Love From Sevilla: Rome

I have wanted to go to Italy for a very long time. I would always try to talk my parents into taking our family there for a huge vacation. For some reason it never worked out...I can't figure out why. :) But, after years of hoping, I actually got to visit Italy for four days. And it was even better than I could have imagined.

We left early Thursday morning and got to Rome in the afternoon. We checked into our hotel room and then spent the rest of the afternoon exploring. Our hotel was a five minute walk from the Spanish steps, and a ten minute walk from Trevi Fountain. It was AMAZING! I absolutely love the city of Rome. I have never been to a city with so many things to see in such a close distance. We could even walk to the Colosseum in a little over a half an hour. There were monuments, statues, and ruins around every corner. Everywhere we went there was something new to see. And in between all of these amazing monuments, there were a thousand different Italian restaurants. I don't eat a lot of pasta here, so it was quite the treat to eat pizza, lasagna, spaghetti, and bread at every meal. (It was also pretty nice to travel and not have to live off of forty cent loaves of bread, granola bars, and bananas. When I travel with my friends we are extremely cheap and literally live off of a few dollars a day. So, I definitely didn't mind getting spoiled by my parents a little bit. :) )

My dad and I on the Spanish steps at night.

Throwing a coin into the Trevi Fountain...looks like I'm going back to Rome. :)

We love Italian food!

On Friday we got a tour of the Vatican where we got to see the Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's Basilica, and St. Peter's Square. It was absolutely incredible. I could have spent hours in the Sistine Chapel. Seeing the Bible laid out in an intricate painting was amazing. There really are no words to describe what it was like to look up at that ceiling. It was also really cool to be there just a few days before the conclave was going to take place to choose the new pope. After the Vatican, we got a tour of the catacombs. They are over 150,000 graves where the Christians buried people who didn't have very much money. During the persecution in Rome they also had secret meetings there. It was humbling to think about what those Christians must have gone through. How blessed we are to be able to worship our Lord in peace. There is a ton of Christian history in Rome, and it was fascinating to to get to learn more about it.

Outside St. Peter's Basilica in front of the square.

One of the ceilings in the Vatican Museum...sorry no pictures allowed in the Sistine Chapel. :(

On Saturday we walked to the Colosseum and took a tour. Wow. What a crazy feeling to stand where many Christians were ripped apart by animals. It made me think about what I would have done if I lived in Rome during this time. Would I have the bravery to face lions for my faith? Would I be willing to give up everything, including my life, to spread the Gospel? It was a good slap in the face to make me realize how blessed I am to share my faith without fear, and to remember that my walk with Christ should always be the most important thing in my life. After the Colosseum we took a tour of up Palantine Hill and walked around the Roman Forum where we got to see a lot of ruins built in 80 A.D. We spent the night walking up some very large hills on the outskirts or Rome that gave us a beautiful view of the city while the sun was setting.

Outside the Colosseum.

My mom and I inside the Colosseum...you can see the platform where the people used to walk out onto, and then underneath are the remains of the quarters where the slaves worked and where they kept the animals.

Our view of the city while the sun was setting.

In between the major sights, we got to spend lots of time at the Trevi fountain, the Spanish Steps, the Pantheon, and the many different plazas in Rome. I absolutely love Rome. It was an amazing trip and I had so much fun getting to hangout with my parents for a few days. I was sad to leave one of the most incredible cities I have ever seen, but I was excited to get back to Sevilla to keep practicing my Spanish.