roma spelled backwards: amor

Coincidence? I think not!

Another weekend in another city has left me speechless. Rome lived up to and exceeded every expectation I had of it - everything everyone says about it is true.

Barcelona is great; it has its amazing architecture, beautiful beaches, and is a vibrant bustling city with lots to see and do.

But Rome is different.

Rome is an experience.

The entire city is like a huge history museum. The statues, the buildings, the roads - everything still looks the way I imagine it did hundreds and hundreds of years ago in ancient Rome. To walk out of a metro station and be face-to-face with the Coliseum, an icon I'd only ever seen in pictures, was unreal. I could go on and on and on, but simply put, the entire weekend was a surreal experience, and 3 days was not nearly enough time to soak up the city.

That being said, I'm pretty proud of us for fitting in as much as we did. We flew in late Friday and flew back to Barcelona at 8pm Monday, and between those two times we managed to:

- go to the Coliseum, Palatine Hill, and the Roman Forum
- climb the Spanish Steps
- toss a coin in the Trevi Fountain
- visit the Pantheon
- shop!
- go to Mass at San Clemente Basilica
- explore the amazing underground excavations at San Clemente
- go to Museo Baracco
- visit Piazza Navona, Campo de Fiore, and Trastevere
- tour the Vatican (the museums, the Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter's Basilica)
- eat 3 delicious pizza lunches, 2 amazing pasta dinners, and take somewhere between 3 and 5 gelato breaks :)

I love that we got to see another country besides Spain (although I was a little bummed that they didn't stamp my passport!), and that I got to try my hand at speaking some Italian. I don't think I realized how much Spanish I knew until I realized how little Italian I knew!

My favorite part of the whole weekend? While I loved just about everything, the winner is a toss up between eating the best (I'm not exaggerating) gelato in Rome on Sunday afternoon and exploring Saint Peter's Basilica, the biggest church in the world, on Monday.

My least favorite part? The sore feet that resulted from LONG days on cobblestone streets with inadequate shoes! (But I'd put up with that again if it meant I got to go back!)

So while I'm thankful that I chose Barcelona as my study abroad locale for the summer (I think a month in Rome would have made me gain 15 pounds!), I wish we could have spent more time in the beautiful city. I guess that means I'll just have to go back! :)

Ciao!

Here are some pictures =]