When in Rome...

     Our Rome trip was a 4-day weekend, so it will be very difficult for me to sum it all up in one post. I'll try not to leave out anything important.

Getting on the plane to Rome

     In Rome there are many things to see, and they are all pretty spread out. So we would walk for a while down small alleys, and suddenly we'd reach a plaza with something cool to see. It seemed like there was a statue or fountain around every corner. I can't name everything I took a picture of, but here are a few.

The Pantheon

Trevi Fountain - If you throw a coin in you'll return to Rome. Ethan missed.

Not sure what this ruin is.

Spanish Steps

From the top of the steps

     Here I need to pause and let you all know that in Rome, everyone wants your money. One group of these people are the vendors. Everywhere we went, someone tried to sell us a toy or purse or umbrella or some other thing we didn't want.

     So there we were taking pictures at the top of the steps, and a man got my attention and showed me a loop of yarn. From what I understood, he wanted me to put my finger in the loop so he could tie a knot. But he proceeds to start weaving a bracelet around my wrist. He was showing me the patterns and saying it was "for good luck" and "for sexy". While this was happening, Heath and Ethan also got abducted by men doing the same thing. After he was done making the bracelet he pulled out his wallet and asked me to pay. Great. I think he was asking me to pay whatever I can. I did not care for the bracelet, but I figured giving him some change would be easier than arguing and refusing to pay. On some level I guess I can respect the sales strategy.  So I pulled the change out of my pocket. I had 1.50, so I handed him a 1 euro coin. He said "5". I said "I'm not giving you 5 euro for this." and took my euro out of his hand. He decided 1 euro was a fair price.

     And that's how we got these sweet friendship bracelets:

Bros4Life (or until the bracelets fall off)

     Later on when we saw vendors I would point out to Heath or Ethan how much they need whatever product was being sold. That really got the vendors going. Once they saw a potential sale, they wouldn't take no for an answer. Here's a conversation I had with one:

Him: Name your price!

Me: No thanks, I don't want it.

Him: 2 euro!

Me: I'm good. (kept walking past him)

Him: Ok 5 euro!

Then I bought the item for 10 euro, just to show him who was in charge.

More pictures:

I take way too many panoramas.

I was surprised to see a memorial for Washington in a park.

     This next one requires some background info. Every time we see someone taking a picture in our direction, we look at the camera and smile. I guess we hope to see our picture pop up all over the internet in people's pictures. So at this fountain, a few women sat next to me to have their pictures taken, so I sat up straight and smiled. They were cool about it and decided to let me be a part of their picture.

     Ok remember how I said everyone in Rome wants your money? There are a lot of people who may or may not all belong to the same group, who dress in costumes and have a bucket or hat in front of them, suggesting 1 euro for a picture with them. They are better than the vendors because they don't bother everyone who walks by. I was a little disappointed though when I started seeing repeats of the same costume. Here are a few of them:

Pretty impressive, right? I thought so too until I saw another group setting this up.

They had to prepare under a sheet. This makes the act much more believable.

Probably saw at least 10 of these guys

     Other costumes I saw but didn't get a picture of: statue of liberty, regular statue (did not know it was a man in costume until he moved), people kneeling face down with a bowl of change in front of them (probably not a costume), and amputees (definitely not a costume).

     While we were walking around one day, we noticed a crowd of people outside of a store. It looked like they were waiting to see a celebrity come out. It was an Armani store, so whoever it was must be pretty well off.

Turns out it was Giorgio Armani

Food:

     Italy has some great food. I don't usually photograph my meals, but I did take a few pics.

Best pizza I've ever eaten, and it was about the same price as Papa Johns.

Heath is on a quest to have every Hard Rock "Local Legend Burger". It's different at every Hard Rock.  I'm not a big fan of going to American restaurants in Europe, but it was nice to have a burger for the first time in a few weeks.

Gelato at the Pantheon

The Vatican:

     Unfortunately I didn't get to see the Sistine Chapel or the inside of St. Peter's Basilica, but I guess that just gives me a reason to go back some day. I did however get to see the Pope speak, which was a pretty cool opportunity. He makes a speech at the Vatican every Sunday at noon apparently. Also, we walked around the entire border of the Vatican, so now I can say I've walked around an entire country.

St. Peter's Basilica

Me and the Pope. It was nice of him take a pic with me. He's on the top level, second window from the right.

Art Museum:

    We stumbled upon an art museum and decided to check it out. Overall it was pretty good, but I am not a fan of most modern art. So things like this don't impress me:

Literally just took a knife and cut a white canvas.

This guy's art got the same over time. Don't let the reflections fool you. These are solid black.

There was also good art in the museum:

Not a great pic, but this sculpture is impressive.

This one reminds me of myself.

The Colosseum:

     The first thing we did was tour the Colusseum and the forum, but it was probably my favorite thing (thanks to Russell Crowe and Andy Whitfield) so I saved it for last in this post. 

There used to be a large statue in every arch. And before the Colosseum was built there was a Statue of Nero here called the Colossus. It was about as tall as the Colosseum.

It's hard to grasp how huge the Colosseum is until seeing it from the top. Also this is not a weird camera lens, the Colosseum is an oval.

This is my friend Romeo at the Roman Forum.

The Colosseum is lit up at night.

 Thanks for reading! And I appreciate comments, so let me know what you think! We're leaving in the morning for Belgium. I'll try not to wait til Friday to do the next post.