Tuesday, September 6, 2011

This is what dreams are made of

I feel Like I am in a movie all the time here! This place is so beautiful it feels like I'm in a dream. Yesterday we saw the Trevi fountain, the Pantheon, and the Spanish steps. I was in awe the entire time! I think I have said 'wow' about a million times since yesterday. These monuments are so incredibly beautiful. You walk through very small streets to get to them and then you turn around and there they are in all there beautiful amazing glory. But these monuments definitely live up to there reputation. I am surprised at how open they are to the public. The Trevi fountain has many police men guarding it and you can't go up to the water but it was still stunning. The Pantheon is free to the public and you can touch all the walls and columns. All these beautiful ruins are part of where Italians live it's all mashed in with the modern buildings. Which is amazing to me. All this history is blowing my mind! 

Anyway here are some pictures from yesterday.
Making my wish at the Trevi fountain!

The Pantheon. So big and beautiful!

Gelato!!
These fountains are a life saver and the coolest things ever.

Me hugging one of the columns of the Pantheon
Our Roman Holiday Spanish Steps picture :)
This was the coolest fountain to get water from. This is right at the base of the Spanish steps. 
The Colosseum!
 So today we first saw the Colosseum. We took the metro this morning and when we got out at our stop the first thing we saw was the Colosseum and it was incredible. Unfortunately today some Romans decided to strike for who knows why and some of those Romans included the people working in the Colosseum so we didn't go in it as planned but next week we will be going in it. It was still stunning to look at from the outside. Again you can just go up and touch the Colosseum and sit on it at the base. For some reason I thought everything would be completely blocked off so you can't get to near it.

So instead my Professor took us to some amazing churches. Every church is different and so ornately decorated. The first one we went to was an early Christian church and wasn't decorated as elaborately as the others. But it seems like everything is decorated in these churches. From the beautiful floors to the gorgeous ceilings.

The area we most explored today was Trastevere. Every street we walked on, every building, every monument, every church, every restaurant, everything was so picturesque and so beautiful. I really couldn't believe I was there. I loved it. Everything about it. It's exactly how I pictured Italy to look like. 

Beautiful early Christian Church
View from outside a church.

The Tiber river

Prosciutto Panini. So delicious!
Delicious mini Cannoli's

Gorgeous mosaic in a church we went to today

Cute door! and wall color. And the wonderful Natalia

After realizing that we had no idea where the rest of the group was. But I totally navigated us home :)  

I wish I could do all these places justice through a camera but I really can't. These places are a million times more beautiful in person. And everywhere you turn there is something beautiful so my camera had a frenzy today. I can't believe how beautiful this place is. It's so hard to wrap my head around the fact that people who live here are surrounded with so much history in their day to day lives. 

I love walking around the streets and hearing people speak in Italian. I will never get tired of hearing people speak here. I had a great moment today where all these wonderful things hit me at once. There was this street performer playing a beautiful Italian song on the guitar and I was walking near the Tiber River with all these beautiful buildings around me and I felt so lucky and blessed to be in this beautiful city. It really is magical. I just can't describe it in words that's how amazing it is. I'm in Love and that's all I can say.

1 comment:

  1. Oh my Alissa! It's all so exciting! You're cute as can be, and I'm very happy it blows your mind. ;) You are the perfect girl to take on a trip like this because you look at and appreciate everything. :) I love you, Dearie, and I'm so happy that you're having such fantastic adventures! Keep taking pictures even though they don't do the city justice. That's as close as a bunch of us will ever get, and it makes us happy to see you having SO MUCH FREAKIN' FUN! :D

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