Penguins.. in Rome?

6/30
We (usually meaning me and Shea haha) woke up pretty early, picked up our passports on the lower deck, and boarded a coach bus. We had a 2-day tour thing (this post is day 1) that was awesome! We drove about 90 minutes to Rome (train was way faster) on the bus while our guide went around chatting with everyone. Her name was Daniela and she was so funny! Her accent was pretty heavy but she was very animated and hyper, which helped us wake up at 8am. She said it was really sunny outside and that she hoped we were wearing “sunshine lotion”.

When we got to Rome, we had a guided tour of the Coliseum, the greatest Roman amphitheatre and place for gladiator fights! We saw it from the outside the day before, but I was even more excited that we actually got to go in and wander around. This thing was huge, I mean massive. The pictures make it seem smaller, but what can I do! The Coliseum held 80,000 people and today, only 40% is missing. Interesting fact that I remember: ‘arena’ in Italian means ‘sand on top’. It was called this because the sand would soak up the blood from the gladiator battles and animal fights.

The tour guide for the Coliseum was another hilarious Italian woman, friends with Dani. Her name was Paula. She definitely sounded like she’d been smoking every day of her life. When we were all hot and tired, she said, “Imagine those people in front of you are penguins! Brrr! Aren’t you cold now?!” Haha she was great, and luckily the next day she toured us in the Vatican! After the Coliseum, we went the Roman Forum, the marketplace of ancient Rome, as well as the business district. It is so hard to put into words what I saw and experienced. It’s all fresh in my head and the pictures will help me remember it forever! So will this blog, I’m so glad I decided to make one!

Next, we had some free time (=shopping) and ate lunch in Piazza Navona. We ate at another small café. I got a small margarita pizza and a wonderful Greek salad! The shopping here in Rome is significantly better than Barcelona! After all of this touring, walking around, and shopping/more eating, we went to the hotel to check in. The rooms were huge and the bathrooms were too! This was definitely a nice change from the ship cabins. Shea and I had a cute little balcony that overlooked the part of Rome where we stayed. It was much nicer, cleaner, and quieter than the busy areas. We had about 2 hours to get ready for dinner/a walking night tour of Rome. The restaurant where we had dinner was just like a postcard! It was in a big courtyard, surrounded by tall walls, covered in vines and flowers! There were also lanterns everywhere on the brick walls with fire torches; very memorable. The dinner was delicioso, as always. We had some kind of pasta with some more pasta. Then, when we thought dinner was over, they brought out this beige square with bread crumbs on top. No one knew what it was and we were thinking it might be dessert! It ended up beaing baked potates mixed with ham and mozzorella. It was incredible, and I want some right now! Then for dessert we had Neapolitan gelato with yellow cake, and a cookie in the shape of a heart stuck in the middle. There was a band that walked around with an accordion, guitar, and a few singers. It was such a great night! After dinner, we went to the Pantheon and the Spanish Steps. These were both very beautiful structures.

Then we went to the Trevi Fountain. I can’t even describe how massive and beautiful it was. In the movie When In Rome, they used the fountain where we were!  That gives you an idea of how beautiful and famous it is. We stood in front of it (along with hundreds of other people) and just stared. Then we walked down towards the water and threw a coin over our right shoulder. Apparently that is what you do and then you make a wish! But I can’t tell you my wish or it might not come true :) After that, we walked some more and got more gelato of course! Then we went back to the comfy, big hotel for about 5 hours of sleep!
That’s basically the day in a nutshell! In the morning… the Vatican!!