I guess that this is where it ends, or maybe this is the point at which the rest of my life begins. I have learned more in the past few weeks than I did during the past few years of my life. The time seems to have flown by so fast, and yet it seems like ages ago when I stepped off the plane in London. I have changed so much that I almost don’t recognize the person I was. There is something priceless about being able to take life day by day and not be able to predict what will happen. Each and everyday day held surprises and adventures for me, from navigating the tube in London, to deciding to “stroll” around Venice at midnight, this trip has been anything but predictable.

I have been living my life in a kind of super-speed mode. It will be nice, but strange, to return to normal life. But then again, I have to keep reminding myself that when I get home I only have a couple of days before I pack up and go to college. The life I used to know is now gone. When I began this trip I didn’t realize it but, I said left the life I’ve known up until this point and set off on the beginning of the rest of my life, and I couldn’t have imagined a better way to begin my new life than this….

This was one of the longest days of my life. After getting ready and finishing up packing I squeezed into the tiny Italian elevator and tried to make my way downstairs. I say try because I got stuck halfway between the first and second floors. Luckily a guy I had met the night before came along to let me out. I checked out of the hostel and then made my way to the airport.

The Rome airport is one of the craziest places I have been to. It was a good thing I showed up early because there were all kinds of random security checkpoints. Places where some officers just decided to stop and check everybody’s passport. After finally making it on to the airplane I settled in for the longest 11 hours of my life. The plane was tiny compared to the plane I took to London, but since I was so tired I really didn’t care.

We went out to breakfast at a café with Anthony and then walked down to the Borghese Park. Along the way we stopped by the crypt of a church called Santa Maria della Concezione. What was so unusual about this crypt is that it is decorated with the bones of 4,000 Capuchin (yeah like the coffee) monks. It was kinda cool, but mostly I just found it disturbing. Once we made it to the park Hannah led us to a fountain and she waded in, despite my warnings that it was illegal to swim in the fountains in Rome. She ignored me and as if on cue a Roman security officer arrived and yelled for her to get out of the fountain.

Creepy? A statement about mortality? The ultimate recycling program?

At Borghese Park

I went to the Borghese Gallery today which houses some of the best art in Rome. The gallery is housed in the former residence of a Roman cardinal so the grounds were immaculately kept. I made a mental note to return tomorrow to enjoy the fountains and well kept grass, but in the meantime I purchased my ticket and went into the gallery. I had always been a big fan of Bernini, but seeing his works in person was absolutely amazing. No other sculpture can compare to the movement and emotion he captures in his works. I wandered around the sculpture gallery trying to avoid the huge Japanese tour group that arrived, then I went up to the picture gallery where I saw Raphael’s Deposition. I have seen so much art while in Italy it is weird to think that I just walked past this Raphael like it was any other work of art.

I spent the afternoon sleeping, ever since our arrival in Rome, my sleep pattern has reversed. The heat makes it nearly impossible to do anything during the day, so sleeping during the hottest hours and staying out late seems to be the best route to take. Back at the hostel I made plans to go out with our roommate, Anthony, and Hannah showed up a little while later. Anthony hadn’t seen Rome at night so I decided that we should walk by all the major highlights. First we went down to the Coliseum and walked around it then we went to the Forum, which usually stays open late but because today was the day of the Assumption of the Virgin it had closed early. I don’t think Italians are really that pious, I just think they like an excuse to get off of work, and boy do they have a lot of excuses.

The Trevi Fountain is much more beautiful at night--sans crowds.

The Coliseum is breathtaking at night.

“Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears. I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.” I had to fight back my urge to jump on a rock and scream out these famous words today in the Forum…

It seems like you can’t round a corner in Rome without running into some ruins, but the Forum and Coliseum simply are the best. As I walked around the Forum I looked down and noticed the grooves that had been worn into the ground by chariot wheels. It is amazing to think I am walking the exact paths that emperors walked… err maybe rode… did emperors walk or ride?

The Coliseum is a hollowed out reminder of Rome’s glorious past, even though it exists as just a fraction of its minor splendor, it is still breathtaking. Over the centuries it was chipped away at to build Rome’s other architectural wonders. The Coliseum escaped total destruction when the Pope declared it a sacred place in honor of the Christians who died there (turns out that modern research shows no Christians were killed there… but who cares about minor details?)

I made an ingenious discovery today. During this entire trip I have been crossing streets to read road signs only to discover that it was not the road I was looking for. Today I finally put two-and-two together and pulled out my binoculars to read the sign before I crossed the street. Why didn’t I think of this before?

I insisted on going to the Bocca Della Verita. I wanted to act out the scene from Roman Holiday, unfortunately I don’t have my own Gregory Peck, but I still got a good picture.

I got a little lost trying to navigate my way back to the Pantheon, but after a couple of buses and a metro ride I finally made my way back. Rome is certainly a challenge, but each day that goes by Rome grows on me a little bit more and more.

You can't tell, but I am standing front of the Arch of Constantine

A set of very very old doors

What does that road sign say?

My "Roman Holiday" moment

Today I attacked Vatican City. I use the word attack because a trip to the Vatican takes as much planning as a small military operation. Zack and Alex tagged along which was a bit annoying since by this time they were starting to get on my nerves, Hannah had been spending the pass couple of days flirting it up with Zack so she wouldn’t listen when I suggested ditching them. So I decided to ditch her along with them.

St. Peter’s Basilica is massive. There were all these little tabs on the floor marking where other famous churches end. You could literally fit two Notre Dames inside St. Peter’s. It was really surreal to see Michelangelo’s Pieta. It was behind all this glass and it looked much smaller than I expected but it was still awe-inspiring. This was the first of many times I would be brought to tears today.

The Vatican museum is where all the good stuff is and I must have spent hours wandering around. It was crazy how elaborately the entire building was decorated; I could never have imagined such opulence. The Rafael rooms really shocked me. Every other painting I have seen so far has been disappointingly small, but the School of Athens is massive.

Going into the Sistine chapel for the first time was really mind blowing. I spent so much time studying the ceiling and nothing can compare the real thing. The ceiling was painted so realistically painted I could have sworn I could have reached up and pulled on one of Jonah’s dangling toes.

A quick glimpse at the Pope's gardens from a window in the Vatican Museum

I bet the Pope surfs down this staircase on his mattress after the Museum closes

We made arrangements to go to Pompeii with Zack and Alex today, and of course we were running late and flew onto the train just as it was leaving. We spent the first part of the train ride talking, then Zack whipped out his mp3 player and I was gone… It has been so long since I’ve listened to real American music, I missed it almost as much as I missed Mexican food. Zack was nice enough to share an earphone with me… ah heaven.

Believe it or not it was actually hotter in Pompeii than in Rome! Pompeii was interesting but to tell the truth Alex was really the only person into the entire experience. He rented an audio guide and herded us around the ruins like a possessed tour guide…

Back in Rome I met up with a group of people from the hostel and we all got pizza together and then wandered to the Spanish steps and the Trevi Fountain.

The engineering behind the dome of the Duomo has always amazed me so I couldn’t pass up the chance to climb up through the two layers to the top of the dome. I have been getting really good at climbing stairs, the trek up didn’t even wind me!

I seem to have developed a problem with catching trains in Italy. I keep showing up late, but luckily Italian trains are always late so I manage to catch the trains. Today was no different…

My hostel in Rome is really social, which is good because I knew I would have to find some guys to hang out with if I wanted to go out in Rome at night. I met some great American guys, Alex and Zack and we went out to dinner and saw all the amazing Roman sites by night. During our walk I discovered that Alex and Zack had never had gelato or Italian coffee, so I took it upon myself to introduce them to both.

A small window on the way to the top!

The stairs--at one point you are actually wedged in between two domes built within each other

The view from the top!

I decided to spend the morning wandering around Florence, first I headed to the Mercato Nuovo. At one time this market was the center point of Florence’s trade, now it’s filled with vendors selling trashy tourist trinkets. I just stayed long enough to rub the Foutana del Porcellino (Piglet’s Fountain), which is supposed to bring you good luck. Next I headed across the Ponte Vecchio to the market at Piazza Santo Spirito where I encountered a bum asleep on a bench with his very shaggy dog. I wouldn’t have given the scene a second thought, but I noticed that the man had a strange-looking silver stool so he stuck out in my head. The Piazza houses a lesser-known Brunelleschi designed church, but unfortunately he died before construction was completed and those who finished it did not stay completely loyal to his design… even with the changes the church is an architectural beauty.

After relaxing and taking in the quietness of the square I walked up Florence’s only hill, Costa di San Giorgio, the hill is quite steep but along the way I stumbled upon the former home of Galileo. I kept walking uphill and passed through Florence’s old city gates… the street on the other side of the gates was lined with old Italian villas. I was admiring one villa from the driveway and all of the sudden a security gate closed behind me! I was locked in! I wandered around the yard of this amazing house trying to figure out if I should call for help, or try to sneak out to avoid getting into trouble. For the first time in a long time I was absolutely terrified. I couldn’t find a way out, but I did find an 100-year-old-looking gardener trimming some hedges. Using sign language, a little bit of Italian and some tears, I was able to communicate what happened to me. He introduced himself ,“Mi chiamo Antonio”, and I told him “Mi chiamo Melanie, Sono stupido Americano, mi dispiace.” Which I think translates as “My name is Melanie, I’m a stupid American, I’m sorry.” Antonio laughed told me something in Italian that I didn’t understand and let me out.

The rest of the walk wasn’t quite as eventful. I passed a monastery and could hear singing coming from inside, which brought a smile to my face. The views from Piazza San Michelangelo were fantastic, worth the steep climb and illegal trespassing…

Back in Florence I headed to the line at the Uffizi, in a square off from the museum a familiar dog caught my eye, I followed him and he led me to the homeless man I encountered this morning. He works as one of those human statues, he was painted silver and standing on that silver stool I had noticed earlier.

When I finally entered the square in front of the Uffizi I noticed a lot of people heading away from the museum, when entered the square, there was a museum employee standing at the end of the line turning people away. He stood in front of a sign that said the museum was closing in a hour and no one else could get in the line… I pouted a little, then thought I might try reasoning with the guard, I recalled a silly phrase that I memorized from my Italian language guide “Ho promesso a mia madre sul letto di morte che averi visto questo.” (“It was my mother’s dying wish that I see this”). The guide smiled and let in into the line! My little Italian went a really long way today. I had to rush through the museum at breakneck speed, but I would rather go fast than not at all!

I rubbed the nose for luck!

I love stumbling upon all the strange fountains.

The grounds of the Italian villa I accidentally broke into...

Michelangelo’s David is breathtaking… When I was studying the Italian Renaissance in school my art history professor described him as looking confident, but I disagree. I think that Michelangelo sculpted David just as he is sizing up Goliath and he realizes that he may have gotten in over his head… but he knows that there is no turning back now. I can see fear in his eyes, I don’t think that fear makes him any less brave, quite the contrary. Courage in the face of fear is true bravery.

As if I was walking through Renaissance Disneyland I headed to the Duomo. Michelangelo said that Ghiberti’s bronze baptistery doors were fit to be the gates of Paradise, and I agree. The line to get into the actual Duomo was incredibly long, but since it was free and a must-see I knew I had to be patient and wait. The Duomo is an amazing display of faith. The building stood for years without a roof, because the technology did not exist to build such a large dome… an unfinished cathedral didn’t bother the Florentines, they knew that eventually someone would come along and finish their beloved Duomo. And it was certainly worth the wait, for them and for me…

The mosquitoes in Italy are of some kind of mutant breed. Bug repellant doesn’t seem to keep them away and over the past couple of days I have been eaten alive. I headed to a pharmacy in hopes of getting the Italian form of Benadryl. I tried explaining what I wanted to the pharmacist (who didn’t speak great English), and he gave me a package of pills, only problem I had no idea what exactly it was, or how many to take. I tried to read the packaging but my Italian is paltry at best. Incredibly itchy, I decided to wing it… Two pills later I was blacked out on my bed... oh how I love super strong foreign drugs…

Just one of the Baptistery doors. I had to fight my way through a huge crowd to get to a couple of pictures.

Cliff Bar + Jam = Lunch?