We arrived to a wonderful hotel in Rome! The travel day was easy, our rooms were close to the train station, so we decided to walk through the city before dark. We ended up walking forever, all around Rome! Around every corner, there was some amazing building, monument, church, or statue of some sort. We walked through their shopping streets, the busy piazzas, and then to Capitol Hill. From there, we caught our first glimpse of the Colosseum all lit up with floodlights. It was beautiful!
Monday we started our day at the Roman Forum, where all the politics, discussions, and shopping happened in Ancient Rome. We saw where Julius Caesar was burned, after being stabbed to death, temples to gods and goddesses of that time, and where the Senate took place. We saw the Arch of Titus, built by Jewish slaves. Ancient Romans were known for being very accepting of other cultures, but the one thing they required when they conquered a nation was that they worship the Roman gods as well as continuing to worship their own gods. The Jews refused to worship any gods but their one, so they were enslaved by the Romans during that time.
After the Forum, we walked through Palatine Hill. On the hill, we saw Caesar Augustus' house, the Royal Stadium (pictured above), and the huts of Romulus. We also had a great view of the city and the Colosseum! At this point, we had been walking forever and needed a coffee break. So we found a cafe right in front of the Colosseum and enjoyed caffe lattes and tiramisu...it was fantastic!
Feeling rejuvenated, we set out on a night walk across Rome. Starting at Capitol Hill, we walked through piazzas with live music, entertainers, artists. We went to the Pantheon - the marble interior was amazing, the pillars are the largest in Italy, and they were shipped from Egypt! Then we headed toward the Trevi Fountain, filled with tourists making wishes and throwing coins over their left shoulder into the water. We can't imagine how much money Rome makes from this single fountain!
Tuesday started with breakfast at a local bakery. Then we decided it was time to tour the Colosseum! It is far more stunning than what you see in pictures or the movies. Huge, first of all. Seeing such an old structure so in tact amazed us.
After the Colosseum, we took the metro to Vatican City. We toured most of the four-mile-long Vatican museum. The walls, ceilings, everything was so ornate and glamorous. The tour ended in the Sistine Chapel...we couldn't believe how big it was, all the layers, and stories going on at one time. It was pretty overwhelming and we could never haven taken in the whole thing, but very cool to have seen it!
After the Vatican, we went to St. Peter's Basilica (pictured above). This basilica and the Vatican building are what make up the Vatican City. St. Peter's is by far the largest and grandest church in the world! The dome is as tall as a football field is long; it's structure inspired the building of several other domes in churches across the world. Nothing can compare to this church though...our jaws dropped every time we turned our heads. The arches, pillars, decor, Raphael's "Pieta" and other artwork were indescribable.
After some delicious lasagna and cannelloni for lunch, we took the metro back to the Trevi Fountain (pictured below) because I wanted pictures in the daylight. We stopped for ice cream and coffee on the piazza and then spent the next hour or two people-watching. Tourists can be very frustrating, but when you sit back to watch them, they can be highly entertaining as well! We also spent time on the Spanish Steps, a pretty popular piazza for both Italians and tourists. Not sure how many times roses were forced into our hands or how many guys wanted to sell us cheap souvenirs, but it is totally worth it to watch everyone at work and at play!
From the Spanish Steps, we enjoyed probably the most delicious meal out over our entire trip (or close tie to one in Madrid). We finally found chicken parmesan on a menu, so Nick ordered that and I had tortellini. No words will do that meal justice...Italian cooking at its best! Our waiter - also very true to what you would expect in an Italian. He kept bringing us food and drinks, saying that its a special price just for us, or on the house, or a gift because it went well with our drinks. Needless to say, we still paid for everything we consumed...haha! But we did feel very taken care of, and then slightly taken advantage of too. They had delicious food though, so no complaints here.
Wednesday was pretty rainy so we ate breakfast at our hotel's organic cafe. We spent the morning packing, doing some laundry, and skyping with Nick's parents. Then we went on an adventure to find tickets to that night's soccer game - S. S. Lazio vs. Torino! It turned out to be much easier than we expected, though the lady selling us tickets couldn't speak a word of English. We managed though, understanding we had to be back at 5 PM for tickets, to bring our passports, and that umbrellas were allowed into the stadium.
On our way home, we decided to buy one umbrella for €2. Unfortunately, the price really reflected the quality of the umbrella. Not only was it pouring rain, but the wind was blowing strong. At every gush of wind, our umbrella threatened to turn inside out...not at all withstanding the weather.
So at five, we asked the hotel reception if they had any umbrellas for us to use. They handed us one that was definitely from the same street sellers we had bought our own. But we felt like having two faulty umbrellas was better than one. So we walked back through the pouring rain to claim our tickets and head toward the stadium. Not only was my umbrella poor quality, but it was pretty much broken. Every time wind blew, it would either flip inside out or the material would get disconnected from the frame of the umbrella and be blowing around, getting water all over me. When the wind wasn't blowing, the detached material would just drip on me. I had to laugh or I knew I would start crying and our soccer game adventure would quickly come to an end. Nick felt horrible but he was having his own issues with our "new" umbrella (aka holding it together when the wind blew) and avoiding huge puddles. Nick eventually convinced me to trash mine and hope it would stop raining!
Anyways, finally at the stadium a couple hours early, we found an Italian pizzeria and sat down to dry off and enjoy dinner. This restaurant proceeded to be one of our most cultural meals out! We were surrounded by soccer fans, excited about that night's game. The voices were yelling above each other, hands were flying in your stereotypical Italian motions, everyone greeted each other with kisses, and the food and drinks just kept coming. I must add that the pizza was phenomenal...not like the trashy fast food in the States (not to hate on America or anything, Italy just does food right).
The soccer game was the highlight of our time in Rome! We didn't really have a clue as to how everything worked, in terms of security, tickets, and seating. When we walked through the first gate, a woman waved me over for a pat down. Nick followed me, leaving the male security guard who was about to do his. When I explained he had to go back to the man, because females did the pat downs for ladies and males did them for men, the security guards were all laughing at us. We just embraced the funny moment and fumbled our way through the system, happy to provide them with some entertainment.
Nick bought a Lazio scarf, which we were instantly thankful for when we walked into our section. Everyone was decked out in scarves, hats, jackets, and soccer gear. We realized that if this game was going on in the States, everyone would be dressed in their Halloween costume...but not here! As we sat down, Nick decided to mention that we were in the famous section of the stadium - the Curva Nord. Famous for what, you might ask. Famous for their rowdiness, roughness, and sometimes needing to be settled down by tear gas. Oh great. But this game was not one of their notorious rivals, so all went very smoothly. It was a fun section to be in since it felt a lot more like the student section in Williams-Brice! The fans chanted, sang, and clapped the ENTIRE game - they literally never stopped. We were amazed by the energy and how positive it was even when Lazio made mistakes. My favorite part - when Lazio scored, Nick was embraced by at least 2 Italian men! Seeing all the excitement and being welcomed into it was so fun!
Now we are on our flight to Cairo!! Woohoo!! EgyptAir continues to get the award for best airline food...we just had a delicious lunch, topped off with coffee, vanilla cake with coffee icing, and a good movie (or so Nick says).
Can't wait to see you all in a couple weeks!
