Today I have spent time saying goodbye to the city which I quickly fell in love with. As I write this I am eating spaghetti and drinking wine on a street restaurant. All of the friends I made thus far went home for Christmas so I got the chance to wander aimlessly around the city. I finally made it to trevi fountain, numerous cathedrals, and all of the piazzo's along the way.
Yesterday I got to go see the Sistine Chapel, the Vatican museum, St. Peter's Cathedral, and wander around the smallest country in the world, the Vatican. No pictures could describe how beautiful the Vatican is. We weren't allowed to take pictures in the Sistine Chapel but I stood and awed over it for fifteen full minutes. And once in St. Peter's I went to confession in the church and spent over an hour and a half wandering around the basilica. It was amazing especially since the day before I saw the ancient Roman basilica at the Roman Forum that inspired the Christian world's greatest church. Apparently basilica never meant church until St. Peters. It used to mean a business meeting place. Where one would go to hire lawyers ect.
Besides the forum I also saw the majority of Ancient Roman ruins. Alongside these ruins numerous archaeological digs are occurring and I got to to see a glimpse, before these sites have gone public of, the largest discovered roman bath house as well as ancient village ruins that is believed to be where Rome was originally founded before the reign of kings and the reign of emporers throughout Rome.
And while all of the buildings are amazing they are not even what has been captivating me every second. It's the entire country. Every ordinary apartment building appears to be an ancient architecture discovery. Every street has amazing hidden secrets that I get to uncover such as amazing Italian eateries, gelato, markets, and more. I get lost almost every day and never even try to get unlost. If I hadn't gotten lost I probably never would have found the Spanish Steps, Cathedral of St. Agnes, visited the Collisium at night, had roasted chesnuts (which are gross) and many more things.
I could easily see myself staying forever here like the people who work at the hostel I am staying in. Most of the people who work in the bar and help run the hostel were once just travelers passing through when they fell in love with the high energy hostel and the city itself. That high energy has cost me though. Last night I crashed after three full days and nights that never seemed to end. I slept twelve full hours and awoke feeling revived! It was then that I realized I could stay here forever but needed to move on in order to see other places. Tonight I will attend midnight mass in St. Peters and then tomorrow morning I am off to celebrate Christmas in Assisi.
I hope everyone has a very merry Christmas. Ciao for now as the Italians say.
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