Our next stop was the Roman Forum. The Forum is a big area right next to the Colosseum with tons of ruins. We were walking on the same stones Julius Caesar walked on! At this point, we were all pretty tired from waking up super early to catch our flight and walking around all day. We didn't have enough energy to do it justice. I had another Rick Steves podcast going, but only listened to about a third of it. It was just enough to put the place in context and learn some cool facts about the Vestal Virgins and Roman Senate.
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| Brother Buddies, Rome Edition |
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| We were all just a liiiiittle tired by this point |
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| We packed only backpacks, no suitcases, for all of the Italy trip. We carried all our clothes, water, etc everywhere. Aaron proved himself quite the gentleman by carrying all of his pregnant wife's stuff for three days. It made a huge difference for me. |
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| This is the original door, almost 2,000 years old |
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| It is always sad when you can't remember which ancient structure you took pictures of |
Just beyond the Forum was this cool plaza that we had seen from a distance from the bus. We decided to walk over, check it out, then take the bus to our Airbnb. It turns out that this was Piazza Venezia, the central hub of modern Rome and a monument to Vittorio Emanuele II, the first king of a united Italy since the 6th century. He reigned in the mid 1800's.
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| Gotta love the statue fountain combos |
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| That's Vittorio Emanuele II up on that horse statue. |
The Airbnb where we stayed that night was a short bus trip away. Ironically, the apartment was full of NYC decor. We showered, planned the next day, and crashed pretty hard. We had eaten delicious pizza for lunch and were planning on a fancy Italian meal in Venice the next day, so we just walked to the grocery store around the corner and got cereal for dinner and breakfast the next day. Aaron braved some Japanese noodles that were in the pantry, although he left out the mystery green sauce that came in the packet.
The next morning after our failed attempt to visit the Vatican (see previous post), we set out on a walk I had planned that would take us to Piazza Navona, the Panthenon, and Trevi Fountain. All three sites are super close together, and the whole walk only took about 15 minutes (plus the time spent at each stop). I had a google maps printout that we were following, but somehow we missed our first stop. This vacation definitely increased my gratitude for the wonder that is Google Maps directions!
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| We came across this ancient looking structure while we thought we were still en route to Piazza Navona. We guessed that it was an old Roman sewer or something. WRONG- when we got to the other side of the building, it was the Pantheon! |
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| Oh hey there, ancient history |
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| Rome really mastered the giant pillars |
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| This is another site that I wish I had researched more before coming to see it. I am embarrassed to admit that I didn't know that it had been converted to a Christian church. I was expecting some nice Zeus statues. |
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| I watched some YouTube videos after returning home, and now have a proper appreciation for the architecture and history. |
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| Pantheon Panorama |
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| Another great ceiling selfie. There really is a hole in the dome. The floor gets wet when it rains. |
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| Another Egyptian obelisk was right outside. |
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| Ducks or dolphins? In either case, why did they make them so incredibly creepy? |
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| I just couldn't get enough of the pretty alleyways. |
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| This couple was taking pictures and wandering along the same general route that we were on. Pretty neat place for bridal pictures! |
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| This was a random church we walked by. Not really advertised as a destination. I stuck my head in and holy cow! Rome has treasures all over the place. |
Trevi Fountain was our last Roman destination. It is known for making wishes. In fact, so many people make wishes that they collect over a million Euros every year and use it to help the city's needy. Pretty cool! I followed proper wish protocol of tossing the coin backwards over my left shoulder. My sister Breezy is a huge fan of all things Italian and especially Roman, so I wished for her to have a chance to visit.
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| They were in the process of removing the coins when we were there, so sadly the water was off. |
We made our way to the train station for our ride to Venice. We had purchased the tickets in advance, and were cutting things a little closer than we should have. When we got there, we were confused because all we had was a "paperless ticket" with a confirmation code. Everyone else seemed to be holding more traditional tickets with barcodes. An employee with not great English sent us to customer service, where we had to beg to cut in line only to find out that our tickets were all that we needed. They did tell us the train number, which we needed. The told us they didn't know which platform we were on. All we had to do was find the platform with our train number over it. We sprinted up and down the platform trying to find our train that was now minutes away from leaving. Eventually we found a different employee who helped us decipher the big board, which said that our train was a half hour late. We couldn't find it because it wasn't there! In retrospect, we should have bought our train tickets there. They left about once an hour, and there was no security. It was surprisingly chill once we figured out the system. Buying them in advance just locked down our schedule and stressed us out with nonrefundable tickets.
After we recovered from our train platform sprint, the train ride itself was incredibly enjoyable! We had 4 seats facing each other over a table. We spent the 3 hr 45 min ride enjoying the Italian countryside and playing Splendor. Props to Stephen for carrying a board game all around Italy!
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| What great travel buddies |
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| Pulling into Venice |
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| Being this attractive is a burden not many can bear |
Now for my main complaint about Europe. There were no bathrooms! Well there were some- but you had to pay a Euro or more to use them. If you did find free ones, there would be no guarantee of toilet paper, soap, or cleanliness. We did find ourselves in places where we couldn't find any at all, which was rough on my pregnant lady bladder. Meanwhile in America, we saw a bathroom for service animals in the Orlando airport. I had no idea how spoiled I was!
