I'm a little behind...

Hello friends. I am back again in Madrid from my weekend in Southeastern Spain, a fun few days with half of my introduction to oceanography class. However, this post will not be dedicated to the details of that trip, but of pictures from my trip two weekends ago to Rome. Like I said...I'm a little behind :) And as always, the pictures are in reverse order as how I actually toured Rome on my trip.

This picture is from the inside of St. Peter's Bascilica...I took the picture because those letters are actually 6 feet tall when you are standing next to them. But they are normally so far away from everyone that they seem a lot smaller.

I don't know what this is called, but it is very famous. And its in St. Peters.

La Pietra...meaning pity. It's encased behind a huge case of bullet proof glass because someone tried to cut off Jesus' foot and Mary's nose.

Swiss guards! These men are part of the official army of the Vatican City. These uniforms are their formal wear.

THE POPE! This was after mass when he said "Happy Easter and peace be with you" in about 20 different languages.

This I thought was really funny. Because there were so many people at mass, preists who were distributing communion were followed around with these big yellow and white umbrellas so everyone could see them. They stationed themselves and then it was kind of a free-for-all to try to get to one.

At the beginning of mass, the Pope going to sit down at his chair.

Walking up the steps before mass began.

We found a ferrari in Rome. We had to take a picture.

The Pantheon

Note that this is an actual hole in the ceiling...not a circular window.

Roman ruins.

This is one of my 3 highly illegal pictures of the ceiling of the Sistene Chapel. It is also my favorite part, with Adam almost (but not quite) touching God.

Entrance to the Vatican Museum...note the HUGE wall behind it. The Vatican city is the smallest country in the world (it has its own currency and its own military) but uses these walls as a primary defense mechanism.

Trevi Fountain! Very pretty.

Spanish steps, named so because of their proximity to the Spanish embassy, although they were originally financed by the French.

Documented: I ate gellato in Italy. and it was good.

Me, in St. Peter's Square. The Bascilica is directly behind me.

More of St. Peter's
Beginning pictures of the Colosseum! This is inside, and the stage has been reconstructed to show what it would have originally looked like back in the day. Fun fact: they covered the stage with sand so everyone in the audience could see the drops of blood spilled as whoever was fighting died. The Latin word for sand is "arena" (ah-ray-na) which is the reason that they call places like this arenas! (ah-ree-nahs).


Typical Roman uniforms for fighting.

Outside of the Coloseeum! This is what you first see as you get off the metro.

So that (along with my previous post) summarizes my trip to Rome! I'll try to post in the next couple of days about my trip to Alicante, Murica, and Valencia (although I kept forgetting to bring my camera with me everywhere, so I sadly have no pictures to share). I am heading off to Lisbon on Friday for my last trip somewhere for the semester! Time just keeps flying by!

all my love--