Hooray we finally made it to Rome… zzzzzz or at least that’s how we felt after the plane landed at 1:00 in the morning local time. After waiting and waiting for the last of the bags to arrive, and we’re still waiting now for Chelsea’s. Then we headed for the exit with the knowledge that we would probably have to be waiting for a train for a half an hour and then longer still to get to the hotel. But nay said the interesting conversation between Forrest and six cab drivers waiting in front of the airport. Instead we went on possibly my favorite car ride of all times. 175 kmph, a few mid stoplight bubblegum runs and after many sharp turns and middle of the road driving later, we arrived at the hotel laughing and thankful for the lack of traffic and accidents.
The next morning, though technically not due to the late arrival, we set off early with the intention of visiting a lot of major sights in Rome. Our first stop, the St. Maggiore Church, we had our lecture on Forrest radio (these random headsets that he could speak into and only we could hear) about Thomas Aquinas. Before, after and during the lecture I’m sure most of us were admiring the Roman mosaics adorning the upper walls of the church and loving Forrest’s comments made while forgetting he was on a microphone.
Moving on in the day, we next visited the church of the St. Peter in chains. Here is where the “chains” that held St. Peter when he was crucified is kept, as well as Michelangelo’s Moses. The Moses was a wonderful piece to behold with many features to admire and is the first of many Michelangelo pieces that we saw in Rome.
After leaving the St. Peter church we moved on down the road a couple of blocks, turned the corner and found ourselves standing in front of… The Colosseo. A very large and historical monument right before us surrounded by the hustle and bustle of Rome. After lunch at the nearby café’s and stands we met to go into the Colosseo for some fun pictures, history and mock gladiator battles.
However during all of this Colosseo fun it was pouring rain on and off and we were all still very much tired from the night previous so we then decided to call the rest of the planed day off and pick it up tomorrow. During the lag between walking around and dinner myself and Andrew decided to go for a run around town and in a short while found ourselves back at the Colosseo and running around the forum, that building, and even did a lap around where Circus Maximus used to be. After this run and subsequent shower we went for dinner on the hotel, as a group, to a restaurant around the corner and enjoyed a three course meal to celebrate Forrest’s Birthday.
--Nicholas Gallagher
