After our quick glance at Pisa we went to the train station and jumped
on the next Rome-bound train, sparing only seconds. We take only the
slowest routes possible because those are the cheapest. We had so many
quick connections that day (from bus to plane to bus to train to train
to train to bus); we hadn’t eaten anything since lunch before we left
Mainz at about noon. Almost 12 hours later, we grabbed a quick slice
of Pizza at a bus station before finally making it to our hotel.
Well, monastery to be exact. We found a really good deal online for a
double room that happened to be in a monastery with spare rooms for
tourists to rent out. The place itself was perfect; clean room, big
bathroom, free breakfast and very helpful nuns. The location, on the
other hand, was awful. We knew we were staying outside of the city but
it looked like the bus line would take us from our doorstep right to
the Vatican. True, but not quickly or easily as we soon found out!
Apparently traffic around Rome is like New York City!!! It took us a
solid hour and a half and one bus change before we were standing
before the Vatican. Fortunately, we woke up at 5:30 so we were inside
the Vatican entrance by 8:00. My genius husband booked our entrance
tickets online so we bypassed the entire line (which was ridiculously
long for that early in the morning).
The Vatican was incredible. I feel so lucky to have gotten to see all
of the beautiful and historical things. There was amazing art
everywhere we turned inside the Vatican. Unfortunately, neither of us
are educated in the Art world so surely we couldn't have fully
appreciated it but we did take lots of pictures.
The Sistine chapel was my favorite part. I liked imaging Michaelangelo
laying there on his back for all those hours and producing such
breathtaking art. There were depictions of many stories from the Bible
which Sam was able to explain to me. Not surprisingly, pictures were
not allowed.
We ventured to take the almost 600 steps to the very top look-out
point of St. Peter's basilica and it was worth it!
Inside St. Peter’s Basilica was also…amazing (I am running out of
adjectives); much larger and intricate than I imagined.
Unfortunately, we were not able to enter the tombs where the Popes
were because I was wearing shorts. I really wish someone would have
told us there was a dress code. It makes sense, we just didn’t know
ahead of time so there was nothing we could do. So, if you ever go to
the Vatican, wear clothes that cover your knees and shoulders.
From the Vatican we walked through the city taking in the sights and
stopping for our first taste of real Italian Gelato
On our way to the Coliseum, we came across this building which we
learned has been nicknamed the “wedding cake building”.
Steps between "tiers"
View of the city from the "Wedding Cake" building
So many random (at least they were random to us) sculptures and
statues throughout the city.
Surrounding the Coliseum are huge areas of Roman ruins.
Once we got in front of the Coliseum, we almost got ripped off by
nearly falling into a tourist scheme. This very nice American girl was
recruiting people for an English speaking tour. She told us we could
skip the really long line and save money because the tour was less
than the offered audio guide. Liar, liar, pants on fire! After much
debate, we decided to go in without the tour. Good thing because the
line was not very long at all and the audio guide was far less
expensive than the tour.
Walking around inside the Coliseum was great! I would picture all of
the things that took place there so many years ago and it just didn’t
seem real. It was a pretty violent place and culture back then! Sam
got the audio guide and shared all of the most interesting details
with me:
-Sometimes the fights would be beast vs. beast, sometimes man vs. man
and sometimes beast vs. man.
-They had some advanced stage techniques with trap doors, moving stage
pieces and rising floors so they put on quite the show.
-They kept elephants, bears, tigers, hippos and other animals
underneath the Coliseum floor.
-One time they brought in a whale that was beached on shore and during
they show they raised the whale up and FIFTY bears sauntered out of
its mouth.
-Every citizen of Rome was allowed to come to the shows and they were
assigned seats according to social class.
-Some gladiators were professionals by choice and some were forced to
fight as a punishment.
-In rare cases, a serious criminal might be thrown into a fight with any weapon!
After the Coliseum we did some more wandering through the streets of
Rome and made stops at the Trevi Fountain...
We were in much need of a break from walking so we set on the famous Spanish Steps before searching for a place to eat.
At this point, our camera battery died : (
We ended our evening with a nice dinner on a restaurant terrace in the
Pantheon square. Just sippin’ wine and eating real Italian pasta while
looking at the best preserved Roman ruin in the world. No biggie. The
disappointment of the night came when I had to send my very first
Italian pasta BACK for a new dish. I ordered Pasta Carbonara (just spaghetti in a cream
sauce with eggs and bacon). The pasta and sauce were delicious but the
bacon was less than satisfactory. Every single piece was pure fat. I’m
not talking some meat with some fat- pure fat! Not to mention the
piece that was still attached to a knuckle bone. Hmm…maybe the
Italians aren’t so picky with their meat but I couldn’t handle it. I
got a pesto dish instead and it was delicious! Sam had pizza and beer.
Actually, Sam ate pizza for every lunch and dinner for 3 days strait
barring one lunch (a panini). I knew Italy would offer lots of good
pizza but I didn’t realize that essentially every single restaurant
and café is indeed a Pizzeria!
It was a beautiful walk back to the bus station through the whole city of Rome at night. It's a very large city!
Our journey back to the monastery was…a true Italian experience
(so we came to learn). Here comes a long story about a nightmare public transportation experience. If you're not interested, you can skip to the last little paragraph : )
We loaded the first bus and told the driver we
needed a ticket. He said in some broken English, “It’s okay, just get
on the bus”. Okay…we heard they never check for tickets, especially at
night, so we weren’t completely surprised. We sat parked for awhile
before the driver announced something to the passengers in Italian and
then everyone got off the bus; we followed. We hopped on to the bus
waiting behind us; the very same number. Okay…this bus took us one
stop before breaking down. Okay…walk to the next stop; get on the next
bus which showed up late. Immediately upon sitting down a man comes by
to check our tickets! Great, we have no excuse except the truth, the
bus driver told us to just get on! The man said it is a 101 Euro fine
per person but he gave us a break and just kicked us off at the next
stop. Okay…wander around until we fine a Blockbuster where we could
buy a 1 Euro bus ticket. Yes, the fine for not buying a 1 Euro bus
ticket is 101 Euro. Yes, one buys Italian bus tickets at Blockbuster.
We got back to the monastery pretty late and woke up really early
again to get to the station to catch a train to Venice. This was
another Italian public transportation adventure. As we were waiting
for the bus outside the hotel, the same bus line passed 3 times in the
other direction before our bus showed up about 45 minutes late. We
were nervous about getting there on time to begin with and then we saw
the dreadful traffic and were basically hopeless. It took FOREVER! We
got to the point where we were supposed to switch buses and thought
maybe if we took a taxi we could still make our train…stood at the
clearly labeled taxi waiting station and no taxi showed up. We decide
to get on the bus after all. We pulled up to the train station about 6
minutes after our train was scheduled to leave. Bummer, so close! Next
train doesn’t come for 6 hours. Oh, but wait, in true Italian fashion,
the train was also running late. We sprinted to the platform and
slipped on just before the doors closed. We made it! In other places
in Europe, you can buy a ticket on the train but we asked an Italian
if you could do the same in Italy just to be sure. “Yes”, she said.
Great. We found some seats next to an Italian and an Englander. The
ticket lady came around and we asked for 2 tickets. She told us there
is a 50 Euro fee each for buying tickets on the train!! What??? We
told the lady we would get off sooner if she could charge us less. She
said okay and in the end we only ended up paying 20 Euro more than we
should have had to pay. The Italian and the Englander both agreed it
was ridiculous. The Italian admitted that he worked in a restaurant
and that Italy takes advantage of tourists in any and every possible
way and this was just another way to make things difficult for us.
Both informed us that the Italian public transportation systems are
notorious for being unreliable in most cases.
Transportation travesties aside, we really enjoyed Rome and we wished
we had more time to see everything. We scheduled 2 nights/3 days but
with travel issues we had only one full day in the huge city. We found
the Roman people to be very nice. Any person we asked on the bus or
street for directions was kind and more than happy to stop and help.
Next up...Venice!
on the next Rome-bound train, sparing only seconds. We take only the
slowest routes possible because those are the cheapest. We had so many
quick connections that day (from bus to plane to bus to train to train
to train to bus); we hadn’t eaten anything since lunch before we left
Mainz at about noon. Almost 12 hours later, we grabbed a quick slice
of Pizza at a bus station before finally making it to our hotel.
Well, monastery to be exact. We found a really good deal online for a
double room that happened to be in a monastery with spare rooms for
tourists to rent out. The place itself was perfect; clean room, big
bathroom, free breakfast and very helpful nuns. The location, on the
other hand, was awful. We knew we were staying outside of the city but
it looked like the bus line would take us from our doorstep right to
the Vatican. True, but not quickly or easily as we soon found out!
Apparently traffic around Rome is like New York City!!! It took us a
solid hour and a half and one bus change before we were standing
before the Vatican. Fortunately, we woke up at 5:30 so we were inside
the Vatican entrance by 8:00. My genius husband booked our entrance
tickets online so we bypassed the entire line (which was ridiculously
long for that early in the morning).
The Vatican was incredible. I feel so lucky to have gotten to see all
of the beautiful and historical things. There was amazing art
everywhere we turned inside the Vatican. Unfortunately, neither of us
are educated in the Art world so surely we couldn't have fully
appreciated it but we did take lots of pictures.
The Sistine chapel was my favorite part. I liked imaging Michaelangelolaying there on his back for all those hours and producing such
breathtaking art. There were depictions of many stories from the Bible
which Sam was able to explain to me. Not surprisingly, pictures were
not allowed.
We ventured to take the almost 600 steps to the very top look-out
point of St. Peter's basilica and it was worth it!
Inside St. Peter’s Basilica was also…amazing (I am running out ofadjectives); much larger and intricate than I imagined.
Unfortunately, we were not able to enter the tombs where the Popeswere because I was wearing shorts. I really wish someone would have
told us there was a dress code. It makes sense, we just didn’t know
ahead of time so there was nothing we could do. So, if you ever go to
the Vatican, wear clothes that cover your knees and shoulders.
From the Vatican we walked through the city taking in the sights and
stopping for our first taste of real Italian Gelato
On our way to the Coliseum, we came across this building which welearned has been nicknamed the “wedding cake building”.
Steps between "tiers"
View of the city from the "Wedding Cake" building
So many random (at least they were random to us) sculptures andstatues throughout the city.
Surrounding the Coliseum are huge areas of Roman ruins.Once we got in front of the Coliseum, we almost got ripped off by
nearly falling into a tourist scheme. This very nice American girl was
recruiting people for an English speaking tour. She told us we could
skip the really long line and save money because the tour was less
than the offered audio guide. Liar, liar, pants on fire! After much
debate, we decided to go in without the tour. Good thing because the
line was not very long at all and the audio guide was far less
expensive than the tour.
Walking around inside the Coliseum was great! I would picture all ofthe things that took place there so many years ago and it just didn’t
seem real. It was a pretty violent place and culture back then! Sam
got the audio guide and shared all of the most interesting details
with me:
-Sometimes the fights would be beast vs. beast, sometimes man vs. man
and sometimes beast vs. man.
-They had some advanced stage techniques with trap doors, moving stage
pieces and rising floors so they put on quite the show.
-They kept elephants, bears, tigers, hippos and other animals
underneath the Coliseum floor.
-One time they brought in a whale that was beached on shore and during
they show they raised the whale up and FIFTY bears sauntered out of
its mouth.
-Every citizen of Rome was allowed to come to the shows and they were
assigned seats according to social class.
-Some gladiators were professionals by choice and some were forced to
fight as a punishment.
-In rare cases, a serious criminal might be thrown into a fight with any weapon!
After the Coliseum we did some more wandering through the streets ofRome and made stops at the Trevi Fountain...
We were in much need of a break from walking so we set on the famous Spanish Steps before searching for a place to eat.
At this point, our camera battery died : (
We ended our evening with a nice dinner on a restaurant terrace in the
Pantheon square. Just sippin’ wine and eating real Italian pasta while
looking at the best preserved Roman ruin in the world. No biggie. The
disappointment of the night came when I had to send my very first
Italian pasta BACK for a new dish. I ordered Pasta Carbonara (just spaghetti in a cream
sauce with eggs and bacon). The pasta and sauce were delicious but the
bacon was less than satisfactory. Every single piece was pure fat. I’m
not talking some meat with some fat- pure fat! Not to mention the
piece that was still attached to a knuckle bone. Hmm…maybe the
Italians aren’t so picky with their meat but I couldn’t handle it. I
got a pesto dish instead and it was delicious! Sam had pizza and beer.
Actually, Sam ate pizza for every lunch and dinner for 3 days strait
barring one lunch (a panini). I knew Italy would offer lots of good
pizza but I didn’t realize that essentially every single restaurant
and café is indeed a Pizzeria!
It was a beautiful walk back to the bus station through the whole city of Rome at night. It's a very large city!
Our journey back to the monastery was…a true Italian experience
(so we came to learn). Here comes a long story about a nightmare public transportation experience. If you're not interested, you can skip to the last little paragraph : )
We loaded the first bus and told the driver we
needed a ticket. He said in some broken English, “It’s okay, just get
on the bus”. Okay…we heard they never check for tickets, especially at
night, so we weren’t completely surprised. We sat parked for awhile
before the driver announced something to the passengers in Italian and
then everyone got off the bus; we followed. We hopped on to the bus
waiting behind us; the very same number. Okay…this bus took us one
stop before breaking down. Okay…walk to the next stop; get on the next
bus which showed up late. Immediately upon sitting down a man comes by
to check our tickets! Great, we have no excuse except the truth, the
bus driver told us to just get on! The man said it is a 101 Euro fine
per person but he gave us a break and just kicked us off at the next
stop. Okay…wander around until we fine a Blockbuster where we could
buy a 1 Euro bus ticket. Yes, the fine for not buying a 1 Euro bus
ticket is 101 Euro. Yes, one buys Italian bus tickets at Blockbuster.
We got back to the monastery pretty late and woke up really early
again to get to the station to catch a train to Venice. This was
another Italian public transportation adventure. As we were waiting
for the bus outside the hotel, the same bus line passed 3 times in the
other direction before our bus showed up about 45 minutes late. We
were nervous about getting there on time to begin with and then we saw
the dreadful traffic and were basically hopeless. It took FOREVER! We
got to the point where we were supposed to switch buses and thought
maybe if we took a taxi we could still make our train…stood at the
clearly labeled taxi waiting station and no taxi showed up. We decide
to get on the bus after all. We pulled up to the train station about 6
minutes after our train was scheduled to leave. Bummer, so close! Next
train doesn’t come for 6 hours. Oh, but wait, in true Italian fashion,
the train was also running late. We sprinted to the platform and
slipped on just before the doors closed. We made it! In other places
in Europe, you can buy a ticket on the train but we asked an Italian
if you could do the same in Italy just to be sure. “Yes”, she said.
Great. We found some seats next to an Italian and an Englander. The
ticket lady came around and we asked for 2 tickets. She told us there
is a 50 Euro fee each for buying tickets on the train!! What??? We
told the lady we would get off sooner if she could charge us less. She
said okay and in the end we only ended up paying 20 Euro more than we
should have had to pay. The Italian and the Englander both agreed it
was ridiculous. The Italian admitted that he worked in a restaurant
and that Italy takes advantage of tourists in any and every possible
way and this was just another way to make things difficult for us.
Both informed us that the Italian public transportation systems are
notorious for being unreliable in most cases.
Transportation travesties aside, we really enjoyed Rome and we wished
we had more time to see everything. We scheduled 2 nights/3 days but
with travel issues we had only one full day in the huge city. We found
the Roman people to be very nice. Any person we asked on the bus or
street for directions was kind and more than happy to stop and help.
Next up...Venice!
