I've decided to share my adventures from Rome by day because I took over 500 pictures...and it's just a lot easier to do it this way.
DAY 1: Arrival
We caught an early flight and arrived around 9am in la bella città di Roma, and it was HOT. I had been eagerly anticipating the warmth of Rome, and the sun was extremely well received. We dumped our stuff off at our all girls hostel (ha!) on Via Castelfidardo and set off to conquer every church in the city. At least that's what it felt...I'm sure we only covered a fraction of them.
My first experience with suggestive fascism was outside the Italian President's building. The Italian flag was flying proudly, guards marched around, everybody sang the national anthem....in the words of Gaeby 'it just didn't seem like something a democratic country would do, like we wouldn't do that for Stephen Harper'.
Next we discovered the Trevy Fountain. Apparently if you toss a coin over your shoulder into the fountain you'll return to Rome. I don't really understand the logistics of that belief...I think that if you want to return to a city you love then you'll just do it anyway...
You can't really tell how huge this fountain is from this photo, but its pretty massive, like many of the sculptures in Rome. It's also PRETTY COOL. And crowded. We escaped the crowd to grab our first bite of Gelato. It was delicious. The men who served us also offered us a bite of them because apparently they were delicious as well. I think I love Italian men. What a sense of humour!
One of the highlights of the trip, which I think we all could agree on, was our visit the the Borghese Gallery, which houses some of the magnificent work of Gian Lorenzo Bernini. My favourites were the statues of 'The Rape of Proserpina', where Persephone, in agony at parting with the earthly world, is being dragged to the underworld by a smiling Hades; 'David', which depicts the biblical story of the underdog defeating the giant; and 'Apollo and Daphne', which shows Apollo at the end of his pursuit of Daphne, but just as he reaches out to snatch her, she turns into a tree. Really, nothing I have said can capture the magnitude, beauty, or incredible talent that is portrayed in Bernini's statues. Below is a close up shot from The Rape of Proserpina, just to show you how supple Bernini makes marble look.
For more photos of these impeccable statues, see THIS. The stories behind each are also pretty cool, and I'd advise checking them out too.
After a day of walking we made our way to the Spanish Steps to meet up with my cousin Will, who's spent the last three years living the dream and working in Rome. Yes, it's possible. The view from the top was stunning, and mingled with artists with their caricatures and tourists admiring them.
When in Rome.... love seems to be more romantic ...ha! (and yes we used that saying as often as we could..even when it didn't really apply to the situation...)
We met up with Will (it was a glorious reuniting in the Spanish Steps, complete with the Italian greeting of kisses on the cheek...which is something I really love about Italy) and he took us to a fabulously authentic Italian restaurant for an authentic meal of pasta. I got Gnochi as it was Thursday, which is apparently what people eat on Thursdays. I love Rome.
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