rome.

i love this city. 

our second night in rome, we had dinner at a little restaurant in front of the pantheon. it was magical, really, and one of the most peaceful and content nights of my life. i can't really explain how wonderful of a night it was, but it was one of those nights that makes you so very happy to be alive. anyway, the above picture is of one of our waiters that night. the waiters took a special liking to me for whatever reason and kept calling me "princess" and kept asking me if they could take me on a scooter ride through the city and kept wanting to know if i wanted to come back to their apartment that night. i graciously declined these offers even though these boys were definitely cute, and after dinner they wanted pictures with me. i posed in the middle of them and whit snapped some pics and then they kissed my cheek and one especially handsome waiter asked if i could kiss his cheek back so i did and then that sneaky little roman man turned his head so i kissed him straight on the mouth in front of the whole restaurant. i let out a little shriek and then laughed and the whole trip everyone loved to remind me that our second night in italy, i got kissed in front of the pantheon on a moonlit romantic night in rome.

we got these necklaces made in front of the four seasons fountain which is just a couple hundred yards away from the pantheon. it was a beautiful square filled with people and restaurants and craftsmen and the man who made our necklaces was an immigrant from northern africa. it took a couple minutes for the boys to explain to him in italian that i wanted a lowercase e instead of a big one, but once he understood he made the most beautiful little wire necklace for me that i wore the whole trip. i love it, and whitney loves hers and it will forever be a reminder of rome and how that city healed my heart.

the four seasons.

we got to the pantheon ten minutes after it closed, so we didn't get to go inside. we were bummed, especially me because aenon has told me that i absolutely have to see the pantheon but seeing it from outside was almost good enough for me. it's enormous and beautiful and striking.

my handsome travel mates garrett and cam, outside the pantheon. during this picture, i was trying to get cam to lift up his shirt and flex his abs for the photo, but he was very reluctant. bummer, right?

the pantheon!

the forum.

cam decided to not come with us on our little venture to the forum, so whit and i took charge as tour guides with our beloved italy book. however, the book was a little dry so we decided to spice up the tour by adding in our own two cents about what took place at the forum. example: "this is king titus's bbq pit where he would roast his marshmallows."

whitney and the book.

"sometimes girl pictures are just cuter without the boys." - whit.

i wish this was the man who kissed me, but it's not. we found this man at the vatican, he was one of the security guards or something. he is sexy, right?? the boys were kind of embarrassed they had to ask for a photo for us, but hey we don't speak italian.

the vatican was beautiful. stunning, really. but it feels empty, as i assume most other churches do. no spirit inside at all, and that is really all that matters.

the vatican has a little "garage" where all of the cars and carriages that have carried the pope are held. 

our dear cameron forgot to tell us that morning that when visiting the vatican, you must be dressed modestly. as rome is about 112 degrees, whit and i both wore no sleeves and shorts and were denied access to the vatican at first. luckily, there were some ladies selling scarves just down the road, so whit and i headed off and purchased scarves to cover our shoulders for 10 euro each. it was hot and uncomfortable and we looked like gypsies but getting to see the vatican and sistine chapel was worth it. 

the vatican! all of the ceilings in the entire building look like this. it's incredible, the kind of work that has gone into the place.

an action shot of us throwing our coins into the trevi fountain! we went at dusk time, right after the sun had set and it was so romantic. the whole city was filled with romance and charm and it just made me want to hold garrett and cam's hand.

our hotel in rome offered breakfast with our room, so every morning before we left for the day we enjoyed the best nutella filled croissants and fresh squeezed orange juice and rolls with prosciutto and mozzarella. it was heavenly, i tell you.

this little place is where we were introduced to biscotti gelato, which is arguably the best stuff on earth. right after viewing the trevi fountain we found this sweet little shop with the cutest old man owner inside and he suggested all of these unreal flavors for us to try. it was yum, to the extreme.

the trevi fountain, again.

don't judge me, but i've forgotten the name of this plaza. i want to say it's the plaza del palatso, or something along those lines, but i just am not sure so i'm going to be honest and tell you. it was this huge open court though with beautiful statues and right outside of the most amazing stores in rome. while sitting on these steps and taking this picture, a man selling bubbles came right up to me and blew some in my face, as if trying to seduce me into purchasing some bubbles from him. it was so weird and whit and i were so confused.

guards outside of the spanish steps. italians love any excuse to pose with american girls.

the best pizza ever. so after our huge long plane ride and the journey to our hotel from the train station and after seeing the colosseum, we were running low on energy. we had no food, no water and no sleep and were all a little bit cranky. when we finished the colosseum, we told cam that we had to eat immediately because really, we were about to pass out or die of dehydration. cam promised he would take us to get food and so we followed him into the backstreets of rome where we wandered for a total of 45 minutes. whit and i were really just about to explode with frustration because seriously, we were not feeling so hot. anyway, after we just about threw a fit, we finally stopped at this little pizzeria and ordered the most divine sausage pizza ever. it was good. so so good.

whitney, not very happy about being hungry and tired and thirsty and still walking around the remote local streets of rome.

hello to the colosseum! 

the colosseum was our first tourist spot in rome. we went immediately after dropping our stuff off at the hotel. it was incredible, so so big and so hot outside but worth enduring the scorching sun because it's amazing.

cam is an italian major and garrett has taken a few art history classes so between them, we had a pretty good idea of the significance of what we were seeing. right outside the colosseum and the forum is a square where the apostles were killed. so much incredible history in rome.

amazing.

we walked out of the train station tunnel and bam! there was the colosseum. i describe this moment as a disney moment, the kind were you can hear glitter sparkling. 

whit and court, pre-colosseum.

this, my friends, is our hotel room in rome. yes, this is the entire room. we slept tight, literally, but i loved it. it was like a huge sleep over. the shower in this room was so tiny that i seriously don't know how garrett fit into it. it was the kind of shower that you can't possibly effectively shave your legs in because it's practically impossible to bend down. so narrow and so small, but somehow we made due and had so much fun.

the entrance to our sweet little abode in rome.

my eye candy for the trip. handsome handsome, i know.

ps. because i have 600 pictures, i'm going to be blogging by city to city. so be patient, my blog readers. florence and venice are coming soon!