left the Colosseum, we exited through the Circo Massimo (where the chariot races were) and headed in some direction, trusting Greg and Thomas. I remember Sarah looking at the map and insisting we were going the wrong way, but Thomas was at the front just waving and saying, "Just follow me. No matters. We go this way." But that's how our whole weekend ended up being- trusting Thomas, who had already been there for a week. And it was great, because without him we wouldn't have seen a lot of the little things that were so great. 

In the middle of a residential area that seemed weird to be walking through, he stopped and showed us a door. Then had us look through the key hole. I didn't know what to expect as I heard everyone go before and ohh and aww. And it was amazing. I'm not going to say what you see, because not knowing made it more special. 

Buco di Roma

After, we went to the Bocca della Verità, which is an old stone that was used to judge different matters. Apparently it was to determine the liars from the truth tellers and if you placed your hand in the mouth and you were a liar it would bite your hand off (by the power of the gods, I do believe). My hand is still  in tact. Lunch was in order as we were absolutely exhausted and starving- we found a nice place before saying goodbye to two of our new friends (who were both leaving Rome that day leaving just the three of us and our Français. 

Bocca della Verità

We headed off to more sights and it was determined that Marina's art cravings needed to be appeased. Rome is the perfect place for that. There are works by Caravaggio just sitting in churches- 3 of which we found. It's so beautiful and I was getting a little emotional a every one. And the churches they were in weren't too shabby either. We ended the day watching the sunset from stairs that overlooked the Vatican and the Roman rooftops. 

Caravaggio- pretend you don't see that 'no photo' sign