Roma, Italy

Dustin and I had such a great time in Italy & Switzerland!! His choir, The Utah Baroque Ensemble, went on tour and I got to tag along. Before we even got married, I told him he wouldn't be going with out me. LOL. The first few days, we were in Roma. There is so much to see there and so much history.

We arrived in Italy on a Sunday. It was too late in the day to attend a local sacrament meeting but the choir was able to have a fireside that evening. It was a lot of fun meeting the local members, missionaries and their investigators. That is always a humbling experience.

The next day we began our sight-seeing. We started out at The Colosseum. It was amazing to see this structure that was built in 70 A.D. The last show was held in 523 A.D. I can't believe how much of it is still standing. It's amazing. The choir sang 2 impromptu songs. Our tour guide was cute and said, this would be a perfect place because it is right in front of the Cross of Jesus.

Then we walked over to The Imperial Fora & The Forum Romanum. There isn't a whole lot left of the Forums. To look at pictures of what it was back then compared to what its like now, is amazing. I believe this is where Caeser was stabbed and buried. I can't remember though... We have this cool book that shows what Rome looks like now compared to ancient Rome.

Then we went over to the Spanish Steps. This is where about 4-5 different gypsies tried giving me flowers saying, "It's a gift, you are so beautiful, a gift for you!" Then turn to Dustin and say, "5 Euro...?... Ok, 3??... Just a little, 1 Euro??..." After trying so hard to get money from him and Dustin refusing, the dude ripped the flowers out of hands to try the scheme on someone else. Good thing I had the money on me that day. LOL. That turned in to our joke of the trip.

Next, we walked over to the Fontana di Trevi. We really liked this. It was amazing too. And it was really hot so it was nice to sit by the water, enjoying our Gelato!

We then walked down to The Pantheon. On the way there, we saw Gepetto himself building a new Pinocchio. I really wanted to buy a Pinocchio from him but of course, they were pretty spendy. The Pantheon was pretty cool too. It use to be a Pagan Temple but was transformed in to a Christian church in 608 A.D. What is standing today is a complete reconstruction that was rebuilt between 118 & 125 A.D. The original was destroyed in a fire in 80 A.D. At the top, middle of the rotunda here, there is a round hole. We couldn't tell if there was a window up there or if it was just open. We later learned that it is just open. Birds do fly in and out. When it rains, it rains in the Pantheon. There are drains in the middle of the floors and its designed to so all the water that comes in drains to the center. We thought was interesting. There were the dudes out selling sunglasses and purses and all that great stuff. When I walked over to look at everything, the Polizia would come and make them pack up and leave. They were the ones that didn't have a license to be there. It was quite comical.

We finished our tour that day at Piazza Navona. There were people selling paintings like crazy. I don't think any of them were the original artist though and I wanted to buy one from the actual artist. Some people went over to this church that had some really great paintings in it so we decided to walk over there too. At this point in the day, we were so tired from walking, our legs were so tired and sore that we looked at the painting and decided to take a rest and sit down on the pews for a bit. We were in the back row of the front section. There were ropes roping off the pews in front of us, so we figured where we were would be ok. It was until Dustin decided to put his arm around me and whisper something in my ear. That apparently looked too lovey dovey and we got in trouble. This guy came over to us and told us to move apart and pray or to leave. We decided to just leave since we were no longer welcome there. What was really funny is the rest of the group was sitting right behind us talking in loud voices. Oh well.

The next day, we went to The Vatican. The paintings there were incredible. The Sistine Chapel was incredible. The paintings that Michelangelo did were phenomenal! I really enjoyed sitting in there appreciating his work. It's sad though that such a sacred place to the Catholic Church has been turned in to a museum. I don't mind, I liked seeing it but I would hate if our temples were turned in to a museum. But then again, as Dustin pointed out, Michelangelo didn't paint on our temple walls. lol. After being in the Sistine Chapel, we went in to St. Peter's Basilica which is also part of the Vatican. The choir sang as a mass there. It was really neat. People would gather behind the ropes and watch. One of the choir members was asked to read a passage from the pulpit, or whatever they call it. We joked afterwards and said, I bet the priest didn't know he was asking a Mormon boy to talk. It was funny.

That night, the choir had another concert. They sang with a Russian choir. Then a local Italian choir was also there. That made for a late night. The concert didn't even start until 9 or 930! While they were rehearsing, me and another girl there decided to go shopping a bit. We had dinner at an awesome pizza place. I've heard pizza in Italy isn't so great, but I was very impressed. Maybe because I wasnt expecting much. That's the jist of Rome. There was so much to do there and it was just go, go, go the whole time! It was great!