Coming to Rome I heard that it was overrated, too touristy and not a place to spend much time. I disagree. Granted I’ve never been to any other italian town so I dont have much of a comparison but everything so far has been molte bella e enorme.
The first day we arrived after a long 8-hour flight (20-hour total travel time…got to love those six-hour layovers). We finally arrived at our hotel–Casa Santa Pudenziana–a women-only convent where we stayed in a six-person room. It was quite the experience, especially when we were awoken in the morning by a screaming italian wanting to clean the room and for us to check out. Needless to say, we quickly obeyed her wishes.

The first day, we explored the weaving streets near our hotels, visited the beautiful church connected with the convent and toured the Santa Maria Maggiore church. Each was beautiful–almost Disney Epcot seeming in their perfection. Today, Thursday, we roamed the Roman ruins (say that five times fast). It was a lot of walking but completely worth it. Everything was bigger and more spectacular than you’re even thinking right now. As a fan of sports, the coliseum was especially breathtaking. It was gigantic, holding 75,000 during its prime–much bigger than even our beloved Dean Dome.  Another fun fact of the day: the coliseum was once filled with water to reenact naval battles for show.

Tomorrow we turn Catholic as we visit the Vatican and Sistine Chapel then Saturday head south for a week in Naples, Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast!

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