Even though the feeling in my legs have yet to come back, I continue on with “Death March” part 2! The main reason I was so eager and energized this morning was because we were going to see the Roman Coliseum!
The Roman Coliseum, the one you always learn about in history all through your school career. Where battles and games were held, everyone gathering to watch them – that Roman Coliseum. The awesome thing about it was when we exited the metro station, it was literally right there in front of us in all its glory.
Seeing pictures and watching documentaries about this place did no justice to it in all honesty. Because, I was there in the flesh, walking up the stairs and around the Coliseum where year ago, people in ancient times did the same. It’s just insane to think about that. I mean just touching it, I was losing my shit man! I was in nerd heaven!
It was a dream come true to be there and experience it in all of its glory and totally something that I can cross off my bucket list for sure! I mean, I touched ancient history today, fuck, I walked through ancient history! I’m set for life now!
Walking away from the Roman Coliseum, we made our way towards the Roman Forum and oh my gosh, it was so gorgeous. It literally felt like a miniature ancient city we were walking through.
The ruins of old palaces and baths decorated with detailed columns and statues was truly a sight. To have the sunlight shining down on these beautiful pieces of history with the hustle and bustle of the city surrounding it was such an interesting mash-up so to speak. I was all smiles on the inside from this even though on the outside I was a huffing, puffing burnt wheat thin that was lagging behind the group.
I mean, if I ever got separated from the group, all I had to do was sneeze and they’d find me in an instant! Side note here, since my allergies were so bad most of the trip, I was sneezing a shit ton and it wasn’t any delicate, little sneeze, oh no. It was big and loud and it drew a lot of attention. So, it became a running joke in the group if I ever got lost, I just had to sneeze and they’d hear it no matter where they were.
Thank goodness we got to rest after the long morning we had, it was a fun one, but I was already beat. Resting in our hotel room for awhile, we got ready for our afternoon trip to the Vatican – honestly the most holy place in the world, right? I think that’s right.
Either way, it seems like a place I shouldn’t be going to, I might get hit by lightning as soon as I walk in the door with my luck.
Of course, I talked to my mom and told her I’d be going to the Vatican and all and that turned out to be a huge mistake on my part because after telling her, she in turn told the rest of my very Italian and Catholic family that I was going. So, I had messages from that side of the family asking me questions and all kinds of stuff and basically I had no choice and was told to take a lot of pictures and say prayers for certain people and such.
The silver lining was I didn’t get hit with lightning when I walked in, so that’s a plus! I never researched the Vatican, so I was really clueless about it when I walked in which I really don’t like to do with places, but what’s a little adventure gunna hurt?
It was huge, that much was clear and the rooms, gosh, those rooms were filled with marble statues, busts, various pottery, trimmed with gold, red and other rich colors. It was like walking through a millionaires mansion and getting the V.I.P tour.
I wanted to take a picture of everything and anything! The tour guide we had was nice, though, his accent was really,really thick and because of that I really didn’t understand what he was saying half the time so I did what I usually did when I’m in that situation – smile and nodded.
I will say, the main Church of the Vatican at the end of our tour was insane! Everything was plastered with gold – it was just everywhere! I thought I was going to go blind with how much gold was shinning and gleaming.
The one things that caught me off guard and truly surprised me at the Vatican was the fact that we got to see the Sistine Chapel. You know, the one you read about in books and art history articles, the famous work of the Michelangelo – his most famous ceiling painting.
The mere fact that I was in there seeing this masterpiece was really a dream come true. To see the evolution of his art just by looking at this giant art piece. You could see where he started it, but you can tell he made the people too large at first and through the years, they got smaller and more detailed.
The wall piece which he started in his 60’s was magnificent – the detail in the faces, bodies and just overall space was connective. There’s also somebody holding this grotesque body of flesh, no bones or anything inside, just like a sort of shell of somebody that is supposed to be Michelangelo himself.
This information was so great to learn about because this was stuff I was not taught in school or even college about this piece and to have somebody who knew legitimate facts that most history books never touched on was so wonderful.
Now, we weren’t supposed to take pictures inside the Sistine Chapel at all, but there were people around me doing it in secret. So, I decided to try too! I only got about 5 pictures, and some are blurry as hell, but you can still make the shapes out. I did get into trouble though, but it was honestly worth it!
A Niki In Italy 