Ancient Rome

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Today was going to be a super exciting day! We woke up to rainy skies and were feeling a little chilly, but we were hoping that the weather would soon let up and we could still go to Ancient Rome as planned. We went to Bar Fondi to get our free breakfast of croissant and a capuccino. I got a strawberry filled croissant that was so delicious since it was still warm and crispy. We stopped at the internet cafe for a little bit to give the weather some more time to settle. By the time we had finished all this, the sun was starting to pop through the clouds.

We walked down to Ancient Rome, which was only about 15 minutes south of where we were staying. It was so amazing to see the Coliseum from afar and then up close and personal. We also walked through the acres of Palatine hill, where the house of Augustus and the Roman forum were located. We also spotted Circus Maximus and the Arch of Constantine, all very notable landmarks. I was picturing Russell Crowe in battle at the Coliseum...Gladiator is pretty much one of my all-time favorite movies! We spent over 4 hours walking through Ancient Rome, we could have stayed longer but it was starting to heat up and we were getting hungry.

Off to find lunch and then head over to Trastavere. According to hostelworld and many other sources, Trastavere was supposed to be a pretty hoppin area. We were actually pretty disappointed by it and it looked pretty dead when we walked through it. The highlight was being able to stop at the Basilica of St. Cecilia, who is my confirmation saint. The church now stands on the site where her house used to be, and her body is also buried there.

Since we had been walking for almost 8 hours at this point, we decided to give our feet a rest and catch the bus back to the hostel. We needed to rest up for dinner with Sharm and Laurence later as well.

At 8:00pm we met up with Sharm and Laurence at their apartment, which was coincidentally on the other side of the street. We walked about 5 minutes to this really cute authentic pasta restaurant. I think this was the best meal that I had in all 3 weeks. Fusili pasta with vodka sauce and bacon. Soo delicious! After dinner we were very adequately stuffed and ready for our food coma. We also had to get up early the next morning to go to the Vatican so we went to bed around 11.

P.S. We got gelato twice today.

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