By Eddie Young
Former Sports Editor
Eddie Young, The Signal’s former sports editor, is studying abroad in the United Kingdom this semester and will chronicle his travels each print edition.
One of the most historical cities in the world, Rome has a lot to offer a tourist. With the history of the Roman Empire and the Roman Catholic Church both having large strongholds in this city, you can never go wrong with any tourist attraction you try to see while you are there.
I only had two full days in Rome, and on day one, my friends and I had planned to visit the Vatican and the Colosseum. However, once we entered the Vatican Museums, we realized that we were going to be spending our entire first day there.
The Vatican Museums have basically everything you could imagine a museum having. It is the Vatican, so of course it has a bunch of religious artwork and artifacts. However, it also had an area dedicated to all different cultures around the world, not just Catholic cultures, and had artifacts from some of the smallest and most remote corners of the world. There were also sections dedicated to paintings from all different time periods in history, all the way up to today, and sculptures from the Roman and Greek empires.
After walking what felt like hundreds of hallways lined with some of the most gorgeous tapestries and murals I have ever seen, I finally made it to what everyone entering the Vatican Museums goes to see: the Sistine Chapel.
The Sistine Chapel was quite a sight to see. It was smaller than you would expect, yet the building was still packed with tourists all craning their neck up to get a glimpse of the ceiling. There were guards all over the chapel constantly reminding people that photos and videos were not allowed, yet I broke that rule almost instantly once I stood under “The Creation of Adam.”
After spending a decent amount of time wondering how someone could possibly paint on a ceiling that beautifully, I left the Sistine Chapel and moved onto that Vatican’s next grand offering, St. Peter’s Basilica.
The Basilica was one of the most beautiful churches I had ever seen in my life. It had a giant main altar at the center, and was lined with chapels all containing gorgeous sculptures and paintings that complemented everything perfectly. It was so nice that I went back for a mass the next morning at the main altar.
After that mass, I got lucky enough to stumble into Pope Francis giving a speech from his window to thousands of people listening earnestly in St. Peter's Square. My friends and I joked about seeing the Pope during this trip, but that was an experience that I was actually able to have.
The Colosseum, an ampitheatre located in the center of Rome (Photo by Eddie Young).
Later that day, my friends and I made our way over to the Colosseum, one of the seven wonders of the world. It lived up to expectations. Walking inside of a stadium where gladiators used to fight each other and other animals to the death was as cool as it sounds. Every single view from the inside was a good view, and it was a surreal feeling when it hit me that I was standing inside a place that is talked up all around the world as one of the best sights to see.
You cannot write about a trip to Italy without mentioning their food. The only food I had for lunch and dinner was some type of pizza or pasta. Every meal was delectable, as every restaurant was able to deliver on any type of order. Every service worker we ran into was very nice, and that ended up being true about all of the Italians we met. They were generally all nice people, and were very welcoming of all of the tourists they came across.
Also, Rome had many other gorgeous buildings to just walk past and take pictures of. The Pantheon, Trevi Fountain and Spanish Steps were just a few of the many breathtaking places we were able to stop at along a walk and take a few pictures of.
My trip was filled with a bunch of once in a lifetime experiences. It’s not every weekend that someone gets to see the Sistine Chapel, the Colosseum and the Pope. Rome is a bucket list travel destination for many people, and I was able to see why during my excursion.
