Our adventure began FAR too early on a Saturday morning in mid-March. Because the more desireable flights get scooped up early on (you know, the ones that leave at normal times of the day), we found ourselves with a 6:30am flight out of London, which means that we had to catch a 3:30am bus in order to get to the airport on time. Absolutely, undeniably, vomitous. I had worked an evening shift at the pub the night before, so Chris and I didn't get home until 1:30am. We didn't even bother sleeping the measly 1 1/2 hours before we had to catch our bus; needless to say, we had a rough start to our Rome excursion.
When we arrived in Rome at last, our weariness faded away in light of the warm breeze that greeted us off the airplane. It was only 10:00 am, and we had the whole day ahead of us! After a short bus ride into the center of the city, we departed from the rest of the group to locate our hostel, which turned out to be pretty perfect. You never know what you're going to get with hostels, but we were pleasantly surprised. Eager to start our sightseeing, we grabbed some delicious thin-crust pizza from a local hole-in-the-wall, and started our trek across town toward Vatican City. The weather was perfect... a balmy 65 degrees with a light breeze.
The expanse of St. Peter's Square, the area in which people congregate to see and hear the Pope's address which he delivers fortnightly, is impossible to describe. In the picture to the left, you get a vague sense of how many chairs are present, but the amount of standing room behind the chairs is probably 10 times the amount of room of those who actually get a seat. To the right is St. Peter's Basilica, the church dedicated to the life and service of Saint Peter, one of Jesus' disciples. Here's a little history: After the martyrdom of St. Peter in 64 A.D., a small shrine was built on the site of St. Peter's grave. 
A few hundred years later, when Constantine came into power, he commissioned the building of a grand church to replace the small shrine. It wasn't until the late 1400s, however, that plans for the building of the current basilica began, largely due to the old basilica falling into ruin. In 1626, 120 years after the laying of the first stone, St. Peter's Basilica was completed (with several significant contributions by Michaelangelo, including the design of the basilica's famous dome), and it remains the largest church in the world... Chris and I fell absolutely silent upon entering the massive church. Words can't describe it... but a few pictures can help.
The ornate dark wooden structure visible in both pictures is the shrine built above the believed remains of St. Peter himself. Pretty ridiculous.
After leaving St. Peter's, we headed straight for the Sistine Chapel, another highly esteemed Rome highlight. Fortunately for us, the route to the Sistine Chapel winds through seemingly endless rooms, exhibition halls, corridors, and nooks and crannies brimming with the most beautiful renaissance art (Michaelangelo, Botticelli, Raphael, Fra Angelico, da Vinci, etc.). I think we might have been tempted to go straight to the Sistine Chapel itself, but in retrospect, we were so grateful to have been first guided through maze of the museum rooms in order to appreciate the other phenomenal art. (That's me on the staircase!)
We did eventually make it to the Sistine Chapel, where we saw Michaelangelo's beautiful (and incredibly famous) painting of God stretching his hand out across the expanse of sky toward Adam. It was surreal, to say the least. (Of course, no cameras were allowed in this room, so all we have are our memories...). You know how museums can be exhilarating and utterly draining at the same time?? Well, after finally emerging from the Vatican Museums, we nearly passed out on the sidewalk, but managed to drag ourselves to a nearby gelateria which revived us. We met up with the rest of our group for a fabulous dinner and then really did pass out at our hostel in preparation for a full day ahead.
The next day's agenda: Palatine Hill, The Roman Forum, The Colosseum, and The Pantheon... a bit ambitious perhaps, but we were ready! Waking up to another gorgeous, warm Italian day, we wasted no time and headed straight for the most famous Roman ruins in all the world. In truth, we didn't know much about Palatine Hill or The Roman Forum, but since its admission was included in our ticket for the Colosseum, we decided to check it out. We are infinitely glad that we did, because it ended up as the absolute surprise highlight of our trip! Entering through an unassuming gate, we began meandering through a vast expanse of crumbling ruins. It wasn't until we stopped to read our little guidebook, however, that we realized the significance of what we were seeing/experiencing. 
About 200 feet high with sweeping views over much of Rome, Palatine Hill was the perfect location for a royal residence. The ruins suggest people have been living there since 1000 BC, most notably Ceasar Augustus (510 BC-44 AD). It honestly was SO crazy to be walking in and through the buildings and grounds that once belonged to the head of the Roman Empire, the most powerful figure in all the world. Several massive balconies (still preserved) look out over the Roman Forum which was essentially the "downtown" of ancient Rome -- a place of bustling commerce, administration of justice, and worship of the gods. If you click on the picture below to enlarge it, you can see tiny people walking around... just to give you an idea of the scope.
At last, we made our way to the Colosseum, the unbelievably massive structure that dominates the Rome skyline from almost any vantage point. It was built from 72-80 AD, largely by Jews who had been captured and forced into slavery following the fall of Jerusalem. In addition to the gladiator games, it was also used for mock naval battles (yes, they actually filled the lower part with water and had proper fights between ships), re-enactments of popular mythology, animal hunts, and of course, executions. Again, more than the actual ruins themselves, we were in awe of the ancient history wrapped up in the Colosseum.
After this monstrous day of sight-seeing, we were near to passing out (as you can see). So we took a mini siesta on a big grassy lawn in the city center, and then revived ourselves with some AMAZING paninis (I think we ate our weight's worth of buffalo mozzarella during this trip) and even more mouth-watering Italian gelato. Why doesn't the rest of the world catch on to the Italian gelato phenom??? On the way home, we made a pit stop at the Pantheon and Trevi Fountain -- no biggie. Actually, they were ridiculous, and it hit us again how unbelievable it is to walk around a city with buildings that are several thousands of years old.That night, we met up with our good ol' MBA friends, exchanged stories of our Rome excursions, and had a fabulous Italian meal.
We woke up to our last morning in Rome, which also happened to be our 2-year anniversary!! We had no particular plans for the day, other than to explore some of the more quaint, non-touristy areas of the city. We stumbled upon a gorgeous church with stunning iconic imagery and decoration. It literally took our breath away, and we sat in the church for a good 1/2 hour just trying to soak it all in. Makes one wonder why the protestant Christian tradition shunned the practice of using iconic art in churches, when the absolute beauty of it can truly usher one into a much deeper sense of awe, reverence, and indeed worship.
Not long after leaving the church, the skies decided to open up and unleash a true monsoon. It was actually comical, as we tried to fight our way through the wind and rain, all the while coaxing (and cursing!) our umbrella to refrain from turning inside-out! After being thoroughly drenched to the bone, we ducked inside a little cafe and decided that we would HAPPILY spend the rest of the afternoon in this refuge from the elements. After removing our shoes and wringing out our socks (yes, wringing...), followed by a cup of tea to warm us from the inside, we moved on to bigger and better treats. 
Now, throughout the whole weekend, Chris had the hysterical habit of attempting to speak loudly in Italian whenever any real Italians were in earshot. The only problem was that he only knew one word... "Montepulciano," which is a kind of Italian red wine. He would proceed to gesture emphatically with his hands and right when the group of Italians walked past us, he'd declare, "a-a-a-MONTEPULCIANO!!", as if we were having a real dispute. Thus, I decided the only proper way to ride out our last day in Rome (and to celebrate our anniversary :) was to indulge in a bottle of the real deal. Of course, we had to have a little dark chocolate to accompany it.Thus ends the saga of our Rome weekend adventure. We are, of course, dreadfully behind in blogging, but have great aspirations for catching up. Thanks to all you who faithfully stick in there and put up with our novels!!
