An Irish Bar in Roma

Further proof that every city around the world has at least one Irish pub (see: An Irish Bar in Portugal)...Rome refused to be the exception to this rule. They started appearing immediately across the street from our hotel, Duca D'Alba. I think I'll save my "the hotel my parents decided to have us stay at is a prostitute hangout" story for a Sunday, God's day.

Out and about I wouldn't even be looking for Irish pubs, and they seemed to pop-up out of nowhere. Stroll the Spanish Steps I was even able to find an Irish pub with the same name as the university that I was attending in Dublin: Trinity College Bar.

Taken on an Irish side street? Heck no! That's an Italian strada (that's Italian for road).

Thanksgiving at St. Peter's Basilica

Did you know that they don't celebrate Thanksgiving in Italy? It's true. It's actually a holiday that is only celebrated in the United States...Okay, I am being very facetious. It may seem impossible, but I managed to forget this simple fact while I was visiting Rome a couple of years ago. Even then it took my family "abandoning" me to really make the connection. They really aren't so cold hearted. I was waiting to catch a flight back up to Dublin, and they had gone down to enjoy the sun in southern Italy.

Slightly bummed about my predicament, I had originally made the assumption that I would have to chill in the hotel, because all of the good museums and monuments would be closed...luckily my moron amnesia wore off quickly enough to realize that the Pilgrims had landed on Plymouth Rock in Massachusetts and not Sicily. Still slightly bummed abut wandering a foreign city alone on Thanksgiving, I decided my best option was to go BIG and OBVIOUS: St. Peter's Basilica. Nothing like visiting something BIG to put things in perspective. Now I wouldn't consider myself a religious person (I was raised a Christmas worshipping non-Catholic), but it is almost impossible not to be impressed by the massiveness and intricacy of the building. The fact that each slab of granite was raised to the top of the Basilica's dome by ropes and pulleys and not machines. Not to mention marble sculptures by Michelangelo and Bernini. St. Peter's is a can't miss in Rome - crowds be damned. However (for me), it is one experience in particular that stands out the most: climbing to the top of the church's dome. Never mind the view (although amazing in & of itself):

(*Thanks random tourist).

The actual process of climbing is fun and/or terrifying. You actually get to climb up and around the inside of the walls of the dome. You can even see the walls curve and narrow as you get closer and closer to the top. In addition, half-way through the climb you are diverted to the inside of the dome for yet another great view of the church floor:

WARNING: I wouldn't recommend this trek to anyone who is claustrophobic or afraid of heights.