Italy: Rome

Rome was a severely disappointing city. Not because there wasn’t enough to see, but there were just so many tourists and people in general. And the whole city, compared to Florence was severely uninviting.

Anyway, I might have just been in a bad mood then. But the first stop was the Vatican. Pre-purchasing tickets is a must (if not, you will be stuck in the line for half the day). I woke up early in the morning to head over before the rush started, but that didn’t happen. I think there is no beating the rush ever.

The Trevi Fountain was under construction, so I couldn’t see it lit up beautiful at night.

My first stop was the Vatican Museum. The audio guide is definitely worth the money as there’s a lot to see and a lot to learn. However, I was extremely unhappy the whole time there because there was barely space to move around, and there were ignorant people all around, blocking the hallways.

I also spent about an hour in the Sistine Chapel, examining each part of the walls, made by multiple artists over a long period of time.

But I walked out to see the Pope’s crib — St. Peter’s Basilica and down the street to see the Castel Sant’Angelo.

Crossing the bridge in front of the Castle, I saw this beautiful bridge. I sort of think Europe really makes all photos really amazing:

On a totally important and relevant note, Disarono is really cheap here. If you are flying out with a checked luggage, pick up a few of these.

From the Vatican and Castle, I decided to walk down to the east side of the city where the Colosseum and other things were.

It was a long walk, but there are about a dozen notable Cathedrals and some buildings on the way. I don’t remember any of the names of them, but they were pretty. I promise.

To save money, I stopped by a grocery store to grab a dinner roll, prosciutto, and a side caprese salad and sat in front of Piazza Venezia to eat and enjoy to city view.

My favorite area of all was the area with Trajan’s Market and Forum of Augustus. I took about a million panoramas here because there were pieces and remnants of Roman times literally all around the walkway through to Trajan’s Market.

It’s also right across from the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. You can buy a ticket to enter and it works for the Colosseum as well. However, the better view is to walk up the steps that’s literally right across the walkway from the Forum of Augustus. It takes you to a higher point to get a nearly aerial view of the whole area.

Walking through the area was really like a safari version of a museum. I don’t really know anything about Roman history and didn’t take much care to learn more, but it was still amazing nevertheless to see it all in person.

Then, my last stop was the Colosseum, which was really cool for the fact that I got to see something extremely iconic in person.

I would have explored the area, but it started raining, and my feet hurt so much from walking the last few days that I turned in early this day. And I forgot to take a photo of the Pantheon! But it’s okay, it sort of looks like everything else anyway.