Rome
- Tara Larkai
- Jul 4, 2014
- 4 min read
Day 2 in Rome was here. Our plan for the day was to explore the popular sites in its daytime glory. We got dressed and had an American breakfast at a nearby restaurant. Chloe did some research on directions to the pantheon then the colosseum during breakfast. During her search, she found out that we could hop on a bus and arrive there within 10 minutes. So we got on the bus and enjoyed a free ride to closest station to the patheleon. Now I know what you may be thinking. Why did we continue to ride buses in Italy for free? Well, we attempted to pay a couple times in Pisa and Florence but it seemed nobody cared and no one ever asked for it so we were going to milk the hell out of it until it became a problem. The walk from the bus stop to pantheon was through the trevi fountain so we saw the fountain in the daytime. It was much less crowded. It seems people came out at night.
Walking thru the alleys to the Pantheon was entertaining as we saw plenty of street performers performing silly and strange acts for coins. The most interesting one was a levitating street performer. That was our first time seeing anything like that. We were so intrigued and wanted to figure out how it was done. We later saw plenty of these levitators. The Pantheon looked so different from the night before. It looked better and bigger. We were able to enter for an inside tour. It was a very nice experience and a great history session. Check out pictures below.
After a bite to eat, we decided to walk towards the colosseum. We saw a massive museum with huge statues in front and strict security. We did not bother to go see it because it was super packed. We walked by the palatine hill and other ancient ruins. They were very interesting looking. The colosseum looked totally different in the daytime. It seemed much bigger and was super crowded than it was the previous night. We briefly thought about getting in line with the rest of the tourists to tour the inside of it but after another look at the cue, we were fine with admiring it from the outside. It was now 5pm and we had spent the entire day exploring city of Rome. The only thing left on our agenda was to see the Vatican City. After having dinner and making it back to our hotel safely on yet another free bus ride, we decided to lounge out on the rooftop of the hotel and plan for tomorrow, our last day in Rome. We planned to see Vatican City in the morning before our early evening flight to Dubai.
The next day was Chloe’s BIG birthday. It was an emotional day for her because she was officially ancient. Lol Just kidding! But I planned on showing her a goodtime to make her feel young again. After a very BASIC breakfast at the hotel, we headed out to the Vatican City. The trip there consisted of a 25 minute bus ride. I am sure you all know that Vatican city is a “country” within Rome. I know! It makes no sense! Although, it was once part of Rome and still within Rome, there are so many differences. We found out this the hard way that the infamous Vatican City does not accept any debit or credit cards for transactions. WTF? Since it was our last day in Italy &Europe, we had spent all our Euros. We only had dollars in cash and our debit cards that we used occasionally. So after ordering some snacks and finishing them all up, we were told we could not pay with our cards. Oh boy! The waiter directed us to an ATM across the street in Rome. The surcharge was ridiculous but we had no choice, they guy was not even willing to see a nipple to pay off the snack. Only jokes! Chloe really wanted to see the Sistine chapel and the Basilica but the way the line was set up. It seemed impossible, too damn long. We walked up to the front to admire the outside of the building. There were so many tickets scouts harassing us to purchase tickets to tour the chapel. They had great deals but we were just not interested and did not have that much time on our hands. If you ever find yourself there, I would suggest purchasing tickets when you get there, you get a better deal.
After getting back to the hotel and checking out, we had the option to take the train or take a taxi. After our experience with the train station walk, we decided to take the taxi to the airport. All taxis fares from central Rome to the airport are at a fixed of 48 Euros no matter what part of central Rome. Since we did not have any cash, we decided to exchange some dollars for the taxi fare at their ridiculous rate. Our cab driver was super nice. He was personable and told us stories about growing up in Rome. He even joked that, if he had it his way, he would move out because it’s so expensive. The ride to the airport was about 45 minutes but he made it seem faster by chatting and telling us jokes. He decided to lower the fare when we arrived at the airport. He was such a nice and handsome man. We even took his number for when we return on our next visit to Rome.Italy was mad fun but it was now time for our Arabian adventure in Dubai.
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