The Rome Trip: Day 3

This is the third and final blog post covering “The Rome Trip”. It may seem like we have already covered all of the must see sights of Rome so far, but we still had a list of places to visit. So, one more day of walking through the streets of Rome was in order for us!

The Rome Trip: Day 3

Touring the Colosseum

It was an early morning on day three of our trip in Rome because we wanted to take a tour of the Colosseum! Of all of the days, this one was the coldest but still warmer than what I am used to. Luckily, it was a beautiful sunny day still so we had a nice blue sky as a backdrop to our day.

While walking around the Colosseum, I tried to imagine what life was like back when it was used for gladiator battles. The gruesome sport was one of the only forms of entertainment that the ancient Roman people had. Even then, only a few privileged people were allowed to enjoy the sport.

I thought about how much the Colosseum had seen in terms of history; two World Wars, countless technological advancements, and a laundry list of historically important political figures. It also struck me how much the Colosseum had seen people change. By that I mean the average individual who is touring the building. The Colosseum went from being an area for the rich people of Rome to put together a sporting event to a tourist attraction. I feel lucky to have been able to visit the Colosseum, but I am sure if a rich ancient Roman had seen me walking around in my purple peacoat they would have told me I do not belong there at all!

The Roman Forum

A ticket entry into the Colosseum also gives you the ability to walk around the Roman Forum. It is really easy to just walk outside of the Colosseum and towards the Roman Forum. You have to show your ticket again, but that is all you really have to do. Afterwards you are free to see all of the amazing ancient buildings and architecture surrounding you.

Believe it or not, near the Roman Forum there were many ancient Roman palaces with parts left standing. I didn’t expect there to be many or any ancient palaces to see. The palaces were rather large and must have been built to be very tall, including many stories on top of one another. There was also the oldest Roman supermarket near the Roman Forum.

The Roman Forum was one of the my absolute favorite places that we visited while in Rome. You may remember me saying earlier in one of the “The Rome Trip” blog posts that I was becoming very interested in Julius Caesar when we were in Rome. The Roman Forum was one of the places that Julius Caesar probably walked around!

After touring the Colosseum and experiencing everything that the Roman Forum had to offer, we decided to grab some lunch and walk to our next location: the Vatican!

On our way to the Vatican we passed by what seemed to be another castle. The bridge across was busy, but we decided to wade our way through just to get a better look at the castle. We didn’t go inside, but we did see something else…

Unbeknownst to us, it was January 6th, which is an annual national holiday in Italy and Spain. What we saw was a parade of people dressed in Medieval clothing in celebration of this holiday. And since this is such an important day in Italy, the Vatican had a huge celebration that day too! We missed seeing the Pope due to these celebrations by one hour!

It was really cool just to run into this parade, though! We did not plan to be in Rome on this holiday, but I am glad we got to experience something so specific to the Italian culture!

The Vatican

After a few distractions we had finally made it into the Vatican! This area of Italy felt so much more different than the actual city portion of Rome. There was certainly a lot more space, and fewer shops. The Vatican is definitely centered around St. Peter’s Basilica and that is the main attraction.

We had to wait in line for admission into St. Peter’s Basilica for a while, but it was worth it! There are no tickets to purchase, but there are certain areas like the dome that you would need to pay admission for. We decided to just see the basilica that day with the hope to also visit the Sistine Chapel. However, both the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel were closed that day. It was unfortunate, but we had seen everything else we wanted to see while in Rome so it was okay.

The inside are of St. Peter’s Basilica was absolutely gorgeous! There are so many details surrounding you when you go inside it is all almost too much to take in. Once again, while in Rome I found myself mesmerized by a ceiling! Haha!

We spent a pretty good amount of time wondering around St. Peter’s Basilica and appreciating everything the Vatican had to offer. After learning that the Sistine Chapel and the Vatican Museum was closed, we decided to go find some more authentic Italian pizza since this would be our final evening in Rome.

There were quite a few little shops/stands that would just be placed near tourist attractions like the Colosseum or the Vatican that you can see in this photo. You can by some chips, a magazine, a Rome key chain, or a map at these shops. They are definitely there for tourists!

I will end “The Rome Trip” blog series with this image of an Italian street we ran into. To me it looks exactly like what you may imagine when thinking about how the Italians live. The hanging clothes, the potted flowers, and a cobblestone street are all there just to start.

If you haven’t read “The Rome Trip” day 1 or day 2, you can do that all here on Faintly Familiar. I hope that this blogging series gave you a fun look at what Italy is like and how much fun I had in Rome with my brother Jacob and his fiancée Monika! Hopefully, in the future we will all be able to travel together again, but you never know what the future holds.

Italy will always hold a special place in my heart just like London and Toronto do too! Every country and city that I visit adds a new puzzle piece to the person that I am and the person who I am becoming. I don’t think the new year and the new decade could have started off in a better way!

Much Love,

Sarah