July 5th (Sunday)
Sunday was our free day in Rome. Megan, Kylee, and I really wanted to go to mass at St. Peters, and we even tried….but it was at 10, and we did get up and ready on time, but we missed the 8:30 shuttle because it was full. So, we went back up to the room to wait for the next shuttle (they only came once an hour), came back down stairs at about 9:15, got on the shuttle at 9:30, and the stupid shuttle didn’t leave until 9:45. So, we got to the shuttle stop at about 9:55, and into St. Peter’s square around 10:20. The line was massive, so we figured that by the time we got into mass it would be over. Come to find out (many hours later), mass hadn’t actually started until 10:30 that morning because it was running behind. We still would not have gotten in with
any time in mass left. But we were in St. Peter’s square while mass was occurring…that counts for something, right?? I think so. After our failed attempt at mass, we went back to the hotel and sat around for a few hours, which kind of sucked to waste that part of the day but at the same time was really nice to just chill for a while. When we finally got up to do something, Kylee, Megan, Jenna and I took the metro to the Forum. Megan and Kylee went through the Forum, while Jenna and I sat out…and I fell asleep on a bench…it was great. I did see a little bit of the Forum from the outside though. Most of the time, I think of ancient Romans having very barbaric and simple design practices, but looking at things like the Coliseum and the Forum, I realized that their concepts were actually quite advanced. It’s really impressive. From the Forum we went to the Spanish Steps. 
They were so amazing. We saw a large set of steps on the first day, and we thought that they were the Spanish Steps, but after seeing the real ones, the stairs we had seen earlier were nothing in comparison. We took a bunch of staggered pictures on the steps and just sat and enjoyed them for a while…we didn’t really have the ambition to climb them though. We did some shopping around Spagna (the neighborhood that the Spanish Steps are in) and just kind of meandered around for a while. We then went to dinner in a really cute littl
e square. There were a bunch of restaurants scattered around a little central area where musicians were playing. The atmosphere was almost worth more than the food. It was such a quaint little area with so much character. It was the best night out I had in Rome. After dinner, we walked across the street to another square that was filled with artists selling their work. I bought a small black and white watercolor painting. There was some talk that some of the paintings were not quite legit and a little photoshopped, but even so, I don’t really mind, they’re still pretty to look at and I’m happy with my purchase. Needless to say, we got gelato in this square and ate it while walking around, as we did almost every day. In the square, we stopped to watch a live entertainer. He was so funny. He did a lot of comedian stuff with different volunteer spectators. Also, much more impressively, he was juggling 3 torches (lit!) on a 6 or 7 
foot unicycle. He had two men help him up the unicycle and while he was climbing up, he pick pocketed one of the men and was holding his wallet up and laughing. It was hilarious. While walking in the square we ran into Darrin, his family, and Susie, and talked Susie 
into going to the Mouth of Truth with us. Unfortunately when we got there the church that it’s in was closed, but it’s only covered by gates so we were able to get some pictures through the gates. We really didn’t do anything more specific than wandering around the city, but this day honestly was my favorite day in Rome (the Vatican was my favorite part, but the rest of Saturday was not). It was so relaxing and the vibe of the city was just comfortable and down to Earth. It was a fantastic day.
Sunday was our free day in Rome. Megan, Kylee, and I really wanted to go to mass at St. Peters, and we even tried….but it was at 10, and we did get up and ready on time, but we missed the 8:30 shuttle because it was full. So, we went back up to the room to wait for the next shuttle (they only came once an hour), came back down stairs at about 9:15, got on the shuttle at 9:30, and the stupid shuttle didn’t leave until 9:45. So, we got to the shuttle stop at about 9:55, and into St. Peter’s square around 10:20. The line was massive, so we figured that by the time we got into mass it would be over. Come to find out (many hours later), mass hadn’t actually started until 10:30 that morning because it was running behind. We still would not have gotten in with
any time in mass left. But we were in St. Peter’s square while mass was occurring…that counts for something, right?? I think so. After our failed attempt at mass, we went back to the hotel and sat around for a few hours, which kind of sucked to waste that part of the day but at the same time was really nice to just chill for a while. When we finally got up to do something, Kylee, Megan, Jenna and I took the metro to the Forum. Megan and Kylee went through the Forum, while Jenna and I sat out…and I fell asleep on a bench…it was great. I did see a little bit of the Forum from the outside though. Most of the time, I think of ancient Romans having very barbaric and simple design practices, but looking at things like the Coliseum and the Forum, I realized that their concepts were actually quite advanced. It’s really impressive. From the Forum we went to the Spanish Steps. 
They were so amazing. We saw a large set of steps on the first day, and we thought that they were the Spanish Steps, but after seeing the real ones, the stairs we had seen earlier were nothing in comparison. We took a bunch of staggered pictures on the steps and just sat and enjoyed them for a while…we didn’t really have the ambition to climb them though. We did some shopping around Spagna (the neighborhood that the Spanish Steps are in) and just kind of meandered around for a while. We then went to dinner in a really cute littl
e square. There were a bunch of restaurants scattered around a little central area where musicians were playing. The atmosphere was almost worth more than the food. It was such a quaint little area with so much character. It was the best night out I had in Rome. After dinner, we walked across the street to another square that was filled with artists selling their work. I bought a small black and white watercolor painting. There was some talk that some of the paintings were not quite legit and a little photoshopped, but even so, I don’t really mind, they’re still pretty to look at and I’m happy with my purchase. Needless to say, we got gelato in this square and ate it while walking around, as we did almost every day. In the square, we stopped to watch a live entertainer. He was so funny. He did a lot of comedian stuff with different volunteer spectators. Also, much more impressively, he was juggling 3 torches (lit!) on a 6 or 7 
foot unicycle. He had two men help him up the unicycle and while he was climbing up, he pick pocketed one of the men and was holding his wallet up and laughing. It was hilarious. While walking in the square we ran into Darrin, his family, and Susie, and talked Susie 
into going to the Mouth of Truth with us. Unfortunately when we got there the church that it’s in was closed, but it’s only covered by gates so we were able to get some pictures through the gates. We really didn’t do anything more specific than wandering around the city, but this day honestly was my favorite day in Rome (the Vatican was my favorite part, but the rest of Saturday was not). It was so relaxing and the vibe of the city was just comfortable and down to Earth. It was a fantastic day.
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