We were particularly nervous about our stop in Rome because of the fact we weren't going to take a cruise excursion. Our ship ported in Civitavecchia, about an hour and a half drive from Rome, but only an hour train ride! We decided we would take the train into Rome, on our own. This meant, getting to the station, getting the right ticket to the right place, riding the train and getting off at the right stop. It also meant getting back in time to board the ship before it left. We were a little nervous about all the logistics, so we started off the ship as soon as the doors opened to insure we would maximize our time and allow plenty of time for the "10 minute walk to the train station" everyone had told us about. Let's just say that 10 minutes in, we weren't even out of the port and certainly weren't anywhere near the train station. We started to panic a little. That's when we saw another ship's tour bus driving out of the port. You bet we hitchhiked to the train station! The bus driver was kind enough to pick us up and got us about a quarter of a mile from the station. Because it had already taken so long, we were minutes away from missing our train. The next one didn't leave for another hour and we would waste time sitting in Civitavecchia. We SPRINTED to the train station. By the time we got there we realized there was a long line of people following us trying to catch the same train! Little did they know we shouldn't be leading! Thankfully we made it, but as we sat down on the train, we realized we had forgotten to "validate" our train ticket, which we had been warned was key to escape being fined. Of course, we were a little panicked and it made the hour long trip seem like much longer!
I hate to harp so much on the beginning of our trip, but it really was priceless. We arrived at the train station and thankfully validated our ticket in Rome, before anyone caught us! Our goal was to take the bus to the Colosseum and start our day, working back towards St. Peter's Basilica, which was near the station. Kasey had mapped out our day in that way too, so that was going to be best. I won't get into all the details, but catching a bus was about as easy as catching a train! None of the bus drivers knew where we were trying to get or how to get us there, but they all insisted that the "bus in front of them" would know and take us where we wanted to go! Finally, we just hopped on the bus with room not sure if we were headed to the Colosseum or to Turkey! We rode it until the last stop, Palazzo Venezia, and sure enough, we were 2 blocks away from the Colosseum. I've never been so happy to see something before!
On the way to the Colosseum, we checked out the Roman Forum, which contained ancient Roman ruins. It was amazing to think how old that area was, along with how innovative they had been to construct it then. I was speechless.
At the Colosseum we decided to rent this little phone looking thing that would give us history as we toured inside ourselves. I have a feeling the Gladiators didn't anticipate this technology being used in their arena!
"Can you hear me now?!"
David really loved the Colosseum, as did I. We spent about 2 hours walking around, taking it all in, before we decided to head on to the various sites we wanted to fit in our day.
I'll avoid too much detail, but from there we saw Capitoline Hill (Roman Forum again, Palatine Hill, Circus Maximus & Arch of Constantine), Vittorio Emanuele Il Monument, the Trevi Fountain (WOW!--beautiful and we threw our coins in so we will return to Rome!), The Pantheon, Piazza Navona (beautiful plaza), the Tiber River, Piazza S. Agostino and the Castel of Sant'Angelo (Castle of Angels). It was all so unbelievable. It really made you realize how young America is and how we have no concept of old. Those streets, buildings and plazas were there in B.C.!! It's a hard concept to grasp when you're standing there!
Of course we stopped and ate along the way. I had the special at the restaurant, lasagna and David, once again, had pizza! He asked for it with ham, but little did we know that would mean prosciutto would be sliced on top of it! Definitely different!
We ended our day at St. Peter's Basilica, the largest church in the world. We saw the tomb of every Pope, including St. Peter. Inside we saw Michelangelo's Pieta, which had to be one of the most moving pieces of art I've ever seen. I even got in on the tradition of touching St. Peter's right toe. For years, Pilgrims would make the trek to touch his toe for luck or blessings or whatever and it's still done today. Why not, right?!
I definitely think that had either of us been Catholic, we would have appreciated it more, but regardless it was amazing and one of our favorite stops of the entire trip, not to mention Rome. The entire Vatican City was pretty incredible and we are very fortunate to say we have been there.
The trip home was much less eventful! We made it back without a hitch and on time. The train home was much more crowded. Funny thing, we decided taking the train for 9 euros a person would be much cheaper than a cruise excursion for $100 a person. However, we paid our 9 Euros and rode the train and bus all day and not once did anyone check our ticket, or anyone's ticket that we rode with! We may have saved some money, but apparently we could have rode for free! Probably best we didn't risk it!
Rome--two words--GO THERE! We would definitely go back.
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