Girls Trip – Rome, Day 2

For Amy and I’s second day in Rome it was jam packed. This was our only full day so we booked a Rome in a Day walking tour. We were to meet our group at 9 am at the colosseum. Our hotel was near the Trevi Fountain, we thought if we got there early in the morning we’d see it with less crowds. We got there about 8 am and we were wrong! It was already packed.

We made our way from the Trevi Fountain to the Colosseum. We passed by this building. Not sure what it is but the guards there were cool.

We met our group and then did our tour of the Colosseum. It was nice to have a guide this time around to get more information about it. The tour was very quick. We saw the exterior and a quick view of the interior.

Our guide pointed out that the white in the middle of this photo is the original marble.

After the Colosseum we walked quickly down the road by the Roman Forums.

This is Palazzo Venezia. Our guide told us that Mussolini lived here and gave some famous speeches from the balcony.

This apartment was the last residence of Michelangelo.

We walked to the Trevi Fountain and it was packed! I had no desire to try and get by it with the crowds so while the rest of the group tried to get their photos I was sitting on the outskirts of it just waiting.

After the Trevi Fountain we walked to the Pantheon. It was packed as well. The line to get in was long. Luckily it goes fast.

After the Pantheon we walked to Piazza Novana, there we were on our own to find something to eat. Our guide recommended we go outside the Piazza for better food, cheaper and less tourist trappy. We found a nice little place close by.

This is the church of Sant’ Eustachio. Our guide told us there are 100s of churches in Italy and this particular church is different because no one has ever been married there. The antler’s are said to resemble devil horns and no one wants to be the first one married there and possibly be cursed – especially when they have 100s of other choices.

More Bruschetta!

Our guide told us that Piazza Novana was built on a former Roman stadium and there are still pieces of it below the street! There is a cut out on the edge of the Piazza where you can see some of it. It is so fascinating!

From the Piazza we walked near the river to get on a bus to take us to the Vatican. This is St. Peters Basilica in the distnace!

Right as we walked into the Vatican we saw Mike Tyson!

There was no AC in the Vatican and it was crowded! It was so hot! We had a quick tour through the Vatican, seeing the higlights.

All the statues used to have fake eyes in them, this is one of the few that still has them.

This was a beautiful room. I didn’t see it when we were here last. It was just opened 2 months prior to this visit.

After exciting the Museum we were in front of St. Peters Basilica. By this time it was in the afternoon and we were exhausted! We had done a lot of walking and crammed a lot into one day. I didn’t get to see the inside of St. Peters before and didn’t wan to miss it again so I mustered up some energy and we made it inside St. Perters.

Glad we did! It was worth the leg pain, ha!

By this time we were dead. I didn’t want to walk to the street let alone back to our hotel. We didn’t have a choice though. We walked to the street to get a taxi but found out it would be $38 so we decided to just keep walking. As we got a little further away and a little closer to our hotel we found another taxi and it was only $10! Sold! At long last a break.

A Swiss Guard!

A snack I grabbed on the way back to our hotel. We had reservations at a restaurant that night. We went back to our hotel to rest until them. Luckily the restaurant was a 5 minute walk from our hotel.