Rome in a Day

Rome might not have been built in a day....but Ben and I certainly saw it in one!

At least, that' what we tried to do. When we initially planned our trip to Rome, we assumed that we would have Friday afternoon to spend together, as well as all of Saturday. Unfortunately, since Ben's conference ended up being a bit farther out of the city than we initially realized, our itinerary needed to be squashed a bit, leaving us to tour all of Rome in just one day. We decided to follow the amazing Rick Steeve's "Rome in a Day" schedule. According to Rick, trying to see Rome in a day is a bit crazy, and we soon realized he was right. Despite not coming even coming close to seeing all of the sights Rick suggested, we were still able to see much of the city, and had an absolutely fantastic day.


Rick's Schedule:
-Colosseum Tour (at 8:30 am!)
-Roman Forum tour
-Walk through Palatine Hill
-Tour Pantheon
-Vatican Museum
-St. Peter's Basilica
-Dinner in Campo de Fiori


What we actually ended up doing: 
-Walk to Colosseum (closer to 9:30 am).  Get distracted by: bakeries (chocolate brioche...mmm...!), excavations, ruins, views of Palatine Hill, poking inside a random cathedral
-Explore the Colosseum!
-Walt towards Roman Forum and Palatine Hill.  Get distracted by: torrential downpour. Decide to wait it out by having a delicious Margarheta pizza on a sidewalk cafe, conviently covered with transparent plastic and warmed with heat lamps.
-Decide there is not time for a proper Palatine hill tour, walk by it and take lots of pictures instead.
-Metro to Vatican
-Eat Gelato (I had Cappucino, Ben had Nutella.) Even though we walked through a very cold storm just hours prior, and even thought it was December, I still really, really like gelato, and fully believe that no trip to Italy is complete without it.
-Wait in very long vatican lines, marvel at the enormity and intricacy of Saint Peter's Basilica
-Find what we think is the entrance to the Vatican museum, go in.
-Realize it's not the Vatican museum, it's the Vatican treasury. Spend a while marveling at enormous gem stones, golden crosses, crowns, and other treasures.
-Look for actual Vatican museum, only to realize that since it's the off-season, it closed at 4 pm. It's 4:10 pm. (This was the only really unfortunate part of the day. After the Trevi Fountain, my favorite part of Rome is definitely the Sistine Chapel. I was pretty bummed that Ben didn't get a chance to see it.)
-Rest our (very tired) feet for a while.
-Explore the old Jewish ghetto, wander by the river, admire the Christmas decorations.
-Have an absolutely fantastic dinner just outside of Campo de Fiori


While we didn't exactly follow Rick's recommendations, I still think our Saturday was wonderful and was definitely amazed by the amount we were able to see!


wandering to the colosseum... 

one of many excavation sites- so exciting!

excavations near palatine hill- remnants of
the roman forum and senate building.

inside the colosseum! since the original floor deteriorated
centuries ago, you can see the basement chambers where
gladiators trained and wild animals were kept for the
gladiators to fight. in fact, some of the pully systems used
to suddenly raise the animals into the fighting arena are
still intact! 

ben: smile!

ben: gladiator face. 

vanessa: smile!
(I don't really have a gladiator face....)

looking through a tunnel into the colosseum
(naturally, ben has climbed on top of something.) 

arc de titus

meandering towards the vatican...

the vatican colonnade is comprised of 284 large
columns.

so many fountains!

facade of st. peter's basilica.

st. peter's in the distance. 

...and enjoying a wonderful evening!

palatine hill at twilight

while the colosseum is magnificent in the day time,
it's also worth walking by at night.

it's hard to believe the amphitheater has been here
for nearly 2000 years.

what a wonderful day!

Although our Thursday night and Friday night dinners were definitely good, Ben and I really wanted to have a fantastic Italian dinner before heading back to Switzerland. We decided on Da Pancrazio, a charming restaurant a little outside the very lively Campo di Fiori plaza (just so you know- while the restaurant was lovely, it didn't look anything like the photos on the website). I had artichoke ravioli (artichokes are apparently staples in true Italian cooking- who knew?) and it was absolutely excellent. If I could somehow learn how to make this, I would probably eat it every single day. 

What made the restaurant super fun, however, was the location-- Da Pancrazio is located in the remains of the Theatre de Pompey. Not only was the Theatre de Pompey one of the largest structures in ancient Rome, but it is also the place of Julius Caesar's infamous assassination. Delicious food plus a unique historical context? Fantastic!