make a wish.

GIORNO VENTISETTE
Today we woke up way more refreshed than yesterday.  We decided not to follow the group tour because they were going to places you can get into for free: the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, the Spanish Steps, and Piazza Navona.

Make a wish

After breakfast, Danielle, Christina, and I went out to explore Roma on our own!  We first walked past the Trevi Fountain and did the classic "I am making a wish" picture.  Mine hasn't come true yet... still waiting.  Don't even ask... I won't tell what I wished for or YOU KNOW it won't come true!!  After are drive by Trevi Fountain moment, we continued on to the Pantheon.  Sunday mass was going on so we couldn't go in, but we could see the open roof from right outside the door.  It was a small church, but with a good amount of character.  I wish we could have gone in, but I could see how cool it would be if it were raining down through the open hole in the ceiling.  We continued on our walk through the city, arriving at Piazza Navona.  There was a great cathedral and a few fountains in the middle with an art festival going on.  We sat and people watched for a while on the fountain until we forced out feet up and out of the Piazza and across the bridge.  We decided to walk along the river to the next bridge to the Castel Sant'Angelo.

While walking near the river I saw something that reminded me of a childhood picture I took.  Now I don't remember if it was in France or Italy, but I know I was hanging from these loops by a river, upside down, and I was most definitely wearing a choker.  Why were chokers a thing?   

I am a natural

Twins?

Christina really liked this museum because she remembered the scenes in it from "Angels and Demons."  We walked up to the ticket booth expecting the man to say we had to spend eleven euro for a ticket, which wouldn't fly, but when we showed him our most perfect, beloved, amazing FUA IDs, we got in for FREE!  Nothing is better than free. NOTHING!  We walked all around the Castel for a while, which was originally built as a mausoleum, but later used as a fortress and a castle, prison, and a secret walkway from it to St. Peter's Basilica.  It was a spiral building that had several floors and a great terrace on the top where we could see the Vatican and all ten million people out in the courtyard for Sunday mass with Pope Francesco.  There was a painting in one of the rooms that was just recently found behind another painting.  It was badly damaged, but they restored it and it now resides in the Castel.  It depicted the Archangel and the devil in combat, of course the Archangel was winning... I wish I could remember the name of the painting, but it was neat to read the symbolism behind it.  Such as how the two figures were not touching at all and the meaning behind their gazes.  It was all very interesting.  On the way out, we passed this sculpture... I am not going to lie, I took a double take at it because it looked exactly like a mix between Rick Scott and Voldemort.  No lie.  I was a little concerned that "he who must not be named" had taken form in this statue and was planning to attack Harry from Italy or that Rick just wanted to transfer his political tactics abroad. Sketch.

Anyway, we walked over the bridge and again, saw these beggars who had this cool contraption... we figured out how they did it.  They can't fool us!  But it is pretty awesome, let's be real.  There was also all these love locks on the bridge as well that looked really cool.  All these couples really must trust each other because if one couple breaks up, they all might break up too since they are attached...

Anyway, we went on a direct path to the Spanish Steps for our last main attraction of the day.  We walked for a while until you just couldn't help but run into this massive wall of steps.  We weren't exactly sure what one does at the Spanish Steps... I mean they were steps, but we followed the crowd and sat on them, and sat... and well, they turned out to be a great resting spot; therefore, I really liked the Steps!  
     
At this point we still had about two hours left until we had to meet at the hotel to get back to Firenze.  We felt like we had done Roma at this point... and as fun as it was for the last few days, I was so excited to return "home."  It feels great to think of Firenze in that way, but that is seriously what it feels like.  Roma was the city you visit for a few days, but it is not the place you want to return to at the end of the day.  It is no Firenze.  We were ready!  We decided to kill some time at this little hole-in-the-wall pizzeria called Est, Est, Est! The pizza was actually pretty good, but Christina and I decided only to eat half to save the other half for dinner on the bus.

Still trying to waste time, we walked around Roma near our hotel.  We walked along Cavour Street and through Piazzas with beautiful churches and stuff.  It is just so cool to be walking around and run into all of this beautiful architecture and history.  It is unreal and I like it.  It finally got close to four, so we returned to the hotel and relaxed until the buses arrived.  The drive home went by so fast and I had to write THREE WHOLE BLOG POSTS!! Rough, but worth it!

Hope all is well with everyone.  I really appreciate everyone taking the time to read my posts... it means a lot to me knowing I am not traveling alone!  Hope you are feeling a little taste of Italy here with me!

Ciao-Ciao!