Rome, Italy

So I end my Italian tour with Rome, the city to which all roads lead. I arrived in the early evening and met some of the other people staying in my hostel. We went out to dinner nearby and then relaxed at the bar of a much nicer hostel across the street. The next morning we made an early start to make it to the Vatican. You know, where the Pope lives.
We made our way through the Vatican Museum which, at least the way they tell it, is second only to the Louvre in the size of its collection. It is pretty easy to get lost inside but I think we managed to do alright by making it out in 3 hours. Afterwards I wandered over to St. Pete's Square and went inside the Basilica. I'll let the pictures do the talking.
After these amazing sights I met up with a friend studying abroad in Rome and we hit up a few more of the plazas and churches including the Pantheon. We then took a tram and bus ride up to a hill that provided an amazing panoramic view of the city. I made my way back down to my hostel and that night went out to dinner with some of the people in my hostel.
The next day started nearly as early with a quick breakfast on my way to the Colosseum. The weather wasn't perfect, but it cleared up as the day went on. In addition to a guided tour of the Flavian Amphitheater, I also went on a truly amazing tour of the Roman Forum. A Digression follows:
This tour reminded me of why I was so interested in the Roman civilization once upon a time. As my tour guide reminded me, the Romans have bequeathed us two amazing gifts. The first is most of our knowledge of antiquity because they kept such good records. The second, and arguably more important, is our notion of democracy. Yes, the Greeks are credited with developing the idea of rule by voting, but the Romans added two crucial additions: both a process of electing representatives, and the extension of citizenship beyond tribal identity.
Furthermore the early Roman Republic expanded as much by conquest as by persuasion. Their model of governance, and the architectural feats it enabled them to accomplish convinced tribes to willingly bind themselves to the Romans. Remember, the language is Latin because that was the language of the original Romans, but it eventually came to be spoken by a diverse people from England all the way to Syria.
The transition from the Roman Republic to the Roman Empire is an incredibly interesting point of time. It represents one of the few civil wars fought not between warring ethnicities, but between differing ideologies. As the Republic expanded its military leaders amassed a power that eroded the republic ideals upon which the nation was founded. I hope this story is ringing some bells. Republics have a hard time ruling over people without turning into something else, and despite the glory of the Roman Empire it gave up on the founding ideals of the Republic.
Alright, back to me in Rome. After the ruins, I did a good bit of wandering around the city, again going to a variety of plazas, palaces, and very long staircases. Rinse and repeat with returning to the hostel and going out to dinner with a new set of hostel-mates.
My last day in Rome was spent just wandering out the city, hitting up a few sights I had passed by previously. Nothing particularly spectacular, unless you count Rome. So now I'm on my way to Vienna, so yet another language I don't speak. But at least they still use Euros.