Rome: Vatican City, the Colosseum, and the Pantheon

After Venice we made our way to Rome. The first problem we encountered was finding our hotel, which was fairly far from the city center. But after lots of asking (and even more walking) we found our way. After we were situated, it was time for our one-day adventure in the fallen empire. Our first stop was at the smallest country in the world, Vatican City!

Above: Travel Time.

When we arrived we didn't end up on the Vatican's front door step. To get to the front we had to nearly circumnavigate the huge wall around Vatican City. The wall was pretty tall and thick. I guess they didn't want any people hopping the wall. I'm from Texas so this was nothing new.

Above: Vatican Wall.

When we finally arrived there were security preventing people from entering, like a real country. Fortunately they did not check for passports, which is good because Caiqian and I didn't have them.

Above: Denied by the border patrol.

Above: Time to keep looking for an entrance.

Eventually after some bumbling and stumbling we made it inside.

Above: View of the Vatican.

After getting through crowds of nuns, we finally posed in front of the obelisk as proof.

Above: We're in the Vatican!

Proof of what? Proof that non-christians don't spontaneously burst into flames inside the Vatican.

Above: Look, we're not even burning!

Although this fountain would have come in handy if we did burst into flames. 

Above: Nice Fountain.

Or would the holy water just melt us? Alas, the world may never know, because we were on the move to see the Colosseum. 

On our way we encountered a fairly elaborate spray-paint job on a subway train.

Above: On the move in style.

When we finally arrived we had a unique problem. The Colosseum was simply too big for us to take a good picture.

Above: It's too big!

Caiqian was determined to get the shot. The place where she wanted the shot from required us to go through and pay for the Roman ruins. When we got to the gate though, not only did the ticket lady tell us the ruins were free today, but the ticket also gave us free admission to the inside of the Colosseum. Talk about lucky!

Above: In front of another Arc.

Above: Caiqian in ruins.

After navigating through an entire ruins, we found a stranger, showed him where to stand, and finally got the million-dollar shot.

Above: We got the shot!

After we exited the ruins, we decided to use our free ticket to enter the Colosseum. When I entered I was greeted with horse-butt. Talk about first impressions.

Above: Hello! Welcome to the Colosseum.

After that we made it to the spectator stands, and I was surprised to find the inside of the Colosseum was not flat, but labyrinth-like. Having it turn out to be a maze was a pleasant surprise.

Above: The Labyrinth in the Colosseum.

Above: Caiqian as a Roman Spectator.

After exiting the Colosseum Caiqian and I went to our last major landmark, the Pantheon. Unfortunately there were no buses or subways that would take us directly there, so it was walking time. On the way though we unintentionally found several famous structures.

Above: Really old pillars (The temple of Hadrian).

Above: Column of Marcus Aurelius.

One structure I noticed was pretty widespread throughout Rome were these little columns dripping water. I don't know what they were used for.

Above: Water bottle filling station, or water for dogs?

Now admittedly I mainly wanted to see the Pantheon because of Edinburgh's Pantheon. Anyone remember this?

Above: Edinburgh's Shame.

Well that was supposed to be this.

Above: The Real Pantheon!

Above: Bryan enjoying the real Pantheon.

Eventually we pushed our way inside the Pantheon and managed to snap a picture despite how crowded it was.

Above: Inside the Pantheon.

By the time we got out of the Pantheon it was dark. But we managed to squeeze in all the monuments we wanted to see. Another city successfully explored.

The biggest complaint I have about Rome is that the food was both expensive and not very good. This is a big no-no for Caiqian, and as a result we felt like seeing Rome once would be enough. In fact, our favorite food came from the cheapest place we ate, a small joint called Pizza Art.

Above: Nothing like comfort food.

The gelato in Rome was okay, but compared to Venice it was nothing special. There was one particularly bad gelato place that actually gave us a scoop of pure Nutella, which admittedly is pretty funny. Now I know a scoopful of pure Nutella sounds awesome, but let me say, if you're thirsty and it's a hot day, a scoop of Nutella can be pretty unappetizing.

Above: They gave us a scoop of pure Nutella!

One of the last things we did was to go visit a local food market. 

Above: Local Food Market.

The market was cute, but my favorite part by far was the broccoli.

Above: Fractal Broccoli.

I always wanted to end a post with a fractal. And this was a particularly cool 3-D fractal. I almost wanted one until I remembered that it would decay.

Anywho, after Rome Caiqian packed our bags and were ready to fly. Rome was fun once, but that's all we really cared to see. It was time to change languages from Italian to Spanish, because we were heading out for Barcelona!