Rome

The trip to Rome was very long! We had our first overnight train and there were three other people in our room when we first got there. Plus the door was locked! We were tried to open it and one of the ladies in our room heard us and finally came to help us. We had to go straight to bed and try to get some sleep. I just put in my headphones to block out all the other noises. That was a crazy night number five! It was straight to sight seeing when we got there, no need to waste any time.

Our first stop was the Colosseum. It was so cool to learn more about what used to go on there and what caused it to happen. One thing I learned about Rome is there is a lot of history that I don't understand.  

Here is what I found on Wikipedia about the Colosseum so you can learn a little about it as you look at the pictures. They started construction on the site in 72AD and has the capacity to seat 50,000 spectators, the largest amphitheater ever built in Rome Empire.

The Colosseum was used to host gladiatorial shows as well as a variety of other events. The shows, called munera, were always given by private individuals rather than the state. They had a strong religious element but were also demonstrations of power and family prestige, and were immensely popular with the population. Another popular type of show was the animal hunt, or venatio. This utilized a great variety of wild beasts, mainly imported from Africa and the Middle East, and included creatures such as rhinoceros, hippopotamuses,elephants, giraffes, aurochs, wisents, Barbary lions, panthers, leopards, bears, Caspian tigers, crocodiles and ostriches. Battles and hunts were often staged amid elaborate sets with movable trees and buildings. Such events were occasionally on a huge scale; Trajan is said to have celebrated his victories in Dacia in 107 with contests involving 11,000 animals and 10,000 gladiators over the course of 123 days.

It was cool to see how much has been preserved from the original Colosseum. Here is some information about the hypogeum. 

The arena itself was 83 meters by 48 meters (272 ft by 157 ft). It comprised a wooden floor covered by sand covering an elaborate underground structure called the hypogeum (literally meaning "underground"). Little now remains of the original arena floor, but the hypogeum is still clearly visible. It consisted of a two-level subterranean network of tunnels and cages beneath the arena where gladiators and animals were held before contests began. Eighty vertical shafts provided instant access to the arena for caged animals and scenery pieces concealed underneath; larger hinged platforms, called hegmata, provided access for elephants and the like. It was restructured on numerous occasions; at least twelve different phases of construction can be seen. 

The Roman Forum located just east of the Colosseum 

We were so confused to find that only one of the statues wasn't 

missing its head. What is that all about?

These are the kind of rocks I had to walk on all day! They were so 

big and hard to walk on because they were so uneven. I had to take 

a picture so I could remember how crazy they were. 

Still taking more pictures with the men on horses. This one is inside 

their parliament building. They call it the "birthday cake" and they don't 

like the design because it is so new. 

Outlook over the city 

"The Birthday Cake"

We then found a bus that would take us to Vatican City. We saw if off in the distance and got off the bus a little soon. Little did we know that it was a lot bigger than we thought. We started to walk towards it and it kept getting bigger and bigger. Having our new map was very helpful to locate the other things that we wanted to see. We didn't have much time and had to go very quickly from place to place.  

One side of Vatican City.....

Middle....

and the other side.

Castle Sant'Angelo(Castle of the Holy Angel). It was originally built as

a mausoleum for Emporer Hadrian and later used bythe pope as a fortress and a 

castle and is now a museum. 

The Pantheon 

Fontana di Trevi. It is the largest Baroque fountain in the city

 and one of the most famous fountains in the world.  

We went looking for this building because it looked really cool on the map.
We went past guards that were in weird outfits that looked like they were 
from the 1800s. Then someone famous pulled out in a way nice car. 
We don't know what it was, but we weren't getting in. haha.

We didn't have a hotel room to go back to so we spend an hour 

at the train station. I am sure people were like why are those people

just sitting there for so long? When are they leaving? We were too

tired to walk anywhere else. We had some good old McDonald's while 

we waited though. 

Bye, Bye Rome! Thanks for the amazing architecture and more important 

ice cream!!

Lauterbrunnen

Lauterbrunnen was for sure one of the prettiest stops on our trip. It is right next to the city of Interlaken, Switzerland. Just from the back window of our hostel we could see four different waterfalls. It was a small little village that had so much to see. We tried to fit in as much as we could, but I would love to go back there again when we make it back to Europe.

This was taken out our back window. Such a great view. 

Just getting to Lauterbrunnen and this is what we see the second 

we get off the train. So amazing! 

Our canyoning experience. We went off water slides, jumped off
30 foot cliffs, rode zip lines, and repelled down big rock walls.  It was
one of the highlights from the whole trip.

We had to try the famous Switzerland fondue.  Their cheese has such a
strong taste. We could only eat so much because we are so used to American cheese.

Our sweet hostel. It was the cleanest place that we stayed and everyone was

so nice and willing to help us there. 

We decided to rent some bikes and head to Trummelbachfalle. It starts at a glacier

that was melting and sending water to 10 different waterfalls. 

This was is called the corkscrew. It has formed this pathway through the 

rocks just by the power of the water falling down. 

The Swiss love their cows so we had to take at least one picture with them. 

Spencer tried to ride his bike without hands and ended up hitting a rock and falling down.

Note to self, never ride a bike without hands. 

We stopped in Bern for about two hours because we had a little extra time. 

I wanted to see what it looked like and see what the capital looked liked. 

We had enough time to finally eat a strawberry crepe. 

We spent so much time on trains going from place to place. We even took a few
overnight trains. My favorite thing was to play star gems on my ipod and try and beat
Spencer's score. The next best thing to do was listen to the people around us and
the things that they talked about.