July 10-13: Rome, Italy (By Jeff)

Rome was about a 3 hour train from Siena and we arrived early in the afternoon. It was scorching outside to say the least and within a few seconds of carrying the bags in the sun we felt the effects. Our metro stop for the Sheraton Hotel we were staying at outside of town (compliments of my Mom and her member points) landed us on a busy street with no official sidewalk so we did our best to hike between parked cars and overgrown trees to make it to the hotel. At one point there literally was no sidewalk on a blind turn because of the overgrown brush and we had to do our best to proceed as safely as possible. We waited a second so I could glance ahead to see if cars were coming and some money lying in the street caught my eye. I immediately checked my bag thinking it somehow fell out but that was not the case. I had stumbled on to 150 Euro lying in the gutter! Always a great find, and it definitely made the horrible walk we were enduring somehow much more satisfying.

After checking in we cleaned up and headed back into the center of Rome. This is where we really began to notice just how many tourists actually come to this city. We sat on the Spanish steps and headed to Trevi Fountain before trying to find some dinner. We found some restaurant that made us order within 20 seconds if we wanted to get our order in before the kitchen closed. Later they decided to spray down the street for some reason spraying our ankles and having dirty water flow under our table as we ate…quite the romantic setting you would imagine for Rome.

The next day we headed out to the Coliseum and hopped on a tour for like 25 Euro each that went to the Roman Forum as well. The Coliseum was an amazing site especially when you put into perspective the events that once took place there. We read what it meant to be acknowledged as a true Gladiator and learned that a man would have needed to win over 100 fights at which point he could start earning money and one day buy his freedom. It was a shame to see how little of the actual Coliseum still stood since they removed major sections of the original marble to build other monuments around the city such as the Roman Forum. From the original 4 levels there were only 2 that still stood today as all the marble used above was recycled to construct other various projects around Rome. The Roman Forum was our next stop and there was a great deal of history that was explained to us on our tour. We stood where one of the Emperor’s was murdered and had a great panoramic view of the original pathway leading throughout the Forum and you could get a great feel for the historic events that once took place there.


The Pantheon

Roman Forum

Inside the Colliseum

The night was capped off with the World Cup Final! I was very excited to see the game while Liz had no such interest, but she was a good enough sport to put up with my needing to see this final game. We found a restaurant that was showing the game on plasma TV’s for their outdoor seating area and serving fettuccine alfredo. It was a great setting coupled with an amazing game despite Spain winning. We headed back to the hotel exhausted from all the tourist activities of the day.
Our last day in Rome we went to Vatican City to see some of the most influential works rooted within Catholic faith. After a disastrous morning calling our credit cards companies and airlines after our flight to Turkey payment would not process and the flights went up $200 each we panicked, but eventually settled it. We missed the last entry time and pleaded with the guard to let us sneak in which he did and we did our best to see as much as we could. The Sistine Chapel truly is an unbelievable sight to see with its detailed work on every inch of the wall and how beautiful each of the various paintings are is stunning. We then walked through the other sculpture and painting galleries until guards began to force us out from all directions and were satisfied with what we got to see given our limited time.
Rome is definitely an amazing city to see but not one that I feel I would need to go back to. There are floods of tourists every direction you turn and much of the culture seems to have been lost trying to accommodate the tourism market. After a long couple of days of sightseeing we were excited to get on the plane and head to Greece where the upcoming 6 nights would be everything the exact opposite we did in Rome.


Inside the Sistine Chapel

Vatican City