Random Roamings in Rome!

The past week has been full of random adventures.  Last week Friday, I FINALLY made it to the Vatican Museum and St. Peter's Dome.  My friend, Ashley, and I started out the afternoon by climbing to the top of St. Peter's dome.  You can either take an elevator the first half and walk the second, or you can walk the whole way, 551 steps up.  We decided to walk the whole way.  It was so worth it though, spectacular views of Rome!  We spent a while up there taking in the view, then stopped at the souvenir shop on the way down which is situated right below the dome, about 3/4 of the way up.  Got some presents for people!!  When we got down, we were a bit more tired than we'd thought we'd be.  The Vatican Museum is situated about 10 minutes outside of the actual Vatican.  It's HUGE!  We spent at least 5 hours there.  I loved the apartments painted by Rafael, and of course, the Sistine Chapel.  It was smaller and darker than I expected, but still breathtaking.  We had walked for about 7 hours straight, so we were pretty exhausted.  We spent the evening relaxing and watching movies.

Saturday, it was a gorgeous day.  We checked out this park on the back side of Gianicolo Hill, laid out a blanket, and read and slept in the sun.  It was nice being able to actually hang out outside.  That night, we weren't planning on a night out, but we decided to go this bar just for a couple drinks.  We ended up meeting some British guys who were the band for the opening act for James Blunt!  We took them to this club Bloom, and we hung out for a while.  They told us they'd get us into the James Blunt concert the next day, and they totally did!  They put my and my friends' names on their list, so we got to go in for free.  We had awesome seats, then later in the show, they came and found us to get us After-show Party Backstage passes!!! AHH!!! So, after the show, we got to go hang out in their dressing room, chill, have fun, meet some of James's band members, and then they took us to look at their tour bus!  It was such a surreal night!  It was wonderful!

Then, Tuesday for my Art History class, we went to the ancient part of the port city Ostia.  It was cool that whole cities are so well-preserved.

Thursday was both St. Patty's day and the 150th Unification of Italy Anniversary.  It was quite the day for celebrating.  We focused on the St. Patty's aspect because the Italy Anniversary was more for families, and actual citizens.  We just went to a few Irish pubs, tried some green beer, and got awesome, tacky, huge hats for getting a Guinness!  I didn't last too long because the weather just wasn't cooperating, and I am not a fan of walking in pouring rain with my leaking boots and broken umbrella.  So, we took it easy the rest of the evening.

I must say it's been quite the random collection of events here in Rome this week!  Gotta love it!