Nashville's Melrose: The Summer I Went to Europe

Finally, after what seems like forever, I am back to my Europe posts! I have been so busy blogging about other things that I'm sure some of you (Mom, I'm talking to you) thought I was never going to finish. Well, I'm not going to lie...it may take me awhile, but I promise, I'll eventually finish the entire trip. =)

At 7:00 on Thursday morning, our ship arrived in Civitavecchia...don't ask me to pronouce that...all I know is that it was about an hour long train ride to Rome. After catching a quick bus ride to the train station, we jumped aboard the Roma Express and were on our way:

This little train was too cute, and it was very cozy!

Me, super excited to be heading to another new city!

After getting off the train, we were only a short walk to Vatican City. I am not Catholic, but I have to say there is something so spiritual about being in Vatican City. It is just beautiful and there is such an air of religiousness.

A view of the Vatican

Another View...

The arches we walked through to enter The Vatican from the train station

The 3rd door from the right is the Pope's Office...it looks like he was in that morning!

Since Patrick and I had gotten online the night before and reserved tickets later in the day for the Vatican, we decided to try to fit a few more things into our day. On our way into the city, our tour guide suggested that we should purchase tickets for one of those hop on/hop off buses. I am so glad we took her up on that, because it allowed us to see so much of the city that we wouldn't have been able to see otherwise. We got on the first time right outside The Vatican and started on our journey to see the city.

Patrick, on the bus with the Vatican behind him.

Who knew there was a such thing as a Ferrari Store?

The streets of Rome!

I can't believe how many scooters there were in Europe!

Our first stop along our bus route was my favorite place in all of Rome...the Trevi Fountain! I had never even heard of this place before this trip, but I think it may be one of the top 5 places I've ever been. It was beautiful, peaceful, crowded, and cool. Just wonderful!

View #1 of the Trevi Fountain

Me with My Beau!

View #2 of the Trevi Fountain

Patrick and I spent a LOT of time here!

Legend has it that every person who visits the fountain should throw a coin in to ensure that he/she will one day return to Rome...Well, you better believe Patrick and I were on that...although Patrick (the cynical one) said that the chances of us actually coming back to Rome were pretty slim, I still thought it was a nice dream... =)

After the Trevi Fountain, we decided to walk back to The Vatican to meet up for our tour. Along the way, we saw the most glorious site I had seen in a few days:

Of course because we wanted to make a couple of other quick stops, we didn't hunt it down, but it was very exciting to see a piece of home! We also walked by this during our walk:

Yep, that's right, it's a store that sells priest attire...honestly, I would have thought I would go my whole life without seeing such a store...how interesting!
Our next stop was the Pantheon where we spent a very short amount of time:

Beautiful courtyard surrounding the Pantheon!

Isn't it amazing?

Outdoor dining was such a big deal in Europe!

In case you were wondering, that over the shoulder purse was the best thing I took on this trip!

While we were in Rome, we really started enjoying taking videos of each of the places we visited. At the time I thought this was so funny, but looking back on it, I'm so glad we did this! It really shows the fun we have together and will also help us remember this amazing trip!

By this point, we were really in a hurry to make our Vatican tour appointment. Therefore, instead of eating another nice Italian lunch like we had intended, we had to grab something quickly...HOWEVER, because of this, I was able to drink my first European Fanta:

I had heard how different Fanta tasted in Europe, but I didn't believe it...let me just say, it's AMAZING!

After FINALLY arriving at Vatican City, we began our tour through the Vatican Museum. It was really a beautiful place, but honestly, it took SOOOOO long. As you can see from the following pics, it was gorgeous, but it just took forever!

I will say though that once we finally got to the Sistine Chapel (the most famous chapel in the world), it was definitely worth the wait! It was so beautiful and surreal...we didn't realize it at the time, but apparently you aren't supposed to take pictures. There were soooo many people taking pictures though...and yes, we were 2 of them:

Like many things in Rome, the pictures don't do it justice!

The famous ceiling of the Chapel

The alter of the chapel!

After finishing up at Vatican City, we decided to hop back on the bus and take a relaxing ride to the Colosseum. If the Trevi Fountain was my favorite thing in Rome, then the Colosseum was definitely my 2nd favorite! It was so big! The weirdest thing to me is that you can be walking through this city that's very similar to any large US city (i.e. Chicago, NYC, etc); however, you turn a corner and all of a sudden there's this huge structure that was built almost 2000 years ago! It's so amazing!

First view of the Colosseum

I couldn't believe there were men up that high working!

And another view...

Patrick being silly

And another view...

And a close-up view...

And another view...

As you can see...we were pretty impressed by this stop of the day!

And finally, a couple photo...

And now, for my favorite video of the entire trip...

After seeing everything one can possibly see in Rome in 12 hours, it was time to get back on the ship. Because we knew the next day would be an easy day at sea, we decided to stay out late and live it up that night. Well, we did our best, but SOMEONE may have had a little too much fun too early on and that someone's boyfriend MIGHT have had to take care of her and put her to bed kinda early...I mean, I'm just saying it MIGHT have happened...we still enjoyed the evening though!