Romans and Gelato

Over Thanksgiving break, I was able to stand in ruins of the ancient Roman empire. Perhaps it was just my love for ancient cultures, but I cannot truly explain the feeling that came over me when I stood in the Colosseum and realized that I stood where tens of thousands had before me to watch men and animals to fight to the death. I cannot explain the feeling that came over me when I stood in the Roman Forums and looking at incredible buildings remaining intact from over one thousand years ago. Where do you think those people thought their culture would be two thousands years from now? Where do you think we will be two thousand years from now? What of our culture could survive the eons?
Our first day of exploring there we went to Vatican City. After hours of meandering through other ancient (and modern - bleh!) art, we finally made it to the Sistine Chapel. You're not allowed to take pictures or video in the room, but in this instance, it wasn't about the pictures. Throughout my travels in Europe, I've always been about taking pictures to take home for my family so that they can see what I have seen, but with the Sistine Chapel, it is just not the same. I've seen Da Vinci's Sistine Chapel before in books, but it is nothing compared to standing underneath it in its fully glory and wondering how on earth one man did this.
At one point, I was sitting there looking up with Pat and mentioned "Once you've seen this, what more is there? How can there be anything else?" and an American woman on the other side of Pat leaned forward and said "I was just thinking the same thing".
I'm a sucker for ancient history, so for me, Rome was absolutely incredible.

Think about our culture today. What, if anything, do you think will last from our century for thousands of years?

Watch in the next 24 hours for a blog on my experience in Berlin, Germany!

~Heather~