After breakfast we headed out down the street to the Coliseum, which is literally just down the street from our hotel. We enjoyed looking at the apartment buildings on our way down. As we neared the structure we could see how many people were buzzing around it, taking pictures. I don't remember this many people the last time I was here, and it was summer. I guess this must be a peak travel time - I was thinking that it would be much less in early January, but not so. It was really pretty to see a large Christmas tree decorated in front of the Coliseum.
We walked around to the entrance when we were convinced to buy a tour to get in. I was fine with this after seeing the line to enter...I didn't want to wait in it, plus the information would be nice. It didn't seem a bad price to me for entrance to the three historical places around us and a tour guide, so we took it. An Italian lady took us in and we learned about the building and short history of the amphitheater (it's real name...Coliseum was not its original name).
It is incredible to think of the history in this area, although I really don't like what the Coliseum stands for (the thought of people cheering the slaughter of others is not okay to me). We then walked out and went to the Palatino, and the Forum. Our tour guide there was a tall man who spoke American English, but there was a hint of an accent, so I really couldn't tell if he was from the US and had lived elsewhere for so long it had made an impact, or if he spent enough time in the US to have almost no accent...either way, the guy was funny and loud enough to hear (the Italian lady was a little hard to here). This time of the year, the area was really beautiful with the green grasses, mosses, and plants growing everywhere. I don't remember it being this charming the last time I was here, and I'd imagine that in July it probably is not as green.
We didn't get much time there since it was late afternoon and the sun was beginning to set. We walked what we thought was toward the Trevi fountain, but ended up going the wrong way where we saw the Circus Maximus which was just a big empty open field...not so exciting. Walking up the other way was really beautiful with so many ruins, beautiful buildings, statues, and Christmas lights. We passed the monument to Vittorio Emmanuel (the unifying king of Italy in the 1860's) which is an incredible monument. I remember seeing that the last time we were here and thought the same thing.
There was another piazza with a Christmas tree and then we headed toward a tall column and ducked into a small basilica. The basilica was beautiful inside and out. There, of course, was a cute little nativity set up inside. We saw streets where beautiful lights were covering the walkways - Christmas time is so charming here.
We found a little pizzeria and it looked good, so we had just a slice of pizza - mine was really just pizza dough with two thick slices of mozzarella and tomato. The place was charming and small, with very friendly workers. We walked downstairs and I saw that a woman came back with two slices that looked just like ours. Chris noticed too and went upstairs to find out and sure enough, they were ours. The workers reheated two pieces for us and I was then able to enjoy my slice.
We left there and wandered a bit through charming, busy streets to make it to the Trevi Fountain. We could tell when we were coming close because we could see the colorful little LED helicopter/birdie type things that the illegal sellers would shoot into the air and try to sell around the big tourist places.
We enjoyed the crowded viewing area around the fountain, but Chris really wasn't feeling so well at this point. He had a headache, so we decided to just look at a couple of shops in the nearby area and buy a crepe and head back to the hotel on a metro. We passed on the crepe place on the corner thinking it may be less expensive elsewhere. We walked to a wide busy street that had a lot of shops on it and walked up. We then found a gelato place that served crepes over just a street and shared a nutella crepe there (not any cheaper...oh well). There was a nice young girl who Chris said was Filipino working there who also spoke English with an American accent. It always makes me wonder their stories and how they came to Italy.
We took the metro back and realized that it is directly outside our hotel. That is so nice. Chris took a nap while I blogged and surfed the internet. He felt better and around 10:30 we walked a few stores down to see if we could find some food for dinner. We found another place that served pizza and paninis. I had a panini that wasn't so good, but not too bad. I've had so much pizza, pasta, bread, and cheese this trip...but I love it.
Our day was not so busy, but it was kind of nice just being able to see a few big monumental places and enjoy walking around the city. I enjoyed Rome more than I had the last time I was here. I remember that Rome was not a favorite place, but I wondered if I would change my mind this time around. I didn't like London the first time I went there and I think it was because I was so used to Scotland and it's clean, quiet, towns that London seem rude, dirty and busy. Returning to London, I felt very different. When I went to Italy, I had already spent a lot of time in northwestern Europe. It was hot, dirty, and rude to me in comparison to the other places I had been and it was the third city on my list in Italy and I had loved Florence. I missed the charm of Rome. I think I can now see the charm of Rome and I definitely love the holiday decorations and lights. That adds so much charm. I do like Rome better now!
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Location:Rome
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