Rome in a day

They say Rome want built in a day but we certainly tried to walk it in a day. Rome is a good hour from the port of Civitaveccia and we were bussed to the station to catch the train into Rome. We had reservations to the Colosseum which turned out to be a big mistake as we couldn't find the place to exchange the tickets and spent half an hour waiting in the wrong line. After going back and forth a couple of times an information guide suggested we buy tickets to a guided tour leaving in 10 minutes and save all the queuing otherwise it would possibly be a couple of hours in lines. So it cost us a little extra but we were a bit time poor so it was worth it. Always wanted to see the Colosseum so now we have and can cross that one of our list of notable world landmarks.

Today (Sunday) was incredibly crowded. I don't know if this is the norm but there must have been some special occasion because there was a parade with Roman soldiers etc. Someone said something about it being Rome's birthday..... not sure? From the Colosseum we walked to Trevi fountain, trying to follow a tourist map that really isn't that detailed but we found by following throngs of people we reached our destination. Photo taken, dipped our hands in the water, then moved on to our next destination... the Spanish Steps (once again following the crowds).

Don't really know much about the Spanish Steps except it is a really pretty time of year to visit as there were large pots of flowering pink and white azaleas lining the steps. We climbed to the top..I noticed there were 12 steps in each level (was this significant?) but I forgot to count how many groups of 12 steps there were... it was quite a few and we were puffing a bit when we got to the top. From there we could see the dome of St Peter's Basilica which we would head towards.

We missed the Parthenon, maybe we will pick it up on our return. Walked over the Tiber river towards St Peters Square and now we have entered the smallest country in the world - The Vatican City. The Sistene Chapel and Museums are not open today being a Sunday so it was just photos of the square - pretty impressive anyway. Back to the train station, very tired having walked approximately 11-12 km. Brad got back to Civitaveccia and discovered his shoe had blown its sole - lucky it lasted the day. He will have to buy new shoes though.Read more