Rome has so much to offer. Seriously. It felt like we walked the entire length of Rome again today, and I still haven't seen even a portion of what I want to.
Today began with a touch of chaos...due to the metro people going on strike to show how important they are. Apparently they do this often enough, however, that Italians have learned to adapt quickly and find other modes of transportation. One word: busses! An experience I'll never forget, we spent about 15 minutes pressed so tightly together against random people (I met a guy from Uganda who's never heard of the LDS faith while we were sharing a personal bubble) I didn't have to worry about holding onto anything. People were enough of a cushion. Honestly, I've never felt so wet from sweat and void of oxygen as I did on that bus. It was crazy! After we clambered into the fresh air at our stop, one of the girls in my group who speaks Spanish told me she overheard some Spanish girls that were behind me warn each other I was trying to pickpocket them...haha. You know me, I'm so untrustworthy ;) So that was fun.
Among today's adventure we saw the Ara Pacis (an altar to Augustinian peace) and the Pantheon-so amazing! Side note: there are firecrackers going off right outside my window...they sound like a machine gun. Anyway, I should mention before we arrived at the Pantheon, five of us (myself included) got split from the group so we spent 20 min wandering the streets of Rome until we miraculously met up with our group. It's hard when all the streets and buildings look alike! So after our joyous reunion, I finally experienced the inside of one of the most beautiful and impressive buildings I've ever experienced. Talk about feeling minuscule (the entire point of the building)!
When we were finally turned loose for the day, I spent an awesome 45 minutes in an Italian McDonald's for the bathroom and another 50 minutes waiting for a bus that never came. Oh well. I enjoyed people watching for a good portion of that time in which I discovered some funny things. One: Italians really enjoy singing along to Lady GaGa and Rhianna in English, only to revert back to Italian quickly after. It's not uncommon for me to hear our hits blasting from a little Italian car. Two: Smoking is extremely popular and I'm pretty sure I'm going to get lung cancer if I stick around much longer. Three: Nutella is way more common in Italy than peanut butter ever will be...not that I mind at all :) Four: the sun hates me. Or rather, really, really loves me. I'm quite pink!
In short, my wicked sunburn's worth having if I get to soak in as much Rome as possible :)
No comments:
Post a Comment