Rome Part 1: Exploring the City and the Vatican

Rome was the biggest trip I had planned for my semester abroad because its someplace I have always wanted to go. We missed two days of school so we had basically 4 full days in Rome plus a half day. We did a ton so I figured it would be best to break my trip up into parts. Our flight left at 6:30 in the morning on Wednesday so we had basically the entire day in the city. Unfortunately it took us forever to get to our Air B&B because none of us did a ton of research on transportation within Rome. After we found our Air B&B we were all starving so we went for some Pizza. We each ended up eating a whole pizza, and they were definitely bigger than a normal personal pizza (which was a mistake because we were too full later to eat dinner). Then we went into town to explore. Our goal was to find the Trevi Fountain but along the way we found the Piazza Novena, and the Pantheon. We made it to the Trevi Fountain then went to the Spanish Steps (which were honestly super crowded and not that impressive to me) and a little shopping area. To finish off the night we got Gelato. The next day we had a guided tour of the Vatican Museums, the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica. We booked a tour through City Tours which was highly rated on Trip Advisor. I would definitely recommend a tour of the Vatican if you are ever in Rome because the museum is huge and overwhelming and its nice to have someone to guide you and give you background information. A guided tour is also nice because you get to skip the line, and the line to get into the Vatican Museums can take a few hours on a busy day. The museums were really neat but the Sistine Chapel was even cooler. It's amazing to see in person. My favorite part though, was St. Peter's Basilica. Being Catholic, I've always wanted to see it but I think it would still be just as incredible for anyone. It's massive and so so beautiful. It honestly took my breath away. After the tour we went to the top of St. Peter's where theres a nice view of the city. Then we got gelato, explored the town a little bit, and saw some things we had seen the night before. We also saw the Piazza del Popolo, which is one of the more well known squares in Rome. We finished the night at a super authentic Italian place where I tried a traditional pasta called "Spaghetti Cacio e Pepe" which is Spaghetti with Cheese and Pepper and it was so good. Possibly my favorite thing we had the entire trip.