Rome

“Veni, vidi, vici” – Julius Caesar

This quote made famous by a Roman, does not depict Rome itself. I do not think you could spend ENOUGH days in this great city. I traveled to Rome in August 2010 with my now wife and brother. This was my second trip to Europe, my wife’s second time to Rome and my brother’s first time out of the country. There is way too much we saw to name all but our routes after each day indicate other attractions we saw. If you want the shorten version of must see, then try our 5 things you MUST see in Rome post. Here is our trip recap! Enjoy!

Manuel and us at a Pub Crawl

What? Two toilets next to each other?

This time around we decided to try Couch Surfing (www.couchsurfing.org) for some of our trip. I was skeptical at first and protective because it was not only me, but my brother and wife. I did some extensive research and thought I finally found someone trust worthy. I let him know our plans and he told me where to meet. Living in Houston, 20 miles or 30 km is still pretty close to the city, so when he said he was 20 km from Rome, I figured perfect. Once we got there, we realized it was a bit further from downtown than we anticipated. But it didn't matter… it was worth it. Where he lived was across

The view from Manuel's place!

Lago Albano from the Pope’s Summer Home Castel Gandolfo. His family owned a restaurant right around the corner and he gave us a taste and it was well worth it!

We spent most of the day going through Customs and getting to Manuel’s place. After a quick nap we headed back to the city to see one of the most iconic structures of the ancient Rome: The Colosseum.

The inside

Thanks and Gig 'Em!

From the outside

The Flavian Amphitheater is the center piece of most people’s “To See” list as it is one of the Seven Wonders of the World. And rightfully so. Emperor Vespasian started this masterpiece in 70 AD and it was completed 10 years later. Estimated to hold 50,000 – 80,000 spectators to view the gladiators. Remarkably, it could also be flooded and mock sea battles. Very impressive engineering. Even more impressive is majority of it is still standing today. My recommendation on getting inside to view is to buy the tickets ahead of time. I try to stay open to ideas but this is one thing we planned. I am not sure how this works today but back in 2010, the Roma Pass was a good purchase (http://www.romapass.it). It got us free public transport for 3 days, free entry to our first 2 visited museums/archaeological sites. Please note other than the Colosseum, most museums are CLOSED on Mondays.

Arc de Constantine is visible from the Colosseum

The After Pub Crawl at the Pool

The Colosseum is great to see but other than walking around there was not a whole lot else to see. The Arc de Constantine was near by, so we headed there. We met up with Manuel and headed to the Palatine Hill, which is one of the Seven Hills of Rome. It is believe this was the residence of the past emperors. Unfortunately, the entrance was closed so we headed to the Circus Maximus where the chariot races where. By now the sun was setting and we were getting hungry.  We grabbed a bite with some “fast food” pizza which is very cheap! We were done with the sightseeing and ready to party! We met at the Spanish Steps for the Pub Crawl (http://highlanderome.com). For €25 we got in with the 1^st hour of open bar. We were the only Americans which much of the group being Irish, Aussie, and French. We had a good time bar hopping and mingling with our group and locals. Never be shy. We did somehow branch off and end up at some pool party that we ended up getting kicked out of because one of the Aussies lit a table on fire.

More or Less Day 1 Route

Day 2 started off earlier. We didn't want to be a nuisance to our host so we caught a bus into town. The Trevi Fountain was our first stop. A very extravagant fountain from the 1700’s.  

The Oculus of the Pantheon

It is most known for coin throwing where you throw a Euro with your right hand over your left shoulder. I believe it is supposed to bring you back to Rome some day but I am not sure. The Pantheon was something I was looking forward to. I studied Art History the semester before and this was one of our covered topics. The Pantheon was one of the largest domes for some time and regularly used since it was constructed in 126 AD. The renowned piece is the oculus of the dome. This is the opening to the sky. To get the dome the size it is, small pots and porous rocks were used to fill volume in the upper layers of the dome. This reduced the weight of the dome. In addition the chambers formed a
honeycomb structure that eliminated more weight. Afterwards we revisited the Palatine Hill. The ruins were very weathered and the hill was laid out with underground tunnels and a maze like system. We ended the evening walking the Villa Borghese. The gardens were nice and beautiful fountains. We told Manuel we were going to get a Hostel due to our planned long day at the Vatican. We ended up staying at Hostel Alessandro (http://www.hostelsalessandro.com). It was a decent place (lots of options for sleeping arrangements) that hosted a pub crawl… so we joined that! You always meet the best people at Pub Crawls, so don't be afraid!

Day 2: Our route wasn't as A to B as this but close enough!

Day 3

The Vatican is another reservation I would recommend. We set ours up for 8am because I say the less people to get in my way, the better Reserve your ticket here. I can sleep on the train later. Plus the queue was already long where we got there.

Inside St. Peter's Basilica

We enter the Museum and immediately in awe. The museum is full of painting galleries that cover many centuries, an Egyptian sector in the Cortile della Pigna (included statues, mummy heads, ancient artifacts, etc), Museo Pio Clementino (Roman artifacts) among others. Of course the centerpiece is the Sistine Chapel and the “Last Judgment” painting at that. The back breaking masterpiece by Michelangelo started in the early 1500’s is supposed to be off limits to photograph. My wife lives on the edge and attempted a photo. Then got a talkin to! We took a step outside in St. Peter’s Square to take a breather. It was amazing to see how many people come to this site! We re-grouped and headed to St. Peter’s Basilica, which is huge.
It is actually only 3 feet shorter in diameter than the Pantheon but much taller. This was one of the largest churches for some time. In the church is a statue of St. Peter that people rub the foot… I am not sure why, but we didn't break tradition. We finished up at the Vatican and headed towards the train station. We grabbed a bite to eat on the train and on our way to Florence. We tried one of the faster trains… more expensive but we arrived in no time!

Swiss Guards!

Highlights: 

The Colosseum

The Pantheon

Gelato and other food

Pub Crawl

The Vatican
Check out the overview of them here on our 5 MUST SEE Attractions

Would do differently:

Try not to cram so much into a day... This city has a lot to offer. 3 days was not enough!

For all you romantics... try this 1.5 mile walk at late evening (try to end at the Spanish Steps when it's dark, plenty of people there selling roses too).