Old Friends, New Places

After leaving Stockholm, I was excited to meet one of my best friends from back home in Rome to begin a whirlwind two weeks hopping cheap Ryanair flights and bullet trains to several countries. After hanging with my aunt the last few days, it was awesome to see another familiar face when Stu showed up at our hostel in a quaint, working-class neighborhood outside Rome's more touristy area.

Wasting no time, we headed out to wander the city. It seems in Rome, everywhere you look there's history, you can't avoid it. Ruins, statues, churches, castles, and monuments everywhere you look. We must have walked the same 5 mile route around the city at least 5 times while we there, each time noticing new things and making new stops. It was fortunate that Stu enjoys aimlessly wandering a city without a guide or map as much as I do.

Above, the Coliseum. An amazing sight that such a magnificent stadium could've been built so long ago and still stands impressive to this day. Finished in 80 AD, the Coliseum could hold between 50-80 thousand spectators! The amount of lives ended here, glories won and lost, Christians martyred and historical figures that once graced this stadium is pretty mind-boggling and humbling.

Not far from the Coliseum is a sprawling set of ruins and the Roman Forum. For centuries, the Forum was the heart of the city where the Republican government - the world's first democracy - was housed. Over hundreds of years, the area served as a venue for public speeches, judicial proceedings, religious ceremonies and a marketplace. Today it's crowded with tourists, though luckily the street vendors selling "selfie sticks" are kept out... 

More recent history, this building was actually completed in the 20th century, though it could've fooled me as a ancient, well-built Roman temple.

No visit to Rome would be complete without a trip to Vatican City and St Peter's Basilica. To get into the basilica you must be properly dressed and upon clearing the metal detectors at the churches entrance, we were told Stu's shorts were too short and couldn't get inside! We had to come back the next morning, making sure the big fella had jeans on in the sweltering heat so we wouldn't be kicked out again.

These funny looking dudes are part of the Swiss Guard, which protects the Pope and Vatican City. Not sure with those uniforms they had any right to pass judgment on the length of Stu's shorts...

Returning to St Peter's Basilica was certainly worth the extra effort as the inside is magnificently decorated with ornate detail. Very awe-inspiring. Here you can get a sense for how huge the place is as the people are dwarfed by the art and domed ceilings. After blasting the sights of Rome in a few days, we were ready to move north to Tuscany, heart of wine country and a slower pace.