Vatican City

We stumbled into the Vatican after spending the night at Birmingham airport followed by a morning/afternoon of lugging our suitcases (we packed far too many shoes) around greater Rome. We didn't really know what we were looking for, but we turned down a street, walked through a nook and found ourselves in the middle of St. Peter's Square. I've never felt so small in my life; it's massive!

We ate dinner at a mediocre italian restaurant with ridiculous prices and then further wandered around watching the priests and nuns socializing with one another...we also found amazing gelato on an anonymous side street. There wasn't enough time during the trip to see everything in the Vatican so we missed out on the Sistene Chapel and the rest of the Vatican Museum, but we went inside the Basilica and drank the holy water (there was a holy water fountain exclusively for drinking).


stumbling into the vatican for the first time


st. peter's basilica and the famous window


the saints (or former popes?) dancing on top of the basilica


post from the vatican


swiss guards, who don't look that dangerous, but are trained and dangerous potential killers!




ceiling of the basilica


st. peter's tomb


a frescoe (by michaelangelo, i think)


confessing in italian:0) there were booths for all european languages.

Ciao Roma!

I've officially finished my MA dissertation! wohooo! The year has gone far too quickly, but i'm not complaining about that. I fit in a quick couple of travels between writing, editing and working over the summer, and it's probabaly high time that I posted some photos. Seeing as i'm currently unemployed, i've got plenty of time. plus, there probably won't be many photos after this...i'm strapped to my phone in the hopes of interviews!

last week happened to be my one year anniversary of moving to England. So i guess this is no longer my first year as an expat...

Anyway, these are photos from Italy--I went with my friend Natalie and my flatmate Sophie at the end of July for six days. We mostly hid out in the shade/besides the pool eating gelato, but we mustered up enough energy for a little sightseeing around Rome and Florence. Temperatures were around 90 degrees, but the bodies and people in Rome made it feel much stickier. We open top bus toured, threw our coins into the Trevi fountain and got suckered into eating really expensive italian food near the Vatican. We looked for the Pope but didn't find him and laughed at the women in spaghetti straps and mini-skirts who complained because they were barred entry into St. Peter's Basilica.

i've pretty much decided that i could move to italy and change my lifestyle pace. everything in rome pretty much closes down for the month of august, and the city people head to the beach because it's far too hot. the food was fab--olives and wine and bread and pasta. away from england, the sun shone every day:0)



outside the forum


the pretty arch that mimics other famous arches (i cannot remember the name or anything historical about it right now)


the Tiber River


outside the Colloseum (and the two hour queue)


the guts of the Colloseum


extortionate roman soldier (5 euros for a photo op!)


inside the forum



old temple turned court building in the forum


something important...with Caesar, I think (the heat impaired my ability to listen to the verbose tour guide)


the Trevi fountain!


natalie and me throwing our coins into the fountain (throw one and you'll return to rome, throw two and you'll fall in love with an italian, throw three and you'll marry that italian and live happily ever after!)

the vatican and florence to come!