Ciao Italia: When In Rome...

I haven't posted in about a week, so I figured it was a good time to change that. The days in Bologna are becoming a little boring because there is not much to do, we have school, and the weather makes it unbearable to be outside for any prolonged amount of time. This week alone we're supposed to get 4-5 days where the temperature will be hitting the 100° mark. I've never complained about it being too hot...but that is just too hot. Nothing really new has been happening in Bologna, but it was a different story this past weekend when Maddie, Brooks, and I decided to visit Mariaisabella Portorico (Isa)...the other practicum teacher from Holy Cross that Brooks and Maddie both had this past year. We left for Rome early Saturday morning and were there by 10:00 AM. Isa met us at the train station and we made our way to the apartment that she is staying in with 4 other people. They were out of town for the weekend, allowing us to take advantage of the spare rooms. The apartment was located in a part of the city where when you walked out onto the balcony and looked down the street to the left, you could see Castel Sant'Angello, and when you looked to your right, you could see the dome of Saint Peter's Basilica. Amazing sights! We spent the rest of the day walking all over Rome. We saw the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, Piazza di Venezia, the Roman Forum, Circus Maximus, and of course the Colosseum. Every single one of those locations was absolutely amazing to finally see in person...especially the Colosseum. It was an amazing day! We came back in the evening to get cleaned up and refreshed, and then headed out to dinner. We walked around the city after our meal for a while to walk along the Tiber River and to see the Castel at night as well as Saint Peter's Square, which was closed off to the public, but was still a beautiful sight. The next day we decided to hit a few more spots that we weren't able to see on Saturday. We started off the morning with Saint Peter's Square and Basilica. The Basilica was absolutely breathtaking! The massive size and architecture of the Basilica are unimaginable until you are there in person. After spending time in Vatican City, we went on a tour of one of the many catacombs in Rome. That was another eye-opening experience. The tunnels were just barely wider than me shoulder to shoulder, and the ceiling in some places was maybe a foot overhead...if that. It was pretty spooky thinking that at one point in time there were thousands of bodies buried in the exact location I was walking through. We went out for a nice dinner and called it a night because we were all exhausted from two long days of walking. The next day Isa had to go to work, and the three of us decided to just make Monday a relaxing day. We caught a train back to Bologna at 7:30 PM and were in the door by 11:15. Looking back it was quite the adventure. I will definitely have to go back again because there is still so much more I want to see that I just simply did not have the time to this past weekend. Places like the Sistine Chapel and the Mausoleum of Augustus are places that I want to see before I leave Italy. It was a great trip all around. Included in this post you will find some pictures of the many places I saw...