Ciao Bella Roma!!

  I had the amazing opportunity  to visit Rome, Italy this week!!!

Hannah and I left Halloween morning and arrived back to Porto, Portugal today around 9am. Our week was packed full of sites to see and places to be  and there was never a dull moment on this traveling adventure. 

I will try my best to give you a short summary along with some pictures of our sunny week in Roma :) 

So hop on board and enjoy the ride:

Speaking of sunny week in Roma, the Lord created  perfect weather and I felt relived and blessed to not have to wear the lovely blue poncho I packed , however,it would have totally matched me eyes <O>-<O>

Monday:

Once we settled into our cozy hotel ; Hannah and I set out to buy our bus and metro passes for the upcoming days.While on our hunt for the passes, we met a really friendly man who owns  the news paper stand just down the street from our hotel .We soon discovered that the man spoke English. He directed us to where we could buy the tickets and told us some much needed  info about the transportation system. (Each morning we saw our new Italian friend while we waited for the bus and he waved and smiled at us as if we were family. I believe the Lord specifically placed us on that street to meet him.) After purchasing our passes for the week,we found a really adorable and traditional Italian restaurant and had our first meal in Rome with pizza &pasta by candle light. It was like something straight out of Lady and the Tramp without the sharing spaghetti part.Here are some pictures from that night.... 

< look at the neat diet coke can. It does not take much to make my day, that's for sure. I had pizza with cheese and mushrooms, yummmmm...

 

Tuesday :

 We had planned to take a tour of the Vatican, but in all our excitement, we forgot that this Tuesday was a major Catholic holiday (all saint's day)so it was closed to the public.On the other hand, God had other  plans in store.We headed for the Trevi fountain instead and on our way to the fountain, we came across the Roman art museum and stopped in for a tour which was packed full of artistic history and antique beauty. When we finished touring the art museum, we headed to the beautiful Trevi Fountain!!!! Hannah and I both threw coins in and took tons and tons of pictures. There were people from so many various nations all in one place surrounding this beautiful man made thing;Standing, I couldn't help but imagine what it would look like if all of these people from  every nation and tongue were to gather around to stand in wonder and awe of the beautiful One who made man. Just thinking about that, I couldn't help but worship Him. 

"As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God." 

 Romans 14:11

 

Wednesday:

On this day, we got to see the amazing Roman Colosseum, Forum,ruins of ancient Rome, and Palatine museum.It's hard to believe that we got to walk where the apostle Paul walked. I literally said , "wow!" to everything I saw. We were so tired after this day, but didn't mind at all.

           

Thursday :

Seeing how it was not a Catholic holiday this day, we decided to give the Vatican another go around. I do believe that this was one of my favorite places we visited during our time in Rome.It was so neat to actually stand in the Sistine Chapel surrounded by Michelangelo's master pieces. It was especially neat to me, because my senior year of HS, I chose the Sistine chapel as the topic for my research paper; In all my life,  I would have never imagined I would actually get to stand smack dab in the middle of it. After the Vatican tour we went to the Spanish steps (ironically in Rome not Spain), ate our last real Italian meal and then headed to the hotel to pack for our 6am flight. 

Now it's Friday:
 and I am thankful to have safely arrived back to Porto,Portugal. Rome was one amazing adventure that I  will never forget.I had no idea the Lord had in store for me to even go out of America for this long, much less to Rome Italy. However, the whole time I was there  (though I loved it) I kept thinking about Porto and wondering what was going on here. Portugal certainly holds a large piece of my heart now and forever will. The Lord has great plans yet to come and I can not wait to see them unfold. I stand in awe of His work. 

"Look among the nations, and see;  wonder and be astounded For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told." Habakkuk 1:5 

Stand amazed