When in Rome...

When in Rome, there was so much to do and so little time, it was hard to chose what we wanted to do. I have visited Rome many times before with my family, and therefore I have already seen most of the sights but the one things I hadn't been able to do was to go into St Peters Basilica - I had my shoulders covered but not my knees in the 40 degree heat of summer. So this time, when Rome was actually pretty cold ( a lot colder than Barcelona), but probably still not as cold as home, we managed to enter St Peters, after only a 30 minute queue. The inside of the building, despite me not being at all religious, was absolutely incredible. Even though it is not at all my taste, just the sheer size of the space is enough to make you gaze and the interior architecture of the building. Catholic churches are very well known for being very ornate, but St Peters Basilica is literally on a different level. Everywhere you look, you can see amazing works and hours of dedication in order to create the space that we were within. Even though there were hundreds of people in the same space as us, it felt empty. It almost felt quiet. 

Even the outside of the building is still just as impressive, and one thing, that I have to compare to Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, as it really is the only comparison, but I think St Peters looks much more impressive because there is such a walk up towards it. You can see it from so far away, and even then it looks incredible but every step you take you get that little bit closer, and you can see that little bit more. By the time you reach it you have really had the chance to discover and read the whole building. At the Sagrada Familia, the whole area is built up. The furthest you can get away from the building is the other side of the road..and unless you lay down on the floor and took at photo at a 90 degree angle, you wouldn't be able to fit the whole building into one photograph. I actually think that the building of Sagrada Familia is without a doubt much more impressive than St Peters, yet because you don't get the run up to it, it doesn't feel that way. I don't think it matter how many times you visit Vatican City - you always have to have your photo taken outside! 

That evening we went to meet Benny from uni - where I believe he is also finding the same thing, that the course isn't as good as Chelsea, but I guess also very different, where we went on to have a few cocktails, a proper Italian pizza and then the strangest and most random chocolate and liquor shot from a bookstore! Yes Bookshop by day, Shotshop by night! The shot glass was made from chocolate, and it was then filled with your choice of spirit, a few flavours and topped with whipped cream. You weren't meant to shot it like a normal shot, but put it into your mouth with the bottom of the 'glass' first and then eat the whole thing! Trying to eat solid chocolate and then swallow alcohol appears to be quite difficult, and after almost choking you finish it! It was probably one of the most amazing random places I have ever seen or come across, and also probably one of the nice shots I have ever had to. I have been to Rome more than a few times and I have never seen this place, and that is why this trip is so different to any of the others. You are spending it with someone that lives there, and even living in Barcelona, a foreign city, makes you want to experience other foreign cities in an entirely different way. 


I found that the way of living in Spain is very different to Italy. In spain eating or having a coffee becomes a leisure moment in the day, or time for rest - similar to how it is at home. In Italy on the other hand, you don't even get a seat regardless of whether you are grabbing breakfast, stopping for a coffee or actually having lunch! Also because the city is so small, you tend to walk to the majority of places, occasionally taking the bus if you are going to somewhere slightly further out, where you also have to stand. So by the time it gets to 5pm, and you have been out all day walking the city and seeing the sites you become slightly tired and ready for a refresh. That is when the delicacy of Rome comes into place - the Gelato. Rome wouldn't be Rome without having a famous Gelato, yet I had that much choice I couldn't seem to chose, even though I was ready to collapse! In the end I settled on as many different chocolate flavours as I could cram into a medium sized cone as I needed the energy to keep me going for the evening. Thankfully Rome goes to sleep slightly earlier than Spain so the evening ahead wasn't going to be quite so long. 

For the many places we visited in Rome - a picture can say a thousand words.....

I experienced my first ever Italian House Party that weekend, and I cannot say it was the best thing I have ever been to. You forget that in Italy they can still smoke inside, so the next morning I had lung cancer and was now a 20 pack a day smoker - but the company made up for the lack of fresh air within the house. The most annoying thing about it was knowing that I was going to have to pay €6.50 for a wash when I got back as the whole of my bag was going to have to be refreshed! 

I find it amazing how quickly a weekend can go, and how you run out of time to do the so many things that you planned to do. How quickly this weekend went explains how quickly my whole time here has gone. When I think about being over in Spain for 11 weeks, I absolutely cannot believe it has been that long, but then when I think about it, it feels as if I have been here forever. 11 weeks is the longest amount of time that I have not visited home for, and been in the same place. Coming to Rome was the first trip out of the city that I have been staying in, and it made me appreciate what I have in Spain, and what I have made of it. Coming back to Barcelona felt like I was coming back to my home, and it was only when I thought about leaving Rome that I realised how much I had come to love the city that I was living in in Spain, and how much it now felt like it was mine and a place I had made my home. 
You cannot leave a long weekend without a big bang. So with Benny, Emily and Benny's flatmate, we ventured back to Vatican City, in order to climb the 520 spiral steps up to half way point and then another couple of hundred up to the top of St Peters to view the Basilica from the inside and the view of the whole of Rome from the outside. As architecture, the walk up very much reminded me of Libeskind and his Jewish Museum. As you reached the top, you literally had to learn to the right as the wall leant to the right and there wasn't enough space to stand up straight. Right at the top, the spiral staircase was so narrow that you had a long straight piece of rope as a handrail, and even closer to the top, you had to climb the stairs one foot in front of the other. I wouldn't say I particularly enjoyed the experience of climbing, but the feeling that it gives you is definitely something that must have a meaning behind it by the architect. And the views both ends at the top definitely make up for it.