All roads lead to Rome...so did mine

So...it has been a while since I have been to my favourite city in the world - Rome. But i took the opportunity this year and went there again - with my mother as company. It has been fantastic! Except for the weather. We had 39°C and burning hot sun...everyday. Even at night it was still about 32°C.... On our first day after the arrival day, we decided to meet a good old friend, Mario, again. My mother and her friend have met him everytime they have been in Rome. He is the caretaker of an extremely old and ancient church - Santa Pudenziana. He took us on a guided tour through the church: the whole church. That includes a part that tourists are not allowed to see: the excavation site underneath the church. We got some helmets and a flashlight and he was explaining all the old, well-preserved rooms 9 feet underground. The mosaics and walls are dated to about 160 before Christ. For history junkies just like me this is pure heaven...

Afterwards we went to see the Colloseum, at least from the outside and Circo Massimo - the place i was most curious about! It was great to see it and imagine how they had such big chariot races in there.

We spend all of our evenings on Piazza di Spagna, on the spanish steps ... THE meeting place for tourists in Rome. You seriously cannot go there without getting to know anyone. We met two ladies from Canada who were really lovely. Also, we always brought our bottle of wine and just enjoyed the athmosphere :-)

The Vatican is something you just can't miss when in Rome. It was my second time there but the architecture of the place amazes me again and again. And suprisingly, after a funny chat with the swiss guard (YES THEY CAN BE FUNNY!) i was even at an audiance with the pope. There were about 1000 people and he held a speech. That was quite unexpected...

Very close to the Vatican you can find a place that every Illuminati fan will instantly recognize: Castel Sant'Angelo..you get a very great view from the top of it by the way...

Next step on the Illuminati tour would be PANTHEON, one of the oldest and possibly the best preserved building in Rome.

On our last day in Rome (as for the hot weather and also my feet stop fulfilling their job in making me my body walk) we went to Lido, a seaside town 30 minutes from Rome. We took the train, which was filled by a kindergarten group singing Italian "The Lion King" songs, i even sang along sometimes. One of the moments where all you think is : weeeeeird.

And on the last evening... well..the last evening...what shall i say. I was at the biggest fan party in Italy to watch the Germany: Italy Eurocup match. So far so good. But i was wearing a Germany shirt. In a group of about 10-15 Germans we were amongst THOUSANDS of Italy and guess what..they had 2 reasons to celebrate...2 goals...we had none. And it's not like they were friendly towards us, nope...they made fun of us. I swear this was just one of the worst moments ever. Never again will i see a football match in Italy. NEVER. ;)

But except for that thursday night in Rome...it was an epic holiday again...