I'm almost too tired to fill you in on our trip to Rome. It was a whirlwind of events. We got into Rome around 11, dropped our bags off at the hotel and immediately left to meet our tour guide to walk through the remains of ancient Rome. We saw the Coliseum, the Roman Forum, Capitoline Hill, the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish steps. That evening I went to dinner with four friends and had a nice, slow meal that lasted about two hours. We wandered back to the hotel and had a chocolate sampling festival with different flavors such as orange, champagne, jamacan pepper and curry.

The next morning we got up early to meet a second tour guide to stand in line at the Vatacan Museum. After waiting for two hours we finally got inside where our guide whisked us through the various exhibits including Raphael rooms and the Sistine chapel. It was difficult to hear what he was saying through our headsets and his thick accent. We barely stopped for thirty seconds at each site before we were off and running to the next site. ALthough the Sistine Chapel was incredible, it was probably the worst experience I had in Rome. For some unexplained reason they would let unlimited people into the room but weren't letting people out. So we stood bunched up with about 500 other tourists pushing into us for 15 minutes until we finally squeezed our way out.

That evening I went to St. Peter's basilica which was breathtaking. I'm not really religious as of late, but being in that building was a moving experience. Sadly I kept thinking of Dan Brown's books. We walked through that building for about an hour, listening to Mass being held and admiring the artwork. Then we headed back to the hotel for a late dinner and a movie.

The next morning we got up early to see the Pantheon and a few of the Piazzas around the city, finishing up with hearing the Pope's Benediction. As we were waiting for the Pope to appear in his little window it started raining. Not having an umbrella, I was worried that the experience would be ruined. But about 2 minutes into the Pope's speech the rain stopped, the clouds opened and the sun started shining. I don't know if I believe that it was necessarily God, but it was creepy nonetheless. We then hopped on the bus to head back home to Florence where we had class the next day.

Overall, it was a beautiful weekend and I had a fun time. I had been complaining about the days time moving slowly last week, but it just flew by this weekend. Being back at school things are slowing down a bit, but I'm off to Paris this Thursday night for my second-to-last weekend here in Italy.