Roma – Day 2

Today started with breakfast at the hotel, which included the typical bread, meat, cheese, and coffee.  Once we were fueled up, we headed to the Vatican to buy a ticket for the open tour bus.  The bus goes near or past most of the sites and you can get on and off for 24 hours.

The bus was a nice way to see areas we probably wouldn't have walked to, but it doesn't provide views of many of the best areas - so it is still important to get off the bus and check out the sites on foot. We eventually got off near the Vittorio and walked to the colosseum via the Roman forums. We decided to take a guided tour of the Colosseum and the Palatino hill.

The Colosseum has a bloody history; mostly a way to execute prisoners and animals via battles and some days 100's of animals may be killed. The floor had sand to sook up the blood. The gladiators and animals would be staged in the levels below the main floor, which is no longer present other than a replica put in place for perspective. An earthquake caused the south end to collapse and much of the lead and marble used for support was harvested for other buildings. However, the building is still impressive in its current state.

Palatino hill was the home of emperors and the origin of Rome according to the story of Remo and Romulus (where the name of the emptire originated). There are many ruins today, but there are also still many pieces intact that give insight into the original structures. We walked the hill and the Roman forums. The hill also provided a nice view of the Colosseum.

After Palatino hill we decided to find food. We hopped on the open tour bus to then take a tram to the Trastevere area. We didn't see any restaurants at first, so we continued on and eventually took the tram back near the river. We walked into the back streets and quickly found a place to eat. We had water, wine, bruschetta, pasta dish, entre dish, salad, and dessert for 15 euro. The wine was great; similar to the day before and only $4 for a 1/2 liter (we decided to get more). I topped it all off with a capuccino and we were then ready to check out more sites.

We walked across the island in the center of the river and towards the sanctuary for cats (something like "piazza sacred"). It is a central square with ruins and many cats appear to call the ruins home. We hopped back on the open tour bus and rode until we reached Trevi fountain again.

We briefly checked out Trevi fountain again and then continued down the busy shopping streets to Piazza Barberini. We ordered a gelato and checked out the fountain, then walked on to Piazza Di Spagna. It started to rain a bit, but not too bad. At the piazza the Trinita Dei Monti was lit in the night at the top of marble stairs with a fountain lit at the bottom. This area was bustling with young people; seems to be the place to go at night. From here we hopped on the metro and headed back towards our hotel.

Rather than transfer to another metro, we decided to get off at the Vatican stop and walk back to our hotel. The rain was light, but lightning lit up the sky often. I stopped to take pictures at San Pietro square. I enjoy taking night shots, and I also wanted to see if I could capture the lightning. Eventually I got the hang of it and have some cool shots of the basillica with lightning backlighting. Glad we took the extra walk. I think that rain can also provide some of the best photo opps; even if only because it cuts back on the crowds.