9.30.11 22:15

Today was my last day in Roma! Tomorrow we head to Firenze for another week of touring. Since it's our last day, little was accomplished. Eventually my roommates and I ventured out to wander around, I was on a mission to buy some Birkenstocks- which I did buy for 49 euros. Most of the group dressed up to go out to dinner (Italian Prom!) and Mark was snapping photos of us as we were leaving. We had a glorious time at dinner.  

9.29.11 14:00

Vatican City. As annoying as the Vatican staff and other tourists were, tourist would shove while guards will yell, I saw incredible art and that's all that matters, right? I did see an older man, I'll keep this classy, elbow an older woman in the face in the Sistine Chapel. I mean, the art is great but I didn't realize the violence it would create. Being in the Sistine Chapel is as close as I'll ever come to living through Catholic school when hitting kids was still ok, and I completely understand the deeply set fear of nuns that the adults, who were children in that era, still have.

9.28.11 20:00

I don't know when but sometime last night Mark put a note on every door saying we had to leave the hotel at 8:30 because our tickets for Galleria Borghese were very strange, our time in the gallery was from 9 to 11 but Mark had to pick up our tickets 30 minutes before we went in. The gallery was absolutely mind blowing, and of course photography was not allowed. After the gallery we were free for the day to do as we pleased with an optional trip to the Pantheon at 16:00, which I went to because When In Roma...
After being set free at the gallery like a group of liberated chickens I went to Piazza Navona with Caitlin. We took perhaps the worse taxi ever to get there, the gas light was flashing the entire time and the car died in traffic a few times and the driver didn't give either a second thought, just kept weaving in and out of traffic. After exploring the piazza for a bit we returned to our hotel where I did my laundry in a sink, not nearly as bad as expected.

9.27.11 17:11

After walking down the street we stopped at an area by a pizzeria to go our separate ways for an hour before heading on. About half the group went around the corner to eat the food we smuggled out from breakfast, I had an apple. When the hour had passed, we headed on the to metro, after 2 stops we exited to head to the church Santa Maria Del Victoria. After walking 3 or 4 blocks in the wrong direction we turned around and at 15:00 we found the church, which didn't open until 15:30 so we sat on the steps to wait. The church, like all baroque churches, was extravagant to the max. After taking in all the beauty the church had to offer we walked back to the metro to ride 4 more stops to walk to Basilica Di San Clemente, which is where I am currently sitting.  Again, no photos are allowed

9.27.11 8:45

Today is Becca;s 20th birthday!!! We have 4 or 5 stops planned for today, we'll see how well that goes. We had to move a church we were supposed to see yesterday to today because we could not go to the Colosseum until after 14:00

9.27.11 12:28

We've been at the National Etruscan museum for a few hours now, and on display they had 9 coins which were pretty incredible to see. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take photos inside the museum, such a shame since they had such wonderful works on display.

9.26.11 20:22

Back at the hotel now, the Colosseum was amazing of course! Just sitting around with my roommate. Italia is so fabulous!!