Rome, Italy
This morning we got up a later than we should have, although we still managed to make it to breakfast by 10am. The spread was reasonably good. The pastries didn’t look out of this world but that’s actually a good thing because I wasn’t tempted to have them. The scrambled eggs were plentiful as were cheeses, tomatoes, yogurts and all the traditional breakfast beverages. My breakfast naughtiness of choice was a piece of bread with Nutella and jam.
Our first order of business today was securing a Roma Pass. These passes, that allow free admission to two sites and discounts on others, came highly recommended by many of our friends. The biggest perk of the passes is that on the two free admissions you are allowed to jump the ticket queue. Our first site on the touring agenda was the Colosseum which is known to have monstrously long lines.
We walked from the tourist information office where we purchased our passes down to the Colosseum. On our walk down Via dei Fori Imperiali we were constantly distracted by beautiful buildings and random ancient ruins.
We decided to walk around the Colosseum before entering. On the way I made Ben stop to visit a hoop I had scouted online and heard about from a friend. The bad news is it’s not fall enough yet for the picture to be book worthy because there is too much foliage blocking the building. The good news is the leaves will fall and I can always come back in the winter. Rome in February anyone?
After the hoop excursion we made our way to the entrance gates of the Colosseum. On our way in we were approached by a fellow selling the virtues of signing up for an English speaking tour. We decided to take it. In retrospect it wasn’t our finest idea. The woman leading the tour was okay but she didn’t offer that much interesting information regarding the ancient building and the games contested inside. She did spend a solid five minutes, however, talking about how terrible it is when pigeons poop on you and the importance of immediately washing any clothing hit with the white stuff because of the acidic nature of the excrement. I wish I was kidding about this. An additional problem with the tour was that it took a long time and that was just for her to finally take us inside. The guy who sold us on the tour said it was starting immediately but we didn’t go into the building for at least 20 minutes. Once set free to explore and take pictures, Ben and I had a nice time and took some great shots. We finished the Colosseum around 2:30 pm giving us just enough time to rush through Palatine Hill and the Forum before going to the Borghese Gallery.
Arch of Constantine
The Forum was quite cool. The ruins are truly amazing. To think of the architectural and engineering ingenuity that the Roman’s had 2000 years ago is truly mind blowing. I wish we would have had a little more time allowing us to listen to Rick Steve’s audio guide but we had to hustle to make it to the Borghese for our scheduled entry time.
Ben (6' 7") standing in front of the Basilica of Constantine
Basilica Aemilia
We hopped a cab up to the Borghese to save time. Ben was getting a bit out of sorts at this point because he was hungry. After picking up our tickets to the Gallery we set out to find a restaurant Ben had found on his trip advisor ap. Upon arrival it looked fancy, time consuming and... wasn’t open. We settled for a quick bite at a cafe across the street. Slightly refreshed from our 12.2 miles of morning walking (Ben wears a fit bit, so this is evidently a quite accurate measurement) we made our way back to the Borghese.
The Borghese Gallery, while not on my list of things to see in Rome, was truly quite cool. The artistry on the building itself is nearly as cool as the art it contains. After perusing for an hour and half, Benny was hungry again. We set back out for the original restaurant we looked for two hours prior. This time it was open and they gave us a table. Ben and I both had a tasting menu. The highlights for me were gnocchi with pears and the tiramisu. Overall I would give the restaurant a B.
On our stroll back to the hotel we walked by the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, St. Patrick’s Basilica and through a random market. Our grand total for the day was 19.2 miles. That being said, I’m beat and it’s time for bed before the Vatican tomorrow!
The Pantheon
Night,
Katy
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