There's So Much to Explore!!!!

Before I came to Rome, the only thing I was worried about was seeing everything. I was about to move from a city that was not even 200 years old to a city over 2000 years old! 

Rome is such a huge city rich in history and beautiful architecture and I knew I would never be able to see it all. Little by little, I am chipping away and soaking all of the history I could possibly soak in. 

So Monday I was finally able to go to the Vatican Museum. 

Most of the paintings and sculptures there were older than the U.S...... 

The Sistine Chapel was breathtaking. I think I may have stood there for at least 20 minutes just staring at each individual scene, so in awe of how some one person could produce all of that magnificent art. 

Michelangelo seems like a pretty cool guy.

Oh, I also got to finally try a Roman style artichoke. Carciofi is the Italian word for artichokes and it is the most fun to say! car-chi-ah-fi! so fun

Today I was able to go to the Jewish Ghetto. Not like Oak Cliff ghetto, but ghetto in it's original meaning. This place was the furthest thing from my definition of ghetto.

Something that really stood out to me were the gold cobblestones. It was explained to me that this neighborhood was taken over by the nazis and Jewish people were taken to Auschwitz and Dachau. These gold cobblestones were placed in memory of the people who were forced to leave their homes and go to the concentration camps. I had goosebumps walking in places that I have learned about since I was a little kid. It was extremely surreal.  

This was so cool! It has three layers of architecture on this one area. Most of the city is just built on top of buildings on top of buildings, this is why an underground railway system is so hard to accomplish here.

The cool thing about the Jewish ghetto is that it combines Roman and Jewish foods to create this incredible combination of delicious-ness.

I was able to eat my first schwarma! I got a nice variety of Roman-style veggies and some hummus with the delicious meat all wrapped in a soft and fresh pita. Oh man was it delicious. This might have been one of my favorite things so far. 

Well I am off to bed! Until we meet again, here is a picture of a cat on a scooter.