Rome was amazing. We went March 29th - April 5th (yes, I am beyond late in posting this). When planning our trip, we had talked about taking day trips to Naples and Pompeii. While looking into the time it would take to do that, we decided we didn't want a rushed trip to Rome. We wanted to enjoy Rome. We wanted to take our time and enjoy it. It didn't hurt that we'd already agreed a future trip to the Amalfi coast would cover the Naples & Pompeii bit :)
Upon our arrival, we got on the train and took it into the city. We had
rented an apartment for our stay, and it was close to the station. It
took us a little bit to find it. Since we had traveled all night, we
took a nap before making any major decisions for the day. We were up by
5 and decided to go exploring. The lady renting to us had said the
Colosseum was a 20 minute walk. It sounded like the best place to
start!
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| The Colosseum - our first site of Rome! |
There were a bunch of people gathering outside the Colosseum. We asked around and found out that Pope Benedict was going to be giving the Stations of the Cross Mass. We joined the herd - when else are you going to get to see the Pope? After we'd been standing there for awhile, we realized we had to wait 2 more hours until it started. The space around us was filling up, but we decided to stick it out.
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| See that guy in white? Yeah, that'd be the Pope... |
We didn't stay for the entire thing. We were tired and hungry! It was still quite the experience though.
The next morning we had made reservations for the Borghese Gallery. It was an amazing place - it was in a house, and each rooms walls, ceiling, and even the floors were decorated. We saw sculptures by Bernini, paintings by Raphael & Caravaggio, mosaics, and much, much more. I honestly have to say it is in my top 5 of museums visited.
Pizza in Rome is wonderful. You go into the store, tell them (by gesturing) what size and what kind of pizza you want, they weigh it, and you pay by the weight. We grabbed enough to feed 4 people and went to sit in the park outside the gallery to eat. Eating outside where there was grass and pavement was thrilling. That doesn't happen often in my world!
After that was a visit to the Cappuccini Crypt. Basically, a lot of small chapels underneath a church that were constructed with bones. It was very macabre. Fascinating and grotesque, all at the same time.
The rest of the day was spent wandering around Rome, enjoying the sights. We saw:
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| The Spanish Steps |
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| St. Peter's Basilica - from a distance ;) |
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| Castel Sant'Angelo |
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| We sat in the Piazza Del Popolo and people watched. |
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| The Pantheon |
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| Raphael's Tomb at the Pantheon |
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| Piazza Navona's Fountain of Four Rivers - By Bernini |
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| Trevi Fountain |
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