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| Colosseum |
The first site we visited on this sunny day was the famous Colosseum. It was incredible to see something so iconic up close and really take in the scale of it all. We went on a quick guided tour with our tour guide, then had about 15 minutes to wander around on our own. This was not NEARLY enough time to see everything there was to see there or read all of the signs, but we did have a lot to see this day so we had to get a move on.
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| Colosseum |
On our way back to the bus, we passed the Roman Forum, but unfortunately did not have a chance to see it this trip. Once back on the bus, we drove through the winding little streets, passing all kinds of ruins and old buildings along the way. There was so much history everywhere we looked.
At our next stop, I got to live my dream of being Lizzie McGuire. This whole day was me living my dream as Lizzie McGuire. We went to the Trevi fountain next and had about 45 minutes to grab lunch. In these 45 minutes, we of course threw some coins (1 to return to Rome, 1 for love and 1 to get married) into the fountain and took pictures, along with getting a gelato while we waited for a pizza we ordered to cook. Even this stop was a little rushed, so we didn't have enough time for our pizza to even fully cook before we had to have the people get it out early to give to us. So yes, it was a little raw, but it is a funny, yet stressful story to look back on.
From here on we walked around the rest of the city. We left the Trevi Fountain and followed our tour guide to the next big site on our tour: The Pantheon! After passing many more historic streets and sites, we rounded a corner and there it was! It was just bang bang bang, one big ticket attraction after the other! The Pantheon was amazing! We took some pictures outside of it, then walked around the inside and gazed up at the hole in its ceiling. This hole, called an oculus, is the center point of the largest unsupported dome in the world.
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| Vatican City/ The window where the banner is is where the Pope speaks from |
After a walk around the Pantheon, we boarded our tour bus again and headed to Vatican City. What was nice about being on a tour at this point, was that we got to skip the massive line to enter. We walked right up through security and into the walls of the city. At this point we were also handed little headsets to listen to our guide tell us about everything. We walked through the museum first, looking at all the art, with the grand finale being the world famous Sistine Chapel. After this, we headed into St. Peters Square and St. Peters Basilica. Throughout our tour of the Vatican, the immense crowds of wall to wall people caused us to become seperated from our tour guide. At this point we were also only picking up a portuguese tour on our headsets. Fortunetely we were able to catch back up with our group. After touring the Vatican, we had a little bit of free time to grab a nearby chocolate gelato.
A lot of this day felt like walking around Times Square or Disney World, with all of the tour groups everywhere. But I can definitely see how it would be necessary to be organized at such famous sites and little spaces to see it all.
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| Left-Colosseum, Center-Trevi Fountain, Right-St.Peter's Basilica |
This 10 hour excursion day was a whirlwind of sightseeing, but definitely worth it. We got to see all of the main highlights, although it would be nice to return and spend a few days here to really take in this historic city. I was just so in awe at seeing all of these iconic sights in one day, it was like being star struck. Places like the Colosseum, Pantheon and Trevi Fountain have been featured in so many movies and have so much history behind them, it was just so amazing to be able to visit them all first hand.
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