We loved Rome. Period. We saw so many things in one single day that it's hard to remember even one thing distinctly. We spent a lot of money to get the most comprehensive tour since our time was so limited. We had 12 hours to see everything we could possibly fit in and I'm pretty sure we got darn close to hitting every highlight possible. Now it's all a blur but we know we want to go back.
Our tour group was small which was wonderful. This allowed us to move quickly from one site to another and not to waste a lot of time gathering up everyone. And our tour guide was a 4ft, 8in 85-year-old Italian woman who ran circles around all of us. She had so much energy and knowledge and we couldn't have asked for a better experience. It was Holy Week and there were probably 8,000 students waiting to get into all of the touristy places. Because we purchased the most comprehensive tour, we were treated like royalty. We were able to bypass thousands of people in line at the Colosseum. We definitely got what we paid for and were so glad we opted to get the most expensive tour.
We saw so many awesome sites that it's easier if I just explain our day using pictures:
The Arch of Constantine and The Colosseum
We stopped at Trevi Fountain which is beautiful. We made sure to make a wish in the fountain (they claim if you throw a coin in, you'll return to Rome) and of course had gelato :) )
We headed to the Pantheon, where there is a lot of activity going on. They were doing construction on the building but it was still very neat to see a building that we've always seen in pictures!
Next stop was Vatican City and St. Peter's Basilica. Again, thousands of people were in line to get in but surprisingly, it didn't seem like we waited in line that long. We were able to go inside the Sistine Chapel which is too awesome for words. (You weren't supposed to take pictures but I managed to snap a few without getting in TOO much trouble.)
(I think this ceiling is amazing bc it looks as if it's textured, right? Well, it is a completely flat ceiling that was painted to look 3D!)
Below is an actual dead Pope on display inside The Vatican. At least this Pope was preserved well. There was another poor fella who hadn't been preserved as well who had turned a nice greenish/gray color. Talk about creepy.
We had the opportunity to do some sightseeing on our own at lunch time so we of course set out to find an authentic pizza place in Piazza Navona. The pizza we found was actually all it's cracked up to be!
It was very surreal to see some of Michealangelo's famous statues right in front of you. To think that someone actually sculpted these with their hands is just too hard to believe.
As you can see, we saw some pretty incredible sights. But before we headed out, we had to stop and see one more famous person...
We definitely want to return to Rome. Rome in a day was exciting and fun but you just need a little more time to really take everything in. We'd love to take a tour of Italy and see other cities as well.
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