Ruins in Rome

We never really understood that quote 'When in Rome'. Do they mean to do as the ancient Romans did; Rape and pillage nations to expand there huge empire? Watch animals and humans kill each other for entertainment? Or what modern day Romans do; Park wherever you want and drive like a mad man? Eat your weight in pizza and pasta? Or kick-start your day with an espresso and a sickly sweet pastry?

Well we did we did some of those things and left some others out…. Our hostel was definitely a ‘party hostel’, with the only common room being the bar, complete with a beer pong/smoky nightclub downstairs.  We got a bit over excited and did party a little too hard the first night. Arvi in particular got very excited and was loving the music, the beers and the dance floor. To quote a  guy we met that night, the next morning ‘Hey man, you were really feeling the music last night!’. Needless to say it was Arvi’s turn to be very unwell the next day as we tried to walk/ hobble around and site see.

Leah intimidating Arvi's dancing style the night before 

convenient shirt the next morning (thanks Karla)

We did manage to see some pretty cool fountains on a night tour of Rome. These included the famous Trevi fountain and a fountain that was made to slightly resemble a woman in a compromising position, known as the ‘slut fountain’ to locals.

Another amazing panoramic photo by Arvi, Trevi Fountain 

the slut fountain (i don't see it)

Yay we can get photos together (that is sprite not a beer in my hand)

The next day we were nice and fresh again so we made a trip to Vatican City. We lined up to get security checked to get inside the popes church, St. Peters cathedral. It was huge and very beautiful.

Just a snippet of the line up 

Inside St Peters Basilica 

We then spent the afternoon seeing the sites of Rome. We saw heaps of ruins from the Ancient Roman times and tried to imagine what would have been going on there back in the day. We were given a pretty accurate picture by our animated guide, including plenty of blood, guts and gore.

The Colosseum right next to a road and above a train station 

Pretty much all of the structures from ancient Rome that were still standing were converted into churches by the Catholic church. We went to a church that was once a massive bath house and the pope even does a mass once a year in front of the Colosseum! How ironic, seeing thousands and thousands of people and animals were murdered there, in front of a captive audience.

One brilliant piece of ancient Roman architecture we saw was the Pantheon and you guessed it, it is now a Catholic church. Archeologists still don’t know why this 1800 year old structure is still standing today, or how the massive concrete dome in the centre was built in ancient times. The Base is 6 Metres thick with the top 1.5 metres think and it was all pored in one session. Guess slave labour really does get stuff done! One thing Leah thought was really cool was the 16 original red granite columns that still hold the foyer roof of the Pantheon up today. Each column, which weighs over 60 tonnes each, were transported carefully by sea all the way from Egypt. The ancient Romans then used a couple of elephants from Egypt to drag each column into its position. The fact that they could use materials and resources from all over the world just shows how much power the Romans had at the height of the Roman Empire. 

the Dome roof of the Pantheon 

one of the red granite pillars at the front of the Pantheon

Our last day in Rome was a rainy cold one. So we decided to go the Vatican Museum but so did EVERY other tourist in the whole of Rome! After waiting for a while to get to see the Sistine chapel, which was beautiful, we explored the other exhibits and had a bit of fun with the statues.

Leah please don't smash that poor dogs foot

See the statues stick together and you will be bitten