Today we woke up at 5:30AM to catch a train to Rome. Thankfully it’s a 4 hour train ride (there are faster trains but this one was cheaper)so we were able to sleep on the way there. Once we arrived we headed to our hostel to drop off our bags. It was our first hostel experience and a little bit of a surprise. For some reason the concept of sharing rooms, bathrooms, and eating spaces with lot of other strangers from around the world sounded fun when we read about it online but once we saw we didn’t have the privacy of home it was a bit startling.
Our first stop of the day was right down the street from our hostel…the COLOSSEUM. We hit the highlight of Rome on my first Italy trip so it wasn’t quite the same as seeing it for the first time but it was still amazing. The arena floor wasn’t covered with scaffolding this time which made it much better. Even more amazing was the weather…sunny clear skis and mid 60’s made me question why I thought it was a good idea to wear my winter wool coat.
After touring the Colosseum we crossed the street to tour Palantine Hill and the Roman Forum. With Rick Steeves as our guide we learned about the basics. Tour guides may be more informative but I have a hard time paying attention to them when I’d rather be looking around anyway.
Arch of Constantine.
Temple of Julius Ceasar....where he was burned after his assassination.
From there we crossed Capitol Hill, took some pics of the Trajan column and headed towards the Pantheon. By far my favorite church I’ve been to, the Pantheon was even prettier with the bright sunshine pouring in the open sky light.
By now we were running on empty and opted for a cheap tourist lunch at a sidewalk café near the Pantheon. This was the first time it’s been warm enough to eat outside and the busy streets made it that much more fun. While sitting at lunch we started looking through the guidebook planning what to do for the rest of the day and on Sunday…I quickly noticed that the Vatican Museum isn’t open on Sundays. Why we didn’t think about this beforehand…I couldn’t tell you but it left us rushing across Rome trying to make it there before the 4pm last entrance. Sadly we didn’t make it. Having seen it once before I wasn’t heartbroken but Rachael and Erika definitely were, understandably. 
Rushing to the Vatican was no easy task...the streets were filled were cars and people and it was just a regular Saturday.St. Peter’s was still open so that definitely redeemed part of the sadness. The square was beautiful and not packed with tourist which was nice. Inside St. Peter’s it was just as incredible as the first time I saw if not more. An early evening mass had started so church hymns made for beautiful background music
On our walk back to the metro station it was decided we definitely had to come back to Rome…we couldn’t live in Italy for 4 months and not see the Sistine Chapel. So instead of spending the money to stay overnight in Rome (when we would be coming back anyway) we chose to pick up our bags from the hostel and take a late train home. We were all exhausted and craving our own beds back in Florence. Thankfully the hostel manager was very understanding and didn’t charge us for our room. Overall a wonderful day trip and we definitely learned our lesson for the future!
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