Rome, Italy

We fly into Rome, so this was our first taste of Italy. I was excited to see Rome. There are so many famous sites there. I guess all I know of Italy is what I have seen in movies and on Pinterest.... so I wasn't sure what to expect. It's really just a big city with scattered ruins and cathedrals here and there. Don't get me wrong, I liked Rome. I'm glad we went to Rome. I just wasn't sad to leave Rome.

We arrived in Rome in the late afternoon because our flight was delayed and then by the time you go through customs and get your bags... we thought we would have half the day to explore the city, but by the time we got to our hostel and checked and and had dinner... it was dark. We saw that there was a "Rome by Night" tour that night, so we signed up. We were glad we did this. We got a little information and saw where things were in the city and it's always fun to see a city lit up at night. It's when we also had our first gelato. Also where we met our first friend as well, Jacob, who we hung out with on the tour. He was traveling by himself. He was from Nebraska, but studying abroad in London. That night we got on and off the bus that took us to all the main sites (including the pantheon, picture below). We also walked around a lot. Almost all of the places we went that night, we went back to the next day to see when it was light and go inside if we could. Allison and I made a Bucket List of all the things we wanted to do in Italy and Greece. One of our biggest disappointments and the only thing I didn't cross off on my Italy Bucket list was throwing a coin in the Trivi Fountain. Why? Because it was drained and under construction. I can't tell you how sad that was. Allison got a picture, but it was a pretty pathetic picture. Anyway, we liked the night tour. It was also nice to walk around the city when it wasn't crowded.

The next day Jacob asked us if we wanted to explore Rome with him. We did just that. Always fun to make new friends. First thing we did the next day was go to St Peters Cathedral. We did this first thing because the Pope was speaking! Pretty cool right? We thought we were pretty cool. Not very many people can say that they started their day off listening to the Pope live in Italy.

After that we wandered. I took lots of pictures as we walked around.

We went to the Colosseum. Allison and I just looked at it and took pictures from the outside, but Jacob took a tour on the inside.... after this he was headed to London, so this is where we parted ways with our friend.

After that we headed to Vatican city to tour the museum and Sistine Chapel. SO beautiful! So much beautiful art and history covered from ceiling to floor.

After those crowds.... we were done with the city. After hanging out at our hostel for a little bit, we took the train to a charming and less touristy part of Rome for dinner.... where we had our first Italian pizza. The next morning we got on a train and left and our adventures in Rome came to an end.