Rome

Rome, Italy
September 6th-8th

We all got up pretty early to begin our adventure to Rome.  We walked the 30 minutes to the train station and hopped on a fast train.  This was my first time riding a fast train and I thought it was great.  Unfortunately, I still wasn't feeling well and slept the whole way. 

Thanks, mom.

Once we got to Rome we had a short time to get settled in before we were going to head to the Vatican.  We had booked a walking tour for 1 pm and had to get moving.  Looking back, I am very glad we had a tour booked in advance because that place was crazy busy. 

The view from our apartment balcony!

We grabbed a quick bite of food on our way to the tour.  Thank goodness because this tour was 4 hours long.  Again, I had studied The Vatican in school and was beyond excited to be going inside.  I took so many pictures while trying to take in as much as I could.  We were walking pretty fast to make our 4 hour time limit and there were so many people walking with us, I didn't want to miss a thing.  

Being able to walk into The Sistine Chapel at the very end was unreal.  I absolutely could not believe I was standing in such a place, underneath the famous paintings I had learned so much about.  We were not allowed to talk or take photos but that was fine.  It is something I will never forget. 

After leaving The Vatican, our group split up for a short while.  Taylor, dad, and I walked around a bit and mom, Wanda, and Hector went back the the apartment.  We walked to see the Pantheon and ended up getting a little lost on our way back home.  Luckily, we figured it out and met the everyone back at "home".

Later in the evening, we all decided to go to the Trastevere area to have dinner.  We were told this would be where we could get some of the best food in Rome.  Mom, dad, Wanda, and Hector took a cab while Taylor and I took the metro.  Getting a cab to fit 6 people wasn't a simple task.  We didn't know exactly where we were all headed to but at least we would be in the same area and we could meet up wherever the final destination would be.  Well, this did not work out as we had planned in our heads.  The taxi driver recommended a place that was not quite in the area Tay and I were headed.  We ended up backtracking, got off the metro at the Colosseum, and walked 40 minutes to meet them at the restaurant.  Turns out this restaurant was closer to our apartment than to the train station we got off at.  The food and the wine were alright.  Also, we got a cab for 6 people on the way back.  Once back at our place we walked across the street to have a night cap before our big day the next day.  

The view Tay and I saw when walking out of the train station. It was so beautiful.

The next morning we had another tour scheduled.  This tour was for the Colosseum.  Luckily, Taylor and I were familiar with this stop on the metro as we were just there the night before.  Our tour started at 8:30 and we couldn't have been more grateful.  We just happened to be able to enter the Colosseum through a special entrance that is only open to a certain amount of people a day.  It was awesome.  

Once the tour of the Colosseum was finished we walked up the Palatine Hill.  Here we learned about the origins of Rome.  At the very end we made our way to the Roman Forum which once was considered the heart of Rome.  There was an ongoing art exhibit which allowed us access to another part of this area that was usually closed.  Lucky us!

This was part of the exhibit.

We filled our bottles with water running throughout the ruins.

On our way back, we stopped by the Colosseum one more time to take some photos.  Then we headed to have some lunch.  We enjoyed this last meal together as our parents and the Jaras were leaving in a few hours for their anniversary cruise.  Once the parents left, Tay took a long nap before we ventured back into Rome.  

Saw this on the walk back. 

After her nap, Taylor and I were in the process of getting the apartment/our bags ready for our departure the next day when we heard a noise.  Being alone in the apartment we were very spooked.  We looked at each other with one of those "you go look/no, you go look" faces.. I was the lucky one.  I walked towards the noise (which was towards the bathroom) when I saw them, two large pigeons!  They were stuck between the window and the screen and were trying to fly out.  Feathers flying everywhere.  They weren't having any luck.  Tay and I tried helping them out with a bread knife (to hold down the flap so they could fly out) and then some water to wake them up and force them to fly out.  Needless to say, we are not pigeon whisperers.  We eventually gave up, as both birds had done as well.  We decided to go for dinner and hope the birds had some success while were gone. 

I wanted to see the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain.  Tay and I had googled a good restaurant nearby and headed that direction.  The steps were completely blocked off due to restoration, the fountain was beautiful but packed full of people, and our dinner was SO GOOD.  Believe it or not, we don't have pictures of this meal.  We did splurge a bit.  We got a bottle of wine, an appetizer of Olive Bruschetta, a Margarita pizza, and an entree of sausage and spinach.  We were in heaven.

We walked back to the apartment and finished packing up.  Upon our arrival, we noticed one of the birds had escaped!  We tried to help the second one for a while longer but nothing came of it.  Luckily, by the time we woke up the next morning, we were free of trapped birds!  This made me very happy.  Now, it was time to leave and head for Cinque Terre! 

Peace & Love,
Savannah