Rome

Our flight to Rome was early Friday morning, so we spent last Thursday night in the Madrid airport, in favor of taking the Metro instead of a cab. After dropping our stuff off at our Hostel, we went to the ancient city. We took a tour of the Colosseum and Palatine Hill, which I'm glad we did because we wouldn't have known what we were looking at otherwise.. Palatine Hill was gorgeous, and it was crazy to see the ruins of one of the first cities of western civilization. Afterwards, we walked down Via del Corso and saw Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps. We had a long dinner but didn't go out after because we were all pretty exhausted.
Saturday, we went to the Vatican; the museum was great, but it took hours to get through and a lot of frescoes and tapestries just started blending together. It was worth going through though, to get to the Sistine Chapel. It was beautiful, and amazing to finally see in person. Afterwards, we went to St. Peter's Basilica, which was nice, but the experience was a little clouded by my general disinterest in the papacy. I have to admit that grandiose gestures in architecture don't really impress me; instead of invoking a feeling of god's greatness, it makes me think of man's greed. I tried to think of it on a strictly artistic way, and of course it is beautiful; I guess I was just being cynical..
After the Vatican, we walked by Castel Sant' Angelo, on our way to the Pantheon. We never made it, though- we ran out of time, and I guess we weren't interested enough in rushing there. Instead, we walked towards Campo de Fiori. I really liked this area; there were a lot of small shops a tea houses. Campo de Fiori itself was also really lovely at night. We had an awesome dinner in Trastavere; the weekend in general was full of food.. It took us a few tries to find good pizza; unfortunately, we were always in a really touristy area for lunch so we got the kind that you might expect.. We finally did find a good vendor though, and it was amazing : ) Dinners were full of pasta and wine; there was not enough time for it all!
Saturday night we went to Testacchio, an area of bars and clubs. It was fun, but Italian men are even more aggressive than Spaniards.. We actually brought out one guy with us who we had met in the hostel, so we weren't bothered that much, but at one club, when were were dancing and our new friend left for a minute to get a drink, a circle of creepers formed around us. We fled that corner of the dance floor and were happy to see our friend come back. Something funny- I have found that Barack Obama has inspired some new ways for guys to pick up American girls abroad. They seem to think that by mentioning his name I will simply jump into their arms out of ecstasy. no thank you. But maybe if you mention Rahm Emanuel.. :p