Day 12 – Rome!

I ate so much food today! Mmmm.

It was a “no bus” day for the tour so we had to find our own way around Rome. We are staying about 30mins out of the city so it is a bit of a hike…we left the hotel at 8:30am and our guide hannah walked us to a bus stop where all of us (about 45) got on the bus…then a train…then swapped to another train! Miraculously we all made it in one piece. We started with the Vatican City tour which was the most expensive tour we have done to date (€33). I am assuming that includes the entry price though so when you consider that it probably isn’t too pricey. The Vatican is crazy – so many people just shuffling along looking at stuff and some of the tourists are unbelievably rude and just shove you out of the way. One of the boys on our tour took pity on me being trampled by a nasty Japanese man and elbowed him out of my way 🙂 I still owe him a beer for that! Other than the shuffling it was amazing. The sistine chapel just blew my mind and saint peters basilica was so big, so beautiful and so detailed.

The Vatican tour took about 2.5hrs and after it out main priorities were to pee, to sit down and to eat. We made it about 50m from the Vatican and collapsed at a roadside pizzeria where we ate pizza AND pasta for lunch – then gelato for dessert. Such fatties. After a rest we felt better and abandoned our hastily (lazily) formulated plans for public transport and instead opted to walk from one end of Rome city to the other so we could see the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain, the Colosseum and the Roman Forum in daylight. With our trusty map reader Amelia leading the way we were off! Our first stop was the Pantheon and as it was day time we got to see inside, it is an active church and although I am not a religious person, I was impressed. The detail is amazing and there was a choir singing hymns which worked so well with the acoustics of the building. Next up we wandered to the Trevi Fountain which had looked amazing last night but in the day time it was even better…I threw in two coins which means 1) I will return to Rome one day and 2) it will be with a lover! Go me. By this point we were tired, grumpy, full of water and sweaty so after a 35min wait to pee (I swear, there is one public bathroom in all of Rome and it is in McDonalds) we slowly plodded onwards. Amelia navigated the back streets and when we suddenly popped out in view of the Colosseum there was much rejoicing! We opted to line up which was quicker than I thought (only 22mins) and wander through without a tour.

I think we spent well over an hour at the Colosseum. The views, the photo opportunities and the feeling of walking through something almost 2000 years old was just amazing. We sat down for awhile and just relaxed while soaking in the views. So far the Colosseum has been my favourite thing to have experienced in all of Europe.

We took photos at the roman forum and walked up a side street were we ate dinner at a street cafe nearby, we had beautiful views of the Colosseum. After a really long day we all rewarded ourselves with a few drinks…and more gelato! It was then off to navigate the train and bus home which was surprisingly painless. I was so excited that we arrived back just as the laundry guy rocked up which means I have lovely fresh, clean PJs to sleep in.

We came up to the room and sat around for a bit and then decided we felt like losers as it was only 8:30pm. We went back downstairs to the bar and one of the Canadian boys on the tour bought us a drink, so we socialised with them for awhile…they are all good fun but had been drinking all day so had a good head start on us. It’s almost 10pm now and I think bed time very soon as I am exhausted.

Tomorrow we are off to Florence and will see the leaning tower of Pisa on the way!

There are lots of photos for today as I took so many. There was just so many amazing things to see….

Huge pizza for dinner

Frolicking near the Trevi Fountain


Inside the Pantheon where the choir were singing hymns


Looking adorable at the colosseum


The colosseum



Percy at the colosseum


The trevi fountain


Percy at a roman castle


St peters basilica


The Swiss guards


St peters square


Inside one of the Vatican galleries (photos were allowed in this section)