ROMA

Friday, July 6, 2007: Today I went with a group from USAC to the cinema museum in Torino. This building is the key building of Torino.. and it also has a panoramic lift where you can see all of Torino. It was beautiful! (sorry... cant seem to find the pictures of the view.. i'll post them later). Then, my roommates (Chrissy and Melissa) and our friend, Andrea, went to dinner at Chez Gaby. It is a restaurant that offers a set menu for 20 euro. Included was water, bread, an antipasti which we ordered BAGNA CAODA (hot cream with oil, garlic and anchovies served in a dish above a candle to keep it warm and also served with veggies for dipping), I had Woronoff Steak (some type fof steak served with a mayo/mustard sauce on top—DELICIOUS!), and for dessert we all had BONET (caramel-coated macaroon pudding almost like a mousse). It was very good and all are typical foods of the Piemontese region (where we live). Then I left for the train station to head to Rome. I traveled to Rome with a friend from USAC, Karalea. Then I met James and Katie (from USAC Bilbao) in Rome where we spent the weekend.

Saturday, July 7, 2007: Arrived in Rome around 8am… and waited for Katie and James till about 11am. Then we went to the hostel just a few blocks away... and then headed out to see Rome. We walked through Giardini Piazza Vittorio and Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II. On the way to the Coliseum, we walked through Colle Oppio (see left picture) and Domus Aurea. Then made it to the Coliseum, went inside and then walked through the roman forum including the Arco di Costantino and Arco di Tito. We walked through the Piazza del Campodoglio where there was a wedding (of course because it was 7.7.7). Then we walked down to Circo Massimo and then went back to the hostel for dinner. We went to our room and hung out with 2 other students from Ohio (not in a USAC program). We gave them a taste of Spain when we made Kalimotxo (red wine and coke). Then we headed out to the Trastevere area where there is an island in the middle of the Tiber River connected to the mainland by bridges. We hung out down by the river where there were many tents and bars. We didn’t get home til about 6am.

Sunday, July 8, 2007: A few words of advise for visiting Rome… Don’t be hungover!! We walked to what we thought was the Fontana di Trevi.. but it was the Fontana del Tritone. We threw our 2 coins in and made our wishes… but after we looked at the map we realized that it was not the correct fountain.

We kept walking and went to the

REAL Fontana del Tritone;

much bigger, much more popular and beautiful. We threw our 2 coins into this fountain and then headed to the Pantheon.

The Pantheon was really cool. The dome inside was beautiful and magnificent.

After that we went to Piazza Navona and had lunch.

Then we walked across the river and saw the Castel Sant’ Angelo where we took an hour and a half nap (see my sleeping picture!).

The picture of me standing

next to a huge statue is on a bridge

leading to the Vatican area..

right by the castle.

We were finally on our way to Spanish Steps

when we found this neat fountain in front of a museum.

We put our feet in it and touch, and licked, the wall of water.

As we were just hanging out, this family came out of the museum and handed us 3 tickets to go in for free because the museum didn’t rip or scan the tickets.. so we went. The name of the museum was “45 years of Style” and it had designer dresses from the last 45 years.

They had dresses made for Julia Roberts (see picture of black dress),

J. Lo., Kira Knightly and more.

It was very interesting, but more so weird

since we didn’t know what we were

getting ourselves into.

There were gold manicanes

without hair EVERYWHERE!!!

Then we finally made it to the (un-impressive) Spanish Steps.

After that we went back to the hostel, ate dinner and went to bed. (I was still not feeling good from being hung over, James had sunstroke and Katie had to put up with us all day.)

Monday, July 9, 2007: We woke up early and went to the Vatican. We first went to the Basilica S. Pietro where there was no line. It was awesome. I was only ½ way done when Katie and James were finished. So much to see. This is the dome in St. Peter's. And the outside of St. Peter's (the obelisk and fountains and me!) and the famous statue carved my Michaelangelo inside St. Peter's.

Then we went to the Vatican Museum… only after waiting 2 ½ hours in line!!!! There were lots of paintings and the ceilings were really cool on the way to the Sistine Chapel. There was also a garden thingie in the middle.. and thats where i found my lion firend!

But I didn’t think all that much of the Sistine Chapel... and you werent allowed to take photos.. but i got one of the ceiling... dont tell anyone!

On the way out...

i found the staircase to be

pretty cool looking too!

Then we ate lunch and that’s when we realized we should have gone to St. Peter’s then to lunch, then to the museum.. the line was like 10% of what we waited in… oh well.

Then we looked some back roads where there were no tourists and saw another fountain (Fonte Acqua Paola). We went into the Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele II. We got a god view of all of Rome and saw some military pieces. Then we walked back through the Roman Forum....

...where i decided to take a rest against a pillar.....

Then we took the best picture of thr trip ($50 USAC photo.. here we come!)through a building where we went through a free military museum,

where i found 2 new boyfriends...and got a good bird's eye view of the city.

Then we hoped on the Metro trying to find some of the Olympic Village, but just walked around a lake and then headed to the train station. Sad to say out last meal in Rome was McDonalds…. But we were so hot, gross and hungry! We boarded a train at 21:16 and got into Torino about 7:20 am.

Rome was a great time.. and i took 429 pictures just with my camera!! James came in 2nd with over 300 and Katie in 3rd with about 250!

Monday, July 10, 2007: We made it home.. and for lunch i made gnocchi and then I went to school and Katie and James took a hike—haha! No really... a walk down the Po River!

The rest of the week I had school everyday and on Friday, July 13th, we took a USAC trip to Milan to see Leo’s Last Supper-- which was VERY VERY cool. I would recommend everyone to go see it.. too bad it is in Milan.. which is not my fav. city!

Then on Saturday, July 14th i headed to Florence... next blog will be about florence and mr. david!

Miss you love you xoxo