Transfer day again. After navigating the crowded and narrow warren of one way streets that is downtown Florence to drop off the car, we dragged our bags to the train station and caught the train to Rome. We found our hotel easily for a change, even despite having to make a small detour around one of the plazas that was over run by a protest rally. After checking into the hotel we wandered out to explore the neighbourhood a bit. We got to witness a critical mass bike rally, full of crazy looking people on all sorts of interesting bicycle, and bicycle like contraptions.
As the rally ended, the rain started and drove us randomly into one of the more famous pizzerias in Rome (Pizzeria Bottiglieria) for supper. Half the tables in the place were reserved, but we were lucky and showed up shortly before the place got really busy so managed to get a table (and a 1 Litre beer).
We wanted to see as much as possible in Rome so we got a bit of an earlier start to the day and headed down to the Vatican to see St. Peter's Basilica and the view from the dome. We got down to St. Peter's square and joined the long, but quickly moving, line to go into the basilica. The line which, shortly there after, ground to a near halt when mass started... We ended up waiting almost 3 hours to get into the basilica, but the weather was nice, we got to see the pope do mass on the screens in the square, we got to see the pope do a blessing from his balcony (the crowds became huge to receive the blessing), and the basilica and views from the dome were amazing.
After we finished at the basilica, we stopped for a quick lunch before hopping 2 subway lines to get to the other end of old Rome to visit the colloseum and the Roman Forum archeological site. We finished in the area snacking on olives and enjoying a massive beer from a caffe overlooking the colloseum.
We headed back to the hotel to shower and get cleaned up before heading back out for supper. We had a few suggestions on places to try from Katie so we started on our way over to where they were located, during which we happened to stumble across the Spanish Steps, and the Trevi Fountain. We didn't actually make it we far as the suggested resteraunt, instead picking one at random, which again, turned out to be fantastic. We had to run to get back to the metro station to make the last train of the night (at 11:30), but made it with a minute to spare. We grabbed a gelato on the way back to the hotel before collapsing into bed after an exhausting day.
As the rally ended, the rain started and drove us randomly into one of the more famous pizzerias in Rome (Pizzeria Bottiglieria) for supper. Half the tables in the place were reserved, but we were lucky and showed up shortly before the place got really busy so managed to get a table (and a 1 Litre beer).
We wanted to see as much as possible in Rome so we got a bit of an earlier start to the day and headed down to the Vatican to see St. Peter's Basilica and the view from the dome. We got down to St. Peter's square and joined the long, but quickly moving, line to go into the basilica. The line which, shortly there after, ground to a near halt when mass started... We ended up waiting almost 3 hours to get into the basilica, but the weather was nice, we got to see the pope do mass on the screens in the square, we got to see the pope do a blessing from his balcony (the crowds became huge to receive the blessing), and the basilica and views from the dome were amazing.
After we finished at the basilica, we stopped for a quick lunch before hopping 2 subway lines to get to the other end of old Rome to visit the colloseum and the Roman Forum archeological site. We finished in the area snacking on olives and enjoying a massive beer from a caffe overlooking the colloseum.
We headed back to the hotel to shower and get cleaned up before heading back out for supper. We had a few suggestions on places to try from Katie so we started on our way over to where they were located, during which we happened to stumble across the Spanish Steps, and the Trevi Fountain. We didn't actually make it we far as the suggested resteraunt, instead picking one at random, which again, turned out to be fantastic. We had to run to get back to the metro station to make the last train of the night (at 11:30), but made it with a minute to spare. We grabbed a gelato on the way back to the hotel before collapsing into bed after an exhausting day.
Definitely the trip of a lifetime!
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