I would be starting my Topdeck trip the next day so I tried to stay away from the main sights on the first day as I knew I'd probably be doing them with the tour group. I have no idea where I was walking but the first thing I stumbled upon was some ruins, which happened to be a reoccurring theme in this city. Thinking I was walking in a different direction, I eventually found the Altare della Patriain, a big marble building signifying the unification of Italy, in front of me. It was a pretty impressive building and I soon discovered that I could walk in for free and get views from the balconies. Not too far off, there she was, the Coliseum.
Afterwards, walking down a street to get to the Piazza del Popolo, I stopped and got a Snickers gelato and needless to say it was amazing. I can also no longer remember exactly how many gelatos I've had so far in Italy. The Piazza was underwhelming, so then I walked along the opposite side of the River Tiber and took in the views of the Castel Sant'Angelo where I could also see a little bit of the Vatican in the distance.
It was then time to eat and as I walked back to the hostel, I passed by one street that had the Coliseum at the end of it. Despite my efforts to avoid the main sights, I just had to go see it. There aren't enough words to describe this thing. It's simply amazing.
My dinner was probably the best I've had in Italy so far. I ate at a local restaurant recommended by the hostel where I had lasagne, some bread with this amazing spicy salami/pesto/mixture, and some limoncello.
Before meeting my group the next day, I went and caught a glimpse of the Pyramid of Caius Cestius. This group was a lot bigger than my Busabout group as I would say there was about 25 of us. Everyone is either Canadian, American, Australian, or Kiwi. After we had all had orientation, we made our way into the city centre where we caught the sights of the Spanish steps (which was annoyingly closed), the Trevi Fountain, and the Pantheon.
After having some pizza for dinner, we hit up this gelato place that had over 100 flavours. After a moment of deliberation, I settled on Twix and Ferrero Rocher. Tough life. We topped off the night visiting some more ruins and finally seeing the Coliseum.
It was an early start the next day as were headed to the Vatican City for a guided tour. We were full on tourists this morning as we wore the headsets to "hear" our tour guide. I say "hear" because unless you were right beside the guide, the headset would cut out and you couldn't hear him anyway. We got the low down on Michelangelo and of course saw the Sistine Chapel.
By noon, we wrapped up there, and me and a few of the people from the group went and got some lunch. I got some carbonara that was probably the yellowest I've ever seen. Then I took the guys to the Altare della Patriain to show them the view I had got the day before.
Lee, Drew, Me, G Boy, Cam, and Trisha
One of the guys, Cam, and I then ventured over and went into the Coliseum and Roman Forum. The Coliseum was cool but I was more fascinated by the Roman Forum. There were so many ruins and you could just imagine it once being a city.
For dinner, we all went to a local restaurant and finished off the night at a bar made of ice and an Irish pub...
For whatever reason, my expectation of Rome was that it would be a big city with a just few cool sights. I was completely wrong. Although it was definitely the most touristy city I've ever been in, there was an abundance of sights to see and almost everywhere you turned, there would be some part of Ancient Rome still standing. It's a history buff's Disneyland.
Next:
Sorrento
Assisi
Florence
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