What a Day!!!!

Our third day in Rome has proved to be the most interesting day yet. The morning started out slow and we didn't leave our room until about 12. We then went on a tour of colosseum, Palentine Hill, and the ruins. Then we got lunch/dinner around 3 and went to the Pantheon which was closed because of the holiday. The colosseum and Palentine Hill were both so cool and we got a lot of great pictures.

The group at the Colosseum is to the right!

The streets were extremely crowded as a result of it being a holiday and a Friday night so we got a little bit lost wondering around. We were exhausted from walking around all day so we decided to take the metro. We have taken the metro many times and not had any problems so we assumed it would be just like normal.

We bought our tickets and proceeded to enter the station. It was so CROWDED!!!! You could barely move and things were getting hostile. Only one escalator down was working so people were walking or attempting to walk down the escalators. Colton, Rachel, and Kara got a little bit ahead of me and Tyler. Tyler and I were about 3/4 of the way down the escalator when everything just stopped. A fight broke out at the bottom of the escalator and everyone was shouting, swearing, and yelling at each other. No one could move and everyone started yelling at people to go back up the escalators. Someone hit the button to stop the working escalator so people would stop piling in (keep in mind we are two stories below ground). We finally were able to get our group of five together and to the trains but it gets worse!

Once standing along the terminal we couldn't get in because it was so crowded and people were hanging out the doors. The train couldn't leave because people were not all the way in and there police trying to control the crowd. We saw one girls hand get stuck! Fortunately she got it out before the train left but it was really freaky.

The whole time this is going on there are announcements going on but they are all in Italian so we have no idea what they are saying. We finally were able to squeeze onto a train holding onto each other for dear life and made it back to our station. It was absolutely terrifying. We thought a riot was about to start and we wouldn't have been able to escape. I cannot recall many times I have been quite that scared and we were down there for a whole hour. I am so thankful to be back to our hostile tonight safe and sound.