Originally posted at LiveJournal on Jul 14, 2009
Back in Geneva after a long weekend in Rome, and I am afraid to step on a scale. Italian ice cream is soooo good! We had it at least once a day, and also tried some Tiramisu. Our favorite place to buy both was called the House of Tiramisu, and it was only about a ten minute walk from the place we were staying. You could tell it was a really good place because lots of locals went there, so it wasn`t just some touristy spot.
Around this time of year, Rome is packed--especially, of course, places like the Vatican and the Colosseum. We got pretty lucky when we visited the Vatican; we were there around 9 in the morning, when the line of people waiting to get into St. Peter`s Basilica was just starting to look a tiny bit intimidating. An hour later it would have been awful. We could see the line circling halfway around St. Peter`s Square when we left the Basilica.
Which, by the way, was amazing. There was organ music playing in the front, which gave the whole church this majestic feel, and there were incredible statues and paintings in which the people looked almost three dimensional. It`s hard to describe, but it was really impressive.
After the Basilica, we visited the Vatican Museum (I loved the Raphael rooms), which led to the Sistine Chapel. Truly incredibe. It was packed in there, and officials kept saying "SHHHH!" loudly, trying to get the crowd to observe silence. Honestly, the shushing was getting much more annoying than the crowd.
By that time we were starving, so we high tailed it to the nearest restaurant we could find that wasn`t too close to any tourist hot spots (it would have been more expensive there), and had some really good pasta and a bit of tiramisu. Seriously, I`m afraid to put on the swimsuit I brought. After lunch, we continued our sightseeing: the Parthenon, Piazza Navona (LOVED the Four Rivers fountain), and finally the Spanish Steps. Just next to the Steps, I found the house where John Keats died--it is now called the Keats-Shelley Museum, and contains bits of manuscripts and other things from Keats, Percy and Mary Shelley, and Byron.
That was only the first full day. The second day we saw the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, Castel di San Angelo, the thermal baths....in other words, there was a LOT of walking. Which makes me feel a bit better about the gelato :)
Anywho, today was my cousin`s last day off from work, so my brother and I will be checking out the must-see spots in Geneva on our own these next few days. We plan to see the UN headquarters tomorrow, as well as the Red Cross, and other international organizations. We`ll be flying back to the States on Saturday.
Back in Geneva after a long weekend in Rome, and I am afraid to step on a scale. Italian ice cream is soooo good! We had it at least once a day, and also tried some Tiramisu. Our favorite place to buy both was called the House of Tiramisu, and it was only about a ten minute walk from the place we were staying. You could tell it was a really good place because lots of locals went there, so it wasn`t just some touristy spot.
Around this time of year, Rome is packed--especially, of course, places like the Vatican and the Colosseum. We got pretty lucky when we visited the Vatican; we were there around 9 in the morning, when the line of people waiting to get into St. Peter`s Basilica was just starting to look a tiny bit intimidating. An hour later it would have been awful. We could see the line circling halfway around St. Peter`s Square when we left the Basilica.
Which, by the way, was amazing. There was organ music playing in the front, which gave the whole church this majestic feel, and there were incredible statues and paintings in which the people looked almost three dimensional. It`s hard to describe, but it was really impressive.
After the Basilica, we visited the Vatican Museum (I loved the Raphael rooms), which led to the Sistine Chapel. Truly incredibe. It was packed in there, and officials kept saying "SHHHH!" loudly, trying to get the crowd to observe silence. Honestly, the shushing was getting much more annoying than the crowd.
By that time we were starving, so we high tailed it to the nearest restaurant we could find that wasn`t too close to any tourist hot spots (it would have been more expensive there), and had some really good pasta and a bit of tiramisu. Seriously, I`m afraid to put on the swimsuit I brought. After lunch, we continued our sightseeing: the Parthenon, Piazza Navona (LOVED the Four Rivers fountain), and finally the Spanish Steps. Just next to the Steps, I found the house where John Keats died--it is now called the Keats-Shelley Museum, and contains bits of manuscripts and other things from Keats, Percy and Mary Shelley, and Byron.
That was only the first full day. The second day we saw the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, Castel di San Angelo, the thermal baths....in other words, there was a LOT of walking. Which makes me feel a bit better about the gelato :)
Anywho, today was my cousin`s last day off from work, so my brother and I will be checking out the must-see spots in Geneva on our own these next few days. We plan to see the UN headquarters tomorrow, as well as the Red Cross, and other international organizations. We`ll be flying back to the States on Saturday.
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