Because of all of the snow in Venice and what we had heard about Italian trains running in the snow (aka they don't...), getting up in the morning and walking to the train station was a bit of a nerve wracking start to the day. However, once we left the station (magically on time!) we felt much better! It sounds kind of silly, but that train ride from Venice to Rome may have been one of the highlights of my trip - the scenery was so unbelievable that I legitimately could have stayed on it and rode through Italy for another four hours! Just the same, arriving in Rome and walking around to start the search for the apartment we had rented was exciting enough that I was somehow able to leave the train without being too sad.
Because we had rented an apartment, we were able to go to a grocery store and stock up on our own food (SO much cheaper!!) and after we did that and grabbed a quick lunch we set out to explore. The Metro was amazingly easy to use and within 15 minutes of leaving our apartment, we were getting off at a stop five minutes from the Colosseum. After getting oriented and walking through my first cat "shrine" (see picture below) we started heading toward the most ancient/famous part of the city. That night we were able to see the Colosseum (in the daylight and lit up at night), the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain at night, and the Roman Forum. It was a fantastic day and the entire time we were walking around, I felt like I was in a dream - it was an amazing way to start off our time in Rome!
Even though I knew we could keep ourselves occupied in Rome indefinitely, because we had enough time, I had been a big advocate of trying to work in a day trip to Pompeii. I had heard so many good things about it that it was the idea I fought for! Luckily for me, everyone else also had interest in seeing Pompeii so I didn't have to push too hard or feel like I was dragging them somewhere! So that next morning we headed to the train station and were able to be on our way to Pompeii via Naples with no problem. Again, maybe I just have simple tastes, but that train ride was almost as exciting for me as the some of the attractions we actually saw! We went right through amazing mountains with the coolest small towns built into the sides of them, saw vineyards with acres of grapevines, and, when we finally got near Naples and Pompeii, traveled right along the coast where we had ridiculous views of the ocean on one side and Mt. Vesuvius on the other! This trip, and that ride specifically, definitely reaffirmed my belief that getting there is sometimes the most memorable part of the journey.
Once we arrived at the start of the ancient city in Pompeii, paid the entrance fee, got our handy audio guides and maps, we were good to start exploring! We knew there would be a lot to see but the sheer size and vastness of the city was so beyond any prior expectations I had that it was ridiculous. All afternoon we just wandered throughout the city and I was constantly struck by how easy it was for me to imagine ordinary, everyday things happening in a place that was so utterly destroyed. It was truly an amazing place!
As exciting as Pompeii was, being away from Rome for a full day definitely made me very ready to spend some serious time in Italy's most famous city. And what better way to kick off a full day of fun than to take a tour of Vatican?! After realizing the Metro was impossibly crowded at 8:30 in the morning, having to run frantically up and down the street searching for a cab (we learned after only 15 minutes of craziness that there was a cab station two blocks from where we were...), and showing up to our Vatican tour reservation 45 minutes late, we successfully managed to get into the museum and begin exploring! I will say that the museum itself was completely unexpected for me because I wasn't anticipating any of the artwork to look like it did. I mean who would have thought there would be so much Egyptian art associated with the Vatican?!
But that's beside the point - I had a fantastic time seeing the Sistine Chapel, St. Peters Square, and St. Peters Basilica (my favorite!). We spent a good portion of the day seeing all that the Vatican had to offer but we also made sure to hit the other big attractions we hadn't been able to see before. Stopping by the Spanish Steps, visiting the Jewish Ghetto and the area around it, the Colosseum again (sadly, we still didn't get to go inside though!!), and then the Borghese Gardens and shopping the next day really filled out our trip to Rome. Even after all that we saw and did, I still don't feel like we did either Rome or Pompeii justice but I definitely enjoyed every second of our time in both!!
 |
| The cat shrine!! Ferocious! |
No comments:
Post a Comment