Ahhh...Roma

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Welcome to the land of ANCIENT history!

After Venice we headed to Rome which was an amazing city mostly because of the fact that 2,000 year old ancient ruins are splat in the middle of a modern city in random places all around. It's crazy to think about really. The night we arrived we went on a walking tour of the city to get our bearings. Chad took us by the Colloseum, Trevi Fountain, The Pantheon, part of the Imperial Forum, and countless other ancient Roman ruin things that I can't particularly remember. Well, the Pantheon was by far my favorite ancient ruin - I think because it is so well preserved and literally in the middle of a modern city square. The city is truly amazing! We really could walk almost everywhere we wanted to go once we got in the main part. Finally sampled some gelati that night. I couldn't put it off any longer! I felt that I held out enough self control all through Venice. Let me tell you, it was a bad idea, because after that I was addicted for the next 5 days I was in Italy! We also got some pizza for dinner. And here, in the land where pizza began, you buy by the weight of the slice(s) you want! Pretty funny I thought.
The next day in Rome was LONG! We started early to go wait in line for the Vatican. So, I started my day at the Vatican Museum to see all that it had the offer and of course, see the Sistine Chapel. The rest of the day, I threw my coins in the Trevi fountain, sat on the Spanish steps, toured the ancient imperial forum and colloseum (which was amazing! I know I keep saying that, but there is no other way to describe it), and put my hand in the mouth of truth (anyone seen Roman Holiday?) and yes it didn't get bitten. (That made me realize not to believe in that!) A LONG day! We tackled the Roman public transport too and did a great job until the end of the day when we got on the train to get back to the bus for the hotel. We accidentally got on an express train and after about 20 minutes with no stops and when we started seeing cornfields and hay bails we realized the woe of our ways. Damien then said, "Yeah, I thought I saw our stop about 15 minutes ago, but we didn't stop so..." Thanks Damien! We asked a local and she told us to get off at the next stop and head the opposite way and that lead us back to the right place.

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Photos

The girls in front of Trevi Fountain
Michelle, Me, Michelle, and Monique

The Pantheon
This is what you see as you literally walk around the corner of some modern building. Crazy!

Comments

[capsfan2002]

Rome
Great post. I'm going to be in Rome in a couple of weeks. Did you find the lines at the Vatican long?

[KimG]

Response
Yes. Very long. I recommend getting there very early to get a good spot. I think I was there around 7 or 7:30 a.m. and once they opened we didn't have to wait long.