Rome, Italy

As one of the most majestic ancient cities and the center for the Catholic Church, Rome doesn't disappoint. This is certainly a place I wouldn't have minded more time; it felt like we crammed a week of material into the 24 hours we had in this city. We accidentally planned our trip perfectly so that we could see the pope in the Vatican, then proceeded to the rest of the city at break-neck speed. The 2 highlights for me were Vatican City, for the experience of seeing the pope and seeing St. Peter's Basilica, and the Colosseum. Despite the overwhelming number of tourists and its history of mass killing of human beings, the technological innovation and history of the building proved to be quite impressive.