“Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.” – Miriam Beard
Rome: The Eternal CityUpon arriving in Rome we said our goodbyes to Roni, our fabulous driver. We couldn't believe we were done with the bus and had arrived at our last location. Immediately we set out to explore with the majority of our new friends in tow. One of the coolest parts of our independent excursions was that Cristina would come along for the fun too, and her company always enhanced our experience! Our first evening in Rome we wandered all over, exploring for about five hours by foot. We checked out Trajan's Column, The National Monument for Vittorio Emanuele, and peeked at the Roman Forum & Colosseum from afar. We ate dinner near Campo del Fioro and got gelato at a place I remember being the first place I ever had gelato during my initial visit to Italy. We bought some art in Piazza Navona, and continued to the Pantheon, past the Italian Parliament to the Trevi Fountain where we made a wish to return to Italy. We made our final stop at the Spanish Steps before making our way back to Hotel Selene. |
Doing the Caesar Shuffle
On the last official day of the tour, John and I opted to do the "Caesar Shuffle," as Rick calls it, exploring the Colosseum and Roman Forum. Thanks to Cristina/Rick's advice, we used our Roma Pass to bypass the lines and walked right in. The Colosseum Tour on our Audio Europe App taught us all about the construction and history of one of the most famed structures of all time. We continued on to explore the Roman Forum, and again used the Audio Europe App to understand everything we were seeing. As English and History teachers, we loved knowing we were walking the same grounds that Julius Caesar had many, many, many years ago, and took plenty of pictures to share with our students. We continued our shuffle back to the Pantheon, where we used another Audio Guide for Rick to teach us all about it as well--this trip was so educational!
The Last SupperCristina arranged for our final group dinner at Miscellana, a great little place that gave us an awesome deal and provided a perfect place for us to savor our final evening with our friends. We toasted Cristina and each other, shared bottles of "sexy wine" courtesy of the owner, and went around and shared our favorite memories and moments from the trip. Before leaving the owner offered us more bottles of "sexy wine" to go, and we made a memorable walk back to the hotel together, going as slowly as possible to try to delay the end of our time together. There were hugs, tears, laughs, and of course contact information shared, so we could stay in touch!
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Vatican CityJohn and I also added an extra day at the end of our trip. While we were sad to see all our friends go, we were happy to have time to explore Rome and the Vatican at a more leisurely pace.
Thanks to our guidebooks we knew to make reservations, so upon arriving at the Vatican Museum we walked right in and began exploring the history of the Catholic Church. Pope Benedict must not have gotten the message we were there because he didn't come out to see us, but our trip was worthwhile, regardless! We used the self-guided tour in our Rick Steves' special trip supplemental guide to understand everything that we were seeing, which was so helpful. Finally, we reached the climax of the tour: The Sistine Chapel. We snagged a seat and let Rick explain its history to us via Audio Guide, and John snapped a few iPhone photos of the insanely impressive place before the guards announced no photos were allowed --shh, please don't tell on him! Once our necks couldn't handle anymore, we took a tip from our guidebook and snuck through a shortcut that led us directly to St. Peter's Basilica. Again with Rick in our ears we were able to learn all the specifics and highlights as we wandered around the massive holy place. We wrapped up our visit to Vatican City by climbing the stairs to the Cupola. After more than 300 very narrow steps we reached the top and were treated to some outstanding views of the St. Peter's Square and Roma as a whole. |
Favorite Roma Moments?
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Through the Looking Glass |