Faltamos unas horas en Roma: We are missing a few hours in Rome

This is Rome...in fewer words.

This is our awesome final-day excursion/hike to Tempietto, a baroque...temple? church? very tiny...not big enough for a service or anything...

We made it to the top just before it was opening-time...

and...just as a HUGE hailstorm entered sight!

We took refuge in the neighboring church

before heading over to complete our sketching assignment at Tempietto--see the following pics to get an idea :)

yeah, it's tiny.

The dome

Check out the detailing

...and again!

After not having time to wait on a line the length of the Great Wall to see the Sistine Chapel and Vatican Museum, we headed for food then back to the apartment, where Tom seemed sad to leave the place...it's always hard to leave.

This is us...in a trunk.

Apparently the storm from earlier followed us to the airport--SWEEEET.

But we made it back to Girona, Spain with time to grab taxis and head to the BCN airport for our flight to Bilbao, just 2 hours later! Oh--and we got a beautiful sunset show on the ride there!

PS--Jung called from Leon where she's visiting her bf--she is my exchange student/sister from Chile/South Korea--miss her mucho!

Cambia de pais: change of country

This statue greets you as you approach the bridge nearest Vatican City
San Pietro and Monica

We were enjoying our down time...obviously

Special view

Inside of the Cupola...gorgeous

REALLY inside the cupola...not so gorgeous...

but definitely worth it!

Sean Mon Rob and Vic atop the Dome

Vic heading back down to roof level

meeting up with the group after braving the claustrophobia-minded spaces

Interior of San Pietro

Bob...doing the "Tom Pose"

Tom and the plastic bag... Tom's hair

Roma in the rain

Roma a continuacion: Rome continued

ESPQR: Roughly translated to mean property of Rome...it's EVERYWHERE!

St. Ivo...Baroque architecture. The facade is actually curved concavely from where the photo is taken and the dome isnt quite round, but has 6 different "points" like a jewish star, with half rounded and the other half points.

After a quick stop in Piazza Navonna (sp?) Ben and I loaded pics on Christi's comp, then did some wandering:

Chariot atop a large bldg.

The Pope's fortress...you know, in case of emergency or something.

St. Peter's...I'm not quite sure where Rome ends and the Vatican begins...

An old church-Ben would know a bit more about these sites than I...as I was being his shadow in order to avoid sitting in the apartment all day while everyone else was at the Vatican to see the Pope speak after mass.

One of the bridges connecting the city--the sculptures were awesome

La isglesia di Quattro Fontane...The church of the 4 fountains. I asked 4 policemen where it was, and they could only tell me where the street named Quattro Fontane was...each corner of the intersection has a different sculpture/ftn...hence the name.

Front column and stairs of the church.

We are such good kids.-Out in front of Quirinale, another Baroque-ish church

Next, we headed through the twisting streets to Richard Meier's Ara Paci Augustas, which I really liked for its ability to separate itself from the street through white noise of the ftn, while offering a great place for enjoying the day, the city, a book...or the building and its many planes of structure, facade and screen.

Soy irlandesa, y tu?: I'm Irish, and you?

The Rome students are gone which means we are officially living in their apartments at Campo de Fiore. Today was one of my favorite yet...the old stuff. haha.

Not too much to say, especially not anything that could explain what people have tried to understand for thousands of years...

Colosseum

Just hanging out...siesta in Roma

Oh you know...just some crumbled columns from God only knows when...

The Forum...well--a view toward the city from the Forum.

The day is coming to an end...a silhouette at Forum

Forum

After Forum, we climbed the steps to Piazza del Campidoglio to sketch. We were super-tired but it was a good time, just the same.

Soon thereafter it was time for some dinner...so we used our super-tracking skills to find the grocery store sans the help of the native Rome students...I thought the vegetable section had quite a unique look to it.

Who doesn't have italian food on St. Patty's day?! We were eating like Kings, or something, to the sounds of the raucous outside in the square...which some brave souls were courageous enough to enter into.

I decided to play the "lookout" from above.

Apparently St. Patrick's Day means the same thing no matter what country you are in...especially when Ireland beats Italy in Rugby the same day!