when in rome...

 you eat two gelatos a day. As my lovely friend told me when I first told her "wow! I have no troubles with the dairy here!": I didn't know you were in Egypt because you're living in de-Nile. And here we are, two days later, and I have such bad lactose intolerance gas - I'm so sorry Fede

Apparently you also start drinking a lot of coffee. Yet another intestinal mistake, but alas here I am with a morning espresso, an afternoon caffè, and an evening caffè d'orzo (uncaffeinated barley coffee, surprisingly tastes very much like a espresso, perfect for my caffeine sensitive melatonin cycle). By the end of the week, Fede promises that i'll be drinking espresso every meal - no sugar, no milk, like a true Italian.

Rome has been perfect. Paradise by Coldplay comes to mind when thinking of my past three days in this wondrous city, filled with so much love and light and history and beauty. Arriving to the Termini, I reunited with Fede after 2 years, and 10 years since I first met her in Michigan and promised her that I would come to visit her in Italy soon.

Next promise: Visit Fede again

It was magical, seeing her again and knowing that this time, we'd have a week together of exploration, family time, and catching up. To start our trip off, we walked almost an hour to our Airbnb after discovering that due to the Run Rome Marathon (30 year anniversary!) there was no public transportation running (rip). More great training for ABC though!

After freshening up, we set out to the city again. Our home for the next two days was in Trastevere, across the river from central Roma, but still a bustling and adorable neighborhood with pizza restaurants, cafes, and bars every other store. I got to have my first Italian pizza and it. was. heavenly. God bless pizza. (Should I say that? Is that blasphemous? I've visited many a beautiful church this past week and let me just say that Catholicism goes so f- hard and I would absolutely be a disciple in the right conditions)

With full bellies and excited hearts, we set off the 20 minutes to Piazza Navona, thinking we could walking around there and call it a night - we had both had tiring travels, Fede more so with a 4 am bus to Brussels and another flight to Roma that morning. But once we got there and got some tourista photos and realized the Pantheon was a mere 15 minutes away, we couldn't stay away.

And thank God we didn't.

Turning the corner to the Pantheon in view was a spiritual experience. I had seen online already the juxtaposition of the enormous monument within the bustling city streets of Roma, tourists and citizens mingling alike at restaurants, shops, and homes, but seeing it in real life was just absolutely breathtaking. Ridiculously awe-inspiring and emotional and bittersweet somehow, lost in the enormity of the still-standing former pagan temple now church, with its detailed architecture and solid materials, and as I later learned, incredibly meaningful civil engineering with the number of pillars, size of the dome (which the building was built to the height of perfectly encapsulating a sphere actually), and the oculus at the top to reduce stresses and introduce sunlight, which apparently is angled to perfectly illuminate the doors on April 12th every year, the day that Rome was founded.

This image doesn't even begin to describe my excitement and emotions upon seeing the Pantheon. As a former aspiring architect, and especially having a hyperfixation on columns when learning about styles in school, this made my heart happy.

Tickets had sold out for the night, so with a quick irreverent circle around the perimeter of the temple, we made our way to Fontana di Trevi - just another 10 minute walk away.

And again, I was floored. It was so much bigger, so much grander, so much BLUEer than I had imagined it to be. Alas, it was too crowded to get close, but we had plans to see it the next day anyway so we were satisfied with the first look and promises to return (and throw a coin into it hehe)

A few more churches later, we made our way back home, where we excitedly got ready for our sleepover and promptly passed out by 10 pm.

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The next day, we languorously got up around 8 am, getting ready and stopping for our second espresso (after the first nespresso in the Airbnb) at a sweet little cafe, sitting outside in the sun and basking in the morning light. Fede told me this is what she missed the most when studying abroad in the US; there are no walkable cafes in the US, and people certainly do not just sit and lounge luxuriously like they do in Italy, where it is cultural to visit cafes to just sit and enjoy the caffè - no laptops out anywhere.

Monday was our Vatican City day - a whole other country!! We walked a casual 30 minutes to Castell d'Sant Angelo, crossing thousands year old Roman bridges (that have NO signs of wear or tear, or have collapsed, unlike many modern bridges smh) in the process. From there we walked to Basilica di San Pietro (St. Peter's Basilica), where Pope Francis usually gives his sermons (may he rest well and feel better soon), and stumbled upon a Mass, where many little babies were getting baptized and I cried and learned the phrase, la pace sia con te: may peace be with you.

It was such a sentimental experience, heightened further by my recognition of the Baldachin above the Papal Altar from my high school Honors Humanities class (shoutout Mrs. Bates!! Maybe I should email her). The beautiful bronze canopy, covered in laurel leaves and bees, was the most beautiful part of the incredible basilica, because of the memories and lessons I associated with it :')

I can't wait for my dispo shots of this

From there we walked to the Spanish steps (another 40 minutes, ez), got lunch and GELATO (kinda sorta absolutely the best gelato I've had), then made our way back to the Vatican City for our 4 pm ticket time at the Vatican Museo and Sistine Chapel.

get you someone who looks at you the way I look at gelato - or all food for that matter. Fede says she never sees me as happy as I am with food LOL

The Vatican Museum is HUGE. Holy heck - so many floors and exhibits and incredible incredible paintings and sculptures and carvings and just history. I'm still shooketh at the fact that the room where the School of Athens is painted on the wall is just where the previous Popes casually had their library. Like what can you IMAGINE having the School of Athens as a backdrop for all your books?? I mean, fitting. I got myself a print of it because I love the artwork so much thank you Raphael.

The Sistine Chapel was tremendous too. All that artwork, on every square centimeter of the room, from the floors to the walls to the blessed ceiling with the infamous Creation of Adam by Michelangelo - a room where we weren't supposed to take pictures but Fede and I snuck some - she even got a full video hehe. Enjoy this one with me photobombing though - it's my best friend's favorite.

Fede and I were scheming of ways to be in the chapel when the next pope is confirmed, during the conclave. We came up with becoming nuns, and then had a discussion about why there isn't a female Pope yet - Catholic church catch up with the times! While I'm at it, the Dalai Lama should too. How come there isn't a woman Dalai Lama? Let's get that changed. I volunteer as tribute. Just kidding. I could not. I'm not disciplined enough I tried meditation for two weeks at Vipassana centre in Nepal and just about found myself but as soon as I was back in the real world I got distracted again. checks out really.

It is an important topic that I will absolutely stand on my soapbox about now. The idea that 50/50 representation is fair is admirable, but what about the reality that most everything we see is male-dominated? All the world leaders, be it political, religious, or both, are predominantly male. CEOs, politicians, board members, directors, even farmers tend to skew male, and I think parity isn't enough. I believe there should be a period of female excellence, prominence, of normalcy in women ruling everything, and then things can settle into equal representation. Could you imagine a world run by women? I dream of it. Where life isn't run for equality, but equity. Justice, even. And let's not forget other genders either. We should all get a turn within our lifetimes to experience an upheaval of social norms and be a majority for once. (to the fbi I am absolutely NOT advocating for riots or anarchy or lawlessness... just a little revolution would be fine).

Ok that's enough pontificating. I'll get back to the rest of Rome later! Ciao bella xoxo (oh god I'm turning into my sister)