when in ROME...part deux

bambam:
day 2 in rome! this was vatican city day! we woke up early had breakfast at the hostel and went to meet the girls at the train station. we decided to meet early to do a few things before the vatican! we started off with the spanish steps! The Scalinata is the longest and widest staircase in Europe. 138 steps! it was pretty cool. and theyre sorrounded by gucci,prada,dior,bulgaria. u name it and it was there! very high end! we all went up the stairs and sat and people watched for a bit!
then it was off to the trevi fountain. about a 5min walk! it was hugee and so beautiful. 85 ft high,the statues are massive! and the water in the fountain is brought all the way from the salone springs (about 20kms) it was used back in the day for people to bathe in! it is still to this day a pure water source!
then it was a bus ride to vatican city!! we met up with our tour group, we all went to a cafe to grab a quick lunch and then it was into the vatican musuem! u have to cover ur shoulders and knees inside so on a 35dgr day this is not very fuN!! but once inside..minus no aircon..it was still worth it! we saw sculptures that michelangelo did, a hugeee perserved bronze statue of hercules,tapestrys that leonardo divincis students made, and sooo much more. we only did 10 rooms, there are 1400 rooms!!!!!!! they say if u were to spend 3 seconds looking at every peice in the vatican musuem u would be inside for 12 YEARS!!! thats insane! but i can imagine how people spend more time inside. just the ceiling and wall and floor painting were incredibily detailed and beautiful.
after the musuem was the sistine chapel!! no words can describle this place. it was stunning. michelangelo took 4 years to paint it..against his will! he did not want to paint it but was forced to by the current pope. he actually hated to paint and thought he was bad at it. the first block that he painted took him 6 months, the last one took him 1 day!! also alot of the painting he did were to piss off the pope! lol like painting gods bare ass and then telling the pope when he got mad that he had painted a veil over it and if the pope couldnt see it than he must have a impure mind!! hahaha but besides all of the impressive paintings he made on the high ceiling the one he was again forced to come back and paint was, the last judgment. the pope made him come back to the sistine chapel again when he was 60 to paint this last wall. well michelangelo was NOT happy to be back so in his revenge he painted everyone naked and refused to cover them up. when one of the popes aids snuck in and saw what he had done and tried to make him change it. he got so mad that he painted that mans face on the man who judges people in hell) lol besides the fact he didnt want to paint it, it was one of the most impressive things i have ever seen. its huge and beautiful...no pictures allowed but i got a great one to show u all!! ;) oh and another random fact..hitler tried to see the sistine chapel 3 times before he died,and each time he went it just "happened" to be closed that day...pretty crazy.
after the sistine chapel was st.johns basillica. the reason its a basillica and not a church is because there are popes buried underneath it! st john the first pope was buried there and every pope since. this basillica is MASSIVE. it is the biggesst church in the world. all of the marble there was stolen from the castle at palatine hill and used to build this church! tsk tsk but the outcome was incredible. again the high ceilings the massive organ the statues and the only ever sculpture back then carved from one slab was michelangelos david. crazy! its packed with people but so quiet kind of a surreal experience.
cant wait to show u all pictures and videos . its impossible to sit here and really explain what it was like to be inside all of these beautiful ancient buildings. me and hana are in love with rome and really sad to be leaving already!
last night after 2 days of crazy site seeing we decided to stay close to the hostel and have an early night. well u know us and that turned into 2 bottles of wine, pizza and some crazy italian man sitting next to us to start seranting us!! lol oh and bought us roses! lol after dinner we went for some gelato which was so good! (no exaggerating here lol)
and noww its the morning and we.re heading to florence today! :)
we loved rome so much! cant wait to come back one day and show u all pictures!
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