What Happens in Rome....Stays in Rome part 4

Wednesday

On Wednesday we took our 4hr bus ride down to Florence to see Michelangelos David, the Duomo and several Sites. Florence was another major highlight of my trip the entire city is beautiful and just amazing. The most impressive thing to me was the Climb on top of The Duomo. I am not a heights person, but the view of Florence from the top is just unbelievable and to see how Florence goes on in every direction and to see the mountains in the background, truly amazing.


We eventually made it back to the Bus that was parked next to a house that was covered with pidgins, was really cool. Finally got back then went out again for food and enjoyed rest of the night.

Thursday

On Thursday we went to Ostia Antiqua and the EUR. The trek to Ostia was not a fun one, took several trains to get to this dirty little town that actually had several bikes hanging from trees. Ostia was supposed to be like Pompeii, but in reality did even compare to it. So after walking around Ostia and exploring what it had me, Tyler, Philip, and others decided to go back to the hotel and just chill and skip the EUR. The ride home was a mess, we were crammed in the trains with no room to move the entire time, it really sucked. We eventually got back to the Hotel. I went next door to get pizza then me, nick, Tyler, Phil, Logan and KJ went and walked around a festival near the Vatican and shopped. Then Jordan and his group came back and me, Logan, Jordan took like a 3hr nap. Then a group of use went out to eat at a great place near the Pantheon. After this we went out to see the nightlife again and had a blast...and unforgettable night.

Friday

On Friday alot of people decided to go outside of Rome by themselves and see other parts of the country. me, Nick, Logan, Andrew, Phil and Remo went to see the Vatican. We got there around 9 in the morning and stood in a huge line to get into the Vatican Museum that opened at 10. We eventually got in and was amazed at the beauty of the artifacts that the Vatican had, to me it was strange to see a large collection of Egyptian artifacts in it. The best part of the museum was the Sistine Chapel. This was amazing and just unbelievably beautiful, just really hard to explain. It was illegal to take photos.....but i broke that rule:





After touring the museum, we went and had a great cheap lunch at a little in the wall restaurant. We then went on to see St. Peter's Basilica. The Basilica is by far the most beautiful church I have ever seen in my Life, the architecture and art of it is amazing. Every part of it was filled with art and was amazing.





After exploring the basilica me and Phil decided to climb to the top of St. Peter's. The climb was gruelling and about 100 more stairs than the Duomo was....but it was worth it. This might have been the highlight of the trip. The ability to see all of Rome from the highest peak, to see the Vatican and the ability to see endless buildings in all directions was breath taking beautiful.

After this me and Phil made it back to the hotel after seeing he Swiss Guard. I went off on my own to go shopping, then went to the Internet Cafe. I got back and a large group of use decided to go the Hard Rock Cafe. Honestly this was a terrible way to make American food. We went back to the hotel and hung out for the remainder of the night and got ready for the travel home.

Saturday

Saturday was the worst day of the trip. We got to the Roman Airport and learned that our flight from Rome to Atlanta was going to be delayed 1 1/2 hrs. The problem with this was that we had only a 2hr gap between flights to get back to Cincinnati. The first flight was actually pretty good, I got to see the Alps, ocean and Wall-E. We eventually made it to Atlanta and had to wait an extra 30 min to get off the plane because of traffic. Got off the planes had to wait in line forever to go through customs. Then had to go get my luggage, back through security. Made it through all of that and learned we had 10 min to get to terminal A from E to catch our flight. Well it was a 2 mile sprint. Jordan and Logan made the flight and me and Abby were a couple minutes late of getting on. After this KG took me to the Delta Crown room and helped me get on standby for a Comair flight leaving for Cincinnati. Me and a about 10 others from our group made this 7pm flight, while everybody else had to wait until 10pm to catch the next flight. The good thing about taking the 7pm flight was that our luggage was on that flight. Jordan and Logans stuff did not come until 11pm. Well, finally got back to Cincy and went home and slept.