roma: day one

After spending a very quick less-than-24-hours in Bologna, we were on our way to Roma! We woke up early to catch the train and were slightly rushed because we'd forgotten exactly how early we were leaving and so didn't even have time to stop for a coffee on the way. But everything was fine, because a few short hours later, we were in Rome! I sort of fell in love with Rome when I visited on my school trip in high school, but because I wasn't sure how much to trust my teenage mind, we split our trip evenly between Florence and Rome - not wanting to make assumptions about which city we'd prefer ahead of time. But there was no denying it - as soon as we stepped out of Termini, we were both in love!

We kept commenting on how much like New York it felt. You know, like...a much older, European version of New York. Or maybe just the village. Charming, lots of people out, narrow non-parallel streets, kinda dirty, old buildings, tons of restaurants and shops. The first day was basically the only day where we had a schedule in mind, so we dropped our luggage off at a storage spot (but not the one in Termini, which had a ridiculously long line!) and were on our way!







We stopped and had our first Italian coffee in a cute ivy-covered cafe in Monti, a cool neighborhood between Termini and the ancient sites. It was a perfect breakfast and we were shocked at how cheap it was (€2 for a cappuccino??). From there, it was a short walk over to...the Colosseum! I think it's kind of like the Grand Canyon - you can see hundreds of photos of it, but until you've actually seen it in person you can't really grasp how huge it is. It was pretty crowded, but that was expected! Luckily, it's so huge that it never felt overwhelming. We had some basic knowledge of its history, but hearing about all the bloodshed while being there made it even crazier.

















After we had our fill of learning about the "vomitorium" and other gladiatorial tidbits, we walked back through Monti to eat lunch and get our luggage. We actually spent a lot longer at the Colosseum than we intended - our schedule was supposed to include the forum & Palatine hill, but we didn't have time before we were due to meet our AirBnB host. But we were flexible! So we went and had yummy pizza before heading across the Tevere to our apartment!









Our apartment was in Trastevere (it literally just means "across the Tevere"), a neighborhood which has apparently gotten really popular with tourists but still retains some of its normal Roman-ness. We definitely didn't want to stay anywhere near the tourist epicenter and it was a good neighborhood choice for us! Definitely tourists, but lots of regular people too. Our hosts were there to say hello and give us some local tips - and I got to use my Italian skills! They were impressed that we already knew about most of the places they suggested, and that they could talk to me in Italian, so we felt a little bit like locals. We didn't stay long, though - we had more things on the schedule! We walked back across the river to visit the Capitoline Museums, passing some other ruins on the way (I think it's the theatre of Marcellus?). We got there about an hour and a half before closing and they were nearly empty! It was a nice surprise and we had fun looking at all the famous ancient statues (and especially an exhibit on funerary monuments/gravestones).













After sitting in the piazza del Campidoglio out front for a little while, we had a quick dinner at a tiny restaurant before our night time tour of the forum began! Originally, we were going to do a night tour of the Colosseum, but it was sold out...the forum ended up being perfect! For the hour we were on the tour, we were one of six people in the Roman forum! It was pretty crazy - and really nice to get a tour because the ruins are so confusing and when I went in high school, my Latin teacher didn't do the best job of explaining things...or I didn't do the best job of paying attention. We went inside a recently reopened church that was converted from part of Domitian's palace (if I'm remembering the right emperor...) and saw restored frescoes from about 1500 years ago! And we were the only people inside! The tour was only $5 more than the normal entry ticket because it was offered through coop culture, which manages most of the ancient sites in Rome. We were surprised that it was so cheap and such a small group!









After our tour was over, it was around 11pm so we walked home and promptly fell asleep. Rome had lots of things to do at night, but we were so tired from walking around all day - I think I got 30,000 steps that day! It was our most scheduled day, and even though we didn't make it to the forum during the day, we saw it at night all by ourselves, so it worked out pretty well! Next time - our trip to the Parco degli Acquedotti!