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Published: August 21st 2009
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On our way to Rome! So I've been back from Rome relaxing for a few days and I seem to have had not time to stop and write an entry.
My trip to Rome was AMAZING, everything someone would wish and hope for and more. I could not have imagined it in my wildest dreams. Cabrina and I left for the airport at about 4am for our 6am flight and luckily made it in the nick of time thanks to her husbands speed racer driving. After shoulder checking some guys in purple shirts to make sure they didn't get to cut us in line (hah! like THATS going to happen) we boarded our plane and got on our way. We touched down in Rome and ran in to our first of many snags, there was nowhere for us to pick up our Roma pass, we put down to pick it up at the Ciampino airport but the guy there refused to give them to us. So we took a cab to our hotel after being told it would be 50 Euro then when we arrived the Cab driver told us 70 Euro. Awesome, that's about 100 dollars for a less than 20 minute cab ride.
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us inside the Colosseum We paid it got to our hotel and were told we couldn't check in for 4 hours still. So we took the metro (their subway) to the train station and went to see the Colosseum, don't worry I have pictures. The Colosseum was everything you see in the movies but better. I felt so small standing next to it. We got a great tour then got some Gelato and went to check in to our hotel and take a nap.
We then jumped on the bus and ended up at a little restaurant right outside by a great fountain where we had a few glasses of sparkling wine and the best pasta of my entire trip. Salmon Penne YUM! We explored a little more and found ourselves at the base of the Spanish steps at dusk and it was beautiful! I found this great Italian tie shop where I got a tie for a certain person in my life.
We headed back to the hotel on the metro with a stop over at Termini station to get some cash out... Annnd the machine I used was a scam one and kept my debit card, WELCOME TO ROME! Never
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The Colosseum. fear, I called my amazing husband and he paypalled money to Cabrina and we went on to the hotel to sleep.
Woke up just after they stopped serving breakfast (10) and decided today was the day to go find the Pantheon after a little exploring and ending up at the spanish steps (again) we found it. It was awe inspiring. Absolutely amazing. There are pictures of it too. such an old building and it was so in tact! We then found what was rated the #1 restaurant in all of rome online and guess what it's exclusively a Gelato place. Over 20 flavors of CHOCOLATE Gelato, I couldn't count how many flavors they had but their Strawberry Banana was AMAZING.
We headed back to the Spanish steps, did a little shopping around there and then headed back to Termini station where we were going to go see the National Museum but found that it's closed on Tuesdays. We wandered around a little and found a restaurant that I will remember for the rest of my life. We sat out in a cobbled ally with a view of the Colosseum and enjoyed one of the best bottles of wine
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The Colosseum I've had and it was their house wine! We then had some yummy yummy pasta and then my life was forever changed by the BEST Tiramisu I've ever had in my entire life, ever, it was probably the best experience of my vacation so far. It was a party in my mouth. We stumbled back to our hotel and crashed.
Our final day we woke up excited! Today was the day for us to see the Vatican. We got ready, rushed down stairs and had some breakfast, checked out and hurried to the train station to check our bags. Cabrina had to get some cash out of the machine only to get a snarly message about reaching her limit for the day... but we just woke up? so we sit on the ground at the train station and wallow in our misery for a few moments then just in the nick of time I remember reading about a free bag check at St. Peters Basilica. If we get on the metro now and RUN we may be able to make it in time for our tour of St. Peters Necropolis (the vaticans city of the dead that was discovered
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us inside the Colosseum again. when they built the current St. Peters) this is a tour that thousands of people want to do and only a handful get invited and it has to be arranged months in advance. So we got off the metro and we think we've made it, we then realize the metro stop is about a mile from where we need to be so we RUN with our 20 pound bags on our back wearing flip flops the entire way. We get there and see that there is a 3 and a half hour long line that wraps entirely around the square in front of the Basilica. We asked a guard if there was any way to avoid the line and he said to get a tour, when we informed him we HAVE a tour but it's inside and underneath he said we had to wait in the line to get through security and should have came earlier. Looking at the time we have 9 minutes until the tour starts and there is no way we can make it. None. We sit on the step and fight crying, we know we did everything we could to make it but it just wasn't
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The start of the Roman Forum. meant to be and neither of us will cry. We then run into a tour guide that asks if we want to take an English tour of St. Peters (the Basilica not the Necropolis) I told her we have a tour arranged but if she can get us to the front of the line I'll pay her for the tour but she doesn't have to take us, remember we have no money, we still don't even know how we're going to get to the airport. But she goes and talks to someone and says she can't get us in until 1130 but points out a guard for us to ask. We ran up to him and he actually let us in the employee way! We start running to the bag check get there check our bags, get a lecture about drinking water from the man behind the desk and RUN to the Swiss Guard on the other side. Who smiles and flirts and is adorable in his little court jester looking uniform. He tells us that we are 5 minutes early but lets us in and we wait for our tour guide, We made it. I will never forget the
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Our Sparkling wine with the fountain view. When in Rome! things I saw under the Vatican in the city of the dead. The structures will built shortly after Christ died and to stand there in something almost 2000 years old was a feeling I will never forget. The tour came to a climax when we were shown Saint Peters bones, THE Saint Peter, the one in the bible. They lay where they were found but now were encased in glass. After being in the dank necropolis we went and toured the Basilica which was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.
We went back to the train station and tried the ATM machine and everything worked. The trip was a total success and was better than anyone could imagine.
I hope you all enjoy the pictures.
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