Roma, Italia: Day 3 and 4
Saw the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Piazza Campidoglio, as well as the Spanish steps-which were under construction. Womp. But also stopped by an art gallery on the way to the Pantheon which was pretty neat.
Did as the Romans do, and did more touring and seeing all the main tourist spots. Then had dinner at La Base-a restaurant recommended by our host. The food was really good, and we got to enjoy the American "collectable" decorations all over the walls.
The next day we had an early morning so we could go to the Vatican. Got there at 7:30 am and there were already a hundred or so people there. Ended up getting in a bit earlier than our pre bought tickets were for, but it worked out in our favor because we got in that much earlier too (less crowded than it could have been for sure). We ended up doing a self audio guide tour. Pro things about not being part of a tour group- you can take as much time as you want (or don't want) in any section, you can go to the lesser visited spots in the Vatican-because there are so many more rooms the tours don't even go to!- and though you may not learn as much or have a personal connection with the tour guides' stories, there are plenty of things to pick and choose to hear more about. Pretty much endless hours on the audio guides. Well worth it in the end.
St. Peters Square and Basilica were a bit more crowded and blocked off than what I remember. Possibly because we were visiting in the summer? So that part was annoying considering we had to wait in the sun for a good 30 minutes just to go through security again and walk around the whole square to get into the crowded basilica where we didn't even get to look at the Pieta for more than 10 seconds. Such is the life of a tourist sometimes. Still totally worth the trip.
Besides sweating through all our clothes, these days were successful and very eventful! We finally found a converter we could use to charge our phones, conveniently happened upon the Disney store (may have been on purpose), and even went to the Trevi fountain at night-which was possibly even more crowded than it was during the day. Of course eating all the pizza and pasta between stops and getting morning or afternoon espressos like Italians! Even had some tiramisu too!
Though Roma was great, the next part of our trip was Firenze!
The pictures do a bit more justice than words. It is cool just to be there and see it in person though, the size and detail of everything can just get lost in a picture.
Did as the Romans do, and did more touring and seeing all the main tourist spots. Then had dinner at La Base-a restaurant recommended by our host. The food was really good, and we got to enjoy the American "collectable" decorations all over the walls.
The next day we had an early morning so we could go to the Vatican. Got there at 7:30 am and there were already a hundred or so people there. Ended up getting in a bit earlier than our pre bought tickets were for, but it worked out in our favor because we got in that much earlier too (less crowded than it could have been for sure). We ended up doing a self audio guide tour. Pro things about not being part of a tour group- you can take as much time as you want (or don't want) in any section, you can go to the lesser visited spots in the Vatican-because there are so many more rooms the tours don't even go to!- and though you may not learn as much or have a personal connection with the tour guides' stories, there are plenty of things to pick and choose to hear more about. Pretty much endless hours on the audio guides. Well worth it in the end.
View from a spot in the Vatican
We made it!
St. Peters Square and Basilica were a bit more crowded and blocked off than what I remember. Possibly because we were visiting in the summer? So that part was annoying considering we had to wait in the sun for a good 30 minutes just to go through security again and walk around the whole square to get into the crowded basilica where we didn't even get to look at the Pieta for more than 10 seconds. Such is the life of a tourist sometimes. Still totally worth the trip.
Besides sweating through all our clothes, these days were successful and very eventful! We finally found a converter we could use to charge our phones, conveniently happened upon the Disney store (may have been on purpose), and even went to the Trevi fountain at night-which was possibly even more crowded than it was during the day. Of course eating all the pizza and pasta between stops and getting morning or afternoon espressos like Italians! Even had some tiramisu too!
Though Roma was great, the next part of our trip was Firenze!
Comments
Post a Comment