Rome

This is part one of the multi part post of my two week holiday.

So first point on my vacation was Rome, Italy.  Getting there required a train ride to Liverpool airport on Friday night for our 6am Saturday Morning flight.  I am not good at sleeping on floors or in airports so I opted to stay up all night and learn to how to do my Rubik's Cube.

Anyway, got to Rome Saturday and it was absolutely gorgeous.  With Rome, you can be walking around the city and stumble upon a fountain or building that has been up for a few thousand years and have great historical significance.  There are monuments all around the city to look at.  The first day, my friend Geoff and I walked a

round the city and got our bearings and did light sightseeing.  The next three days were the heavy duty tourist days.

There is so much to see in Rome that you need 3 days to see it all if you are moving quickly.  We did the Colosseum without a tour guide and it was one of my favorite places to go on the trip.  I didn't realize how much was going on under the stadium floor.  There were a bunch of intricate walkways.  Also, I lea

rned that the floor of the Colosseum could be flooded for sea battles and that it was free to attend the events at the Colosseum but everyone that a unique seat location.

As a side note, in Rome, there are a bunch of Egyptian obelisks.  There are more in Rome than there are in Egypt but the Romans liked them so much that they took them back to Rome with them from Egypt. 

A few of my other favorite places in Rome was Trevi Fountain and the Pantheon.  Trevi Fountain is this huge fountain on the western part of Rome.  The legend goes that you are supposed to throw two coins into the fountain over your shoulder.  The first coin is a wish that you have and the second coin ensures that you will return to Rome before you die.  It was pretty cool to go to and see everyone tossing coins in the fountain.  It was even better looking at night with it all lit up.  The Pantheon was also pretty cool.  Inside the Pantheon, Raphael Santi is buried and above his body is an inscription that reads something like Here lies Raphael, by whom the mother of all things feared to be overcome while he was living, and while he was dying, herself to die.  Also, there is a huge hole in the ceiling on the Pantheon called an oculus which is why the building is so strong and the sun shines on a different part of the wall during the day so it can be used as a time piece.

Overall, Rome was my favorite place in Italy to be a tourist in, there was a ton of stuff to see, way more than I could possibly explain here.  It was a great way to kick off the two weeks though.