We arrived later in the evening, and I hate to admit it, but we enjoyed a filling meal of McDonalds at the huge metro/bus/train station, Termini. In a few bites, we could eat a hot fries and cheeseburger and feel as though we were in the US of A, but of course there were no free refills and we paid in Euros.
Our hotel in Rome was pretty nice, buffet breakfast, big room, right down the street from the metro. It took about 20 minutes on the metro to get to the city center. Our first day, we did something new. In most tourist destinations, there are double decker buses (usually bright red) that take tourists to and from all the main sites to see. At first, we though, “how dorky…we are going to take the metro and buses around and not be typical tourists.” Well, the thing is, we were tourists, and the buses were actually very convenient because you could hop on and off at all the sites whenever. After talking over the convenient way of transportation, we bought 2 day tickets for the tourist bus. It was worth it. It even had an audio guide in English to listen to as we sat on the bus, and it would talk a little about the history of each main site. Our first day using the bus, we stopped at the Colosseum and all of ancient Rome. We actually splurged and went on a guided tour of the Colosseum, the Palatine Hill (the hill where the original village/city of Rome started), the Roman forum and the Arch of Constantine. There is so much to see in Rome!! It was a very long day, just seeing the area of ancient Rome. It was breathtaking to see ancient ruins literally scattered all over the city of Rome, and modern buildings just built around the ruins.
Our second day, we rode the tour bus all over the city, listening to the commentary and just watching people on the streets. We stopped at St. Peter’s Basilica in the morning, and took a tour. St. Peter’s Basilica, which is located in the Vatican City, and is the Pope’s principal church. It is probably the largest church of any Christian church in the world (it can hold 60,000 people and covers an area of 5.7 acres!!) In Catholic tradition, it is the burial site of Saint Peter, one of the 12 apostles of Jesus, and according to tradition, the first Pope of Rome. There has been a church there since the 4th century…imagine that! Actually, a fact that I was unaware of, it is not a cathedral, but termed a “basilica,” and like all of the earliest churches in Rome, it has the entrance to the east and the apse at the west end of the building. It was interesting, being a believer, and entering into the basilica. In our eyes, I don't think we really felt Jesus Christ's presence in what was represented (which was pretty sad to us), with all the gold on the floor and the walls, sculptures of saints, fine marbles from Egypt, etc. Although, with this said, it was an absolutely beautiful structure and interior. (info from wikipedia)
After we toured St. Peter’s Basilica, we took the bus to the Trevi fountain (which made me think of the Lizzy McGuire movie a lot…although I can’t say the same for Bryce). As usual, we ate some delectable gelato and people watched around the fountain. From there, we walked to the Pantheon which was incredible! The Pantheon was originally built as a temple to all the gods of ancient Rome, and was rebuilt around 126 AD. Since the 7th century, it’s been used as a Roman Catholic church. It is one of the best preserved of all Roman buildings and has been in continuous use throughout its history. It is huge and looks like it’s out of a movie. It’s the oldest large-scale dome in all of Rome. There is an “oculus” at the very top of the dome, which is a hole in the ceiling. It’s very impressive because the oculus actually remains open to the air and weather all year round, so there are drains inside the building for rain. The height to the oculus and the diameter of the dome are the same, 142 ft. (info from wikipedia)
That night, we got gnocchi and fettucini for dinner, and then found a movie theater and saw “State of Play.” It was fun to change it up a little because in the evenings after dinner, we normally went back to our hotel room and watched BBC News in English (all other channels in Italian) we looked at our pictures, or tried to find internet.
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