We began our day on Thursday with a visit to the Vatican. This consisted of lining up for just under an hour to enter the Vatican museum, which includes the Sistine Chapel. Even though the museum was so busy, we were still able to admire the artwork of Raphael and Michelangelo, amongst others. The room of maps, was particularly appealing to me. We also went to St Peter's Basilica, the largest Catholic church in the world.
In the afternoon we went on a walking tour of Rome. Our guide was an American guy named Tad who studied Roman History in university and has been living in Rome for over five years. The walk took us to Circo Maximo (the place where chariot racing took place during ancient Roman times), the site of some other ancient ruins that is now considered a cat sanctuary, the Pantheon (ancient Roman building dedicated to all gods; now used as a Catholic church), and passed by the Palatine Hill, the Roman forum and of course the Colosseum. We also stopped for a delicious gelati! Tad was a very interesting guide and tried to make the tour appealing to us, Generation Y. This included lots of references to Facebook and pop culture of the 90s and 00s. But he sure did know his stuff on Ancient Rome.
On Friday we went back to Palatine Hill, the Roman Forum and the Colosseum to explore them further. This took us until almost 4pm when we went back to our hotel to give our feet a rest for a couple of hours. And in +30 degree heat we were pretty exhausted!
In the evening we decided to venture out for a long night walk of the city. This included visits to the Trevi fountain, the Spanish steps (we timed it perfectly to arrive here just as the sun was setting), Umberto Bridge, Piazza Navona, Campo de Fiori, Sisto Bridge, the district of Tastevere, and again the cat sanctuary and the Pantheon. This was the best way to see the city- alive and vibrant.
Location:Rome, Italy
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