Sorry I am a little late, the wi-fi is sooo slow here and I discovered that I bought the wrong kind of adapter for my charger so my laptop was dead and I couldn't post. But here I am- live from the hotel's lobby using my teacher's adapter. 2nd Day! Of course I paid for the lack of sleep this early but my night was well worth it. Ate breakfast at the hotel and I ate a crescent, some delicious pancakes with some foreign syrup, and some fruit. It was the best pancakes I ever had..way better than IHOP. The first thing we did today was go to the Vatican City and went to the Vatican Museum. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! Some famous works we saw was the grand Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel and a lot of Raphael's works. I stayed in the Sistine Chapel for at least 45 minutes literally looking up at the ceiling drooling! It is beautiful, google images do not do its justice. The colors are much more vibrant in person, details are more obvious, the figures look so 3 dimensional because of shadows and careful detail. You actually get to appreciate the work SO MUCH MORE. Because it was a chapel we could not wear our arms out, or short bottoms. Your shoulders had to be covered and any bottoms had to be past the knee in respect. We could not take pictures or even talk. I am still in shock that I was standing right under this famous artist's work that I had been taught ever since I was a younger artist in middle school. We toured the Vatican's Museum for a few hours and I still didn't get to see every single piece in there. After this, we all headed out with some friends to get a quick bite to eat, I had 2 clubs with potato chips. It was good-some of the bread was toasted, and the ham was freshly cut in front of my face. After eating we walked to the train and went to the Borghese Park. The longest walk of my life. It was so many hills steps and cobblestone roads. But it was well worth it. The view from the park over the city was amazing. It was definitely breath-taking. After relaxing and un-winding for a little we walked to another Gallery (the Galleria Borghese). Some friends and I lagged behind and took out time enjoying the scenery. We stopped and put our feet in a fountain and the water was so cold but it felt good because of all the walking we had been doing. The museum was much smaller but still had some beautiful pieces. Again, we couldn't take pictures. We had to leave our bags with the staff up front but this museum allowed us to take our sketchbooks inside so we could sketch and write about some of the things we encountered. After this we had a free afternoon and evening. Mia and I went to the Trevi Fountain and made a wish. Along the way we met some really nice local Italians. It was so packed but the fountain is a very popular attraction. It is good luck to throw a coin in over your shoulder & make a wish. I think if you throw one coin you will fall in love and if you throw two you will return to Italy again in the future. After making our wishes and taking pictures we ate at a nearby restaurant. I had spaghetti. After eating a delicious meal, we walked to the Spanish Steps. A lot of people were out there and it was fun meeting some many people and browsing through the booths that were set up out there. Well tomorrow we leave Rome to go to Florence so I stayed to catch up on my rest for the train ride we have. Until next time...Chao!
