Rome in less than a day

I think we did a <24 hr Rome trip pretty well!

When we landed from our flight from Mykonos in the Fumicino airport (outside the city) we had a driver waiting for us. After Athens, we weren't ready to navigate a big city on our own. Even with the driver speeding through in his fancy Mercedes, the drive still took 30 minutes. It was a nice ride, but definitely awkward considering the driver literally said 5 words the whole time.

We checked in at the hotel (Hotel Sant Angelo) and had the assistance of a porter who took us down the street to the annex of the hotel. The building reminded me of my apartment in Florence: gate to get in, small elevator, and big, stone staircase.  We squeezed our packs into the elevator and rode to the forth floor. From there, we went through a door to a hall of hotel rooms, where we found ours. The room had neat, old furniture and a big bed, so we promptly threw our stuff down and collapsed from exhaustion (like we have done in all of the hotels so far).

When we ventured out, we went looking for a bit to eat to tie us over until happy hour at the hotel. We made our way to the Trevi Fountain and... it was under construction! Emery and I had been there before so we weren't devastated, but it was disappointing. The water was not running or anything. Totally under construction. They did have a little pool of water for wish-making though.

We did find some food and then find the Pantheon, up the street from the Trevi Fountain. We had already planned to go back to the Pantheon the next day with a Rick Steves podcast tour, but I couldn't stop myself from going in... wow.

We went back to the hotel for “happy hour" which ended up being a carafe of wine, some water, and little things to eat. It was free so we obviously had some, but didn't stay long because there were only two other people there.

We looked online for things going on that night and Emery saw that a theater was hosting La Traviatta. We ran to the theater to find that it was the next night, even though online it said it was on Tuesdays (and it was Tuesday.)

We needed another plan! We wandered down the streets and ended up on some steps... the Spanish Steps! Looking at another fountain (Neptune), also under construction. We sat for a bit, heard a large group of maybe study abroad students sing the Canadian national anthem loudly (it wasn't the Americans!) And decided to get on the metro to the Colosseum.

We found it! It's really prominent when you get off the metro, so we talked across the street and took some pictures. It was probably 9:00 at the time, so the Colosseum was lit, which was gorgeous. We had both been to the Colosseum before and had a tour, so leisurely taking pictures was exactly what we wanted.  We thought we'd find someplace fun with the U.S. v. Belgium game (too soon?) around there, but we got back on the metro to get close to our hotel instead. Emery had seen a pub that publicized that it was playing the game that night, so we headed there and had a great meal!

The next morning, we packed, checked out, went to breakfast, and asked the hotel to store our luggage. We weren't done with Rome! Emery had downloaded Rick Steves podcast tours for St. Peter's Basilica and the Pantheon. We went to St. Peter's first because the line to get in would only be getting longer. Rick Steves does a good job of telling you where to go and how to get in and also reminds you that your shoulders (and knees, I think?) must be covered. The Basilica is obviously amazing and the podcast tour was perfect.

We walked towards the Pantheon, only using the map a few times (because we're experts...) and stopped for lunch at a place with Wi-Fi. A pigeon joined us inside for lunch and our waitress asked if we wanted it with fries or not. We chose pasta instead.

We made it to the Pantheon and listened to the 20 minute podcast tour. It was neat to hear about the inspiration for the design of the building as well as the combination of pagan and Christian decorations.

We went and picked up our bags, walked to the nearest metro stop, rode it to the train station, and got tickets for a high-speed train to Florence, only an hour and a half. (Note to self and other travelers: don't accept help from a stranger in the train station. They're not being nice, they want you to pay them.)

I'm currently sitting in a plazza while Emery shops at street markets before we leave Florence. I will post about Florence as soon as I can! We are headed to Cinque Terre very soon!

I will press “post" as soon as I have WiFi. Follow my twitter feed for more immediate updates!