Ostia Antica and the Beach

The weekend of Friday the 8th, our roommate Sara went to England. So Jenn and I decided to go off and have our own fun! Friday morning we went to Ostia Antica right outside of Rome. I actually enjoyed this better than Pompeii because it was better preserved and much smaller. Afterward we treated ourselves with a trip to the beach -only half an hour away from home!

Baths of Neptune

Theater

BEACH!!!

Angels and Demons

So...I'm a nerd and I really really like Dan Brown. So much that I made a special tour for myself in which I went to all of the sites mentioned in the book Angels and Demons. Here they are!

Air: St. Peter's Square

Castel Sant'Angelo: Lair of the Illuminati

Water: Bernini's Four Rivers Fountain

Fire: Bernini's St. Theresa in Ecstasy

Earth: Chigi Chapel

Odds and Ends

Brianne and I cooked dinner together

Once again I've fallen behind! Sorry to keep you in the dark about my gallivanting, but it's so hard to find time to update when the internet doesn't work well and your time is taken up by papers, tests, and walking to and from school. Now that I only have three days left, I'll take this time to update you about the past month. I just finished my last final (it didn't go so well) and I'm waiting for the Farewell Pizza party this evening...so here's one of several last posts. Following this one I'll post about my Angels & Demons trail, Ostica Antica, the beach, the Colosseum, the Soccer Game, and the last few days, but I can't do that until I've uploaded the pictures to my computer -within the next few days though!

Entrance to the Vatican Museums

Inside Vatican City! It has it's own radio station!

Laoocon

Not Saint Peter's actual tomb -but close?

The weekend of Friday April 1st, my roommates went to the Amalfi coast on a bus trip. I was not able to go because it was too expensive, but I did have a great weekend nonetheless! Friday I got up early and went to the Vatican Museums. They were soooo interesting, especially thanks to my roommate Sara who told me what I needed to make sure to see. At the end was the famous Sistine Chapel. I also went into the crypt and saw Pope John Paul II's tomb. Saturday, I had a reservation for the Borghese Gallery which showcases many excellent Bernini sculptures. I have never been much of an art nerd, but I definitely LOVED Bernini's sculptures of Apollo and Daphne and Pluto and Proserpina. They were so detailed, beautiful, and realistic! I also went on an Angels & Demons hunt that weekend which I will post about following this one.

Galleria Borghese

Siena Day Trip

The next day, Saturday, March 26, also had an interesting beginning! Once again, an alarm didn’t go off, but we weren’t waiting this time. The three of us caught the train and assumed our friend was not going to make it in time. By some great miracle she showed up on the train a few minutes later. We’re still not sure how that happened! Happy that we were all together, we arrived in Siena to begin our next interesting adventure. We hopped on the bus to take us to old Siena, didn’t get off when we were supposed to, and ended up taking an hour tour of the region of Tuscany. It was beautiful but definitely NOT what we meant to do! 

Palazzo Pubblico

We're very thankful for Rick Steves!

Once we arrived where we were supposed to be we found Piazza del Campo and Palazzo Pubblico. After looking at the artwork in the palace and climbing the tower to overlook the city and beautiful countryside, we sat in the piazza to enjoy our lunch and trail mix (supplied by my grandma). We also looked inside the duomo of the city (fabulous!) and climbed another tower in the museum next door. It was a really enjoyable day overall and the weather was nice and warm. Then it was time to return to a Sunday filled with homework…fun fun.

Overhead view of Piazza del Campo and Palazzo Pubblico

Rhiannon, me, Sara, Jenn

Assisi (aka The Day We Missed Our Train)

Sara, Jenn, and Rhiannon

On Friday, March 25, Sara, Jenn, a friend Rhiannon, and I took a day trip to the medieval hill town of Assisi. Let me tell you, this day began with a burst of energy! After an alarm that didn’t go off we rushed out the door, ran to the metro station and hopped aboard, ran like no tomorrow through Termini train station AND…missed our train. After convincing ourselves that we weren’t actually going to die from searing lungs, we paid 8 Euros to get the next train and arrived in Assisi around noon. The church of Saint Francis of Assisi is absolutely gorgeous. It had relics of Saint Francis and frescoes by Giotto. The rest of the day basically consisted of wandering in churches and through quaint streets and munching on Goldfish supplied by my grandma. In the evening we returned to Rome to sleep and get up early to catch a train to Siena. 

San Francesco di Assisi

GELATO!

Castel Rocca Maggiore

Under the Tuscan Sun

On the weekend of March 18-20 we tagged along with Sara and Mary’s class to Florence. Jenn, Adam, and I did our own thing for most of the weekend and then met up with the other two Saturday night. On Friday we saw Donatello’s David statue in a sculpture museum, had AH-mazing gelato, saw Ponte Vecchio, and then had to leave to catch a bus to San Gimignano. We had plans to stay there in the monastery of San Agostino. Staying in a monastery -just one more thing to cross off the bucket list! The monastery beds were surprisingly really comfortable and it was not as “roughing it” as I thought it would be. San Gimignano is also the most adorable little medieval hilltown overlooking the beautiful countryside of Tuscany. 

Ponte Vecchio

Mary, Jenn, Sara, Adam

The next day in Florence we saw the famous David by Michelangelo in the Galleria Accademia, but definitely didn’t have enough time there. We had to get to our Uffizi Gallery reservation on time. After spending the entire afternoon there without eating and looking at art until we were shaking from hunger we grabbed a bite to eat and met up with Sara and Mary outside the Duomo. 

The Duomo

We traveled back to San Gimignano and spent the evening and next morning sharing our love for the cute little town. I must say that I have a huge soft spot for countryside, so this was the perfect getaway from the hustle and bustle of Rome. Sunday we had to hurry back to Florence to get Sara’s new leather jacket repaired (the zipper broke). Hurry is not quite the word for what happened, however. I’d say we spent about 3 hours either on a bus or waiting for buses in the most boring locations to ever exist. Upon return to Florence we saw the outside of the church where Michelangelo is buried (we were too poor to go inside) and also his house. Then it was back to Roma to start a new week!

Monastery of St. Augustine Cloister

Salsa Night

Well, I was going to show you a video from Salsa night, but Blogger wouldn't let me upload it. Either that or it's just the awful internet in the Residence. Anyway, Temple hosted a night where we could learn how to salsa dance –so much fun! After we were done learning basic steps they surprised us by doing a dance themselves.