The last day of Rome was arguably the best. We got to see so much, and the way it ended was too good to be true. We began our day early by going to the Appian Way, the right way this time haha. Ravi, Laura and I took a bus to a few stops after where we walked the previous night and began walking along the road. It was so cool, walking on such an important road and seeing what is there now and to think what used to be there. We were walking for a little while, and then we came to what I think, was one of the best parts of my whole trip. We found the Circus Massentius. This Circus, while not as famous as the Circus Maximus, is the best preserved Circus in Rome. It was so amazing; you could actually see the lanes where the chariots used to race and where the seats would be and everything. The best part about it, it was just us. This is kind of out of Rome so not many people see it, and we were the only ones. I can't began to describe how incredible the feeling of having the whole circus to ourselves was. All the other sites are incredible, don't get me wrong, but they usually have so many tourists that it ruins the magic of the place. People screaming, having to push your way through to see things, it just takes away from the moment. This, on the other hand, was as close to perfect as you could get. We had it all to ourselves! We walked around the circus, climbing up and down some of the structures still standing, taking pictures, running around and just having the time of our lives. It was the one of the most fun experiences of my life, being in this amazingly preserved place and having the peace and quiet that makes it special. We just had the best time, and I wish we could have stayed there longer but we had to move on because our day was already as full as possible. So we left our Circus and continued along the Appian Way. It was such a fun morning, we saw such amazing houses and the walk was beautiful. We finally came to a park and walked around and finally came to what looked like a city, said that it was ugly, and turned around, haha. Once we saw buildings and cars we knew we had gone too far lol. So we turned around, walked back the way we came and got on a bus that would take us back to the colloseum so we could start our tour of Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum. We stopped along the way at what was probably one of the best pizza places I have been to in Italy. It was early, so we got there when it was so fresh and right out of the oven, and the ingredients were so good and it was just incredible. After, we got to the Colloseum and met up with Mark and Jordan and played our where's Waldo game again for a little, sooo much fun lol, then our tour started. This was one of the best tours of my life, not really because of the guide but because of what we got to see and where we were. The Palatine Hill was the center of the Roman Government; it is where all the emperors lived and was supposedly where Rome was founded by Romulus and Remus so many years ago. We got to see Augustus Julius Caesars house, an arena where foot races were held, which was amazingly preserved, beautiful gardens and the house where Augustus was born. The whole tour was just incredible. After, we went down into the Roman Forum, whose tour even topped the first one. We got lucky and found this guy who was really intense, and was giving free tours. He must have said he was giving a free tour at least 5 million times, to make sure everybody knew lol. He was really good though. So we got to walk through the Roman Forum, see all the ancient buildings, like where the Senate was, the Triumph Arches for victorious generals, the exact site where Julius Caesars body was cremated (wow!), where Marc Antony gave his speech at Caesars funeral and so much more. This was so overwhelming for me I can't begin to explain. This area is what I really knew about and seeing all these building right in front of me, and having walked and been right next to where people like Julius Caesar and Marc Antony were was incredible. It is really well preserved so even not knowing history you still get that feeling of awe. It is an amazing place and I loved every second of it. After the tour, we headed over to see the Capuchin Monks. These are monks that lived a few hundred years ago, and the crypt we went to was something I have never even thought I would ever see in my life. The whole crypt was for the monks, but in each crypt they just had bones of prior monks arranged in certain patterns, they made structures, there were full skeletons in robes lying on other bones made as a platform. The lanterns were made out of bones and everything. It was pretty crazy I’m not going to lie. It was really interesting too and I’m glad I got to see it. After the monks we began heading over to the final part of our trip. This was the cherry on top of the world’s most amazing cake. We got incredibly lucky because as it turns out, that Sunday, the last day of our trip, for the 90th anniversary of the armed forces, they were having a free concert at Piazza Del Popolo by Andrea Bocelli!! I was so excited and I knew we had to go. So we went at around 5ish, because it started at 7 and we wanted to get a good view. We got there and the whole place was packed. It was really awesome, and we saw some the presentation of this event commemorating their armed forces and it was really cool seeing that. Except for the fact we couldn't understand anything haha, but that's beside the point. Anyway, after about an hour, Andrea came on. Wow, that was the most incredible concert I have ever been to, granted I haven't been to that many, it was just amazing. Seeing him live is like anything I have seen before, he is so good and when he hits those notes at the end your whole body shivers. It really was incredible. It made the trip so perfect and so complete. The only thing that would have made it completely perfect was if my mom was there, I was calling her all the time and I took a video of as much of the concert as I could because he is her favorite. I love you mom!!! It really was beyond words. The most amazing part was that he ended with my favorite song, Nessun Dorma. I was like shaking I was so excited, wow it was incredible. The trip that I had for the last 18 days was so amazing, and to top it off with this was unbelievable. After the concert and the whole walk home I was in just such a state of happiness I can't even describe. This trip was everything I had ever hoped for and more. After the concert it was kind of late so we headed back to make sure we had everything and were organized for the next day. We went to bed, woke up early the next morning and went to the airport to go back to Milan. The trip was over, but had given me so many experiences and memories that I will take with me for the rest of my life. It was simply amazing.
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