Honeymoon – Day 6 – Rome, Italy!

Woops! Missed a day! Gotta catch up! <3 On day 6 of the trip we landed in Civitavecchia, Italy. From there, we drove to Rome. When there, we visited the Colosseum first, the Roman Forum, then the Trevi Fountain, had lunch in a charming restaurant, then went to the Vatican City and saw a very small portion of the museum, the Sistine chapel, St. Peter's Basilica and took a walk through the square. The tour was way too fast for all that activity and Win and I are set on making this a MUST place to return to. 🙂 For any cruise goers, I would suggest picking one or two places in Rome that you REALLY want to go to. We booked a cruise tour and were stuck with retired & overweight people. 3 of them! Despite this tour clearly stating that it would be pretty active (lots of walking), people tend to ignore the warnings. Of our long 10.5 hour tour day, we lost maybe 2 hours just WAITING for people. Waiting for them to take the elevators. Waiting for them to catch up. Waiting for them to climb stairs. Waiting for them to get wheelchairs. Underneath the awe and excitement, we were pretty angry and that put a damper on the experience. :/ People need to use more common sense and have more courtesy to their fellow cruise goers. IF YOU CAN'T WALK. DON'T BOOK THE ACTIVE TOUR. Anyway, enough with the angry. The sites were amazing. My inner 10 year old has been waiting a long time to see this place! When I saw the Colosseum pop up when we turned the corner, I think my heart stopped. XD I was like a kid in a candy store. <3 Honeymoon – Day 6 – Rome, Italy!


COLOSSEUM, CONSTANTINE’S ARCH & ROMAN FORUM – Ack! I’ve dreamed of seeing this place ever since I fell in love with Classical Mythology when I was 8. When we drove around the corner, my heart just stopped. XD I was so excited! <3 I can't describe what it's like to be inside, but it's crazy to imagine what it must have looked like and what the events might have been like. I'd love to come back and do a more detailed tour of the grounds in the future.
I’m freakin’ giddy with excitement. XD


These Italian guys dressed up in fakey roman get-ups and took a photo with you for a price. This guy looked so sad here. 🙁


The grounds inside. We walked the entire perimeter. It wasn’t as big as my child’s imagination thought it would be but it was amazing to see the under ground part of the stage. I want to go down there someday.


This cute young couple took a photo for us. They were nice. XD


Constantine’s Arch.


Tromping away from Constantine’s Arch. XD


Roman Forum. Saturn’s Temple. 🙂

TREVI FOUNTAIN – Cuz it’s the cool thing to do, we tossed a coin in. And because Euros are too expensive to give up, we threw in American coins. XD Anyway, I forgot to toss it over my shoulder. Lawl. I hope the coming back thing still works. OMG I LOST MY HUSBAND AT THE TREVI FOUNTAIN! Near the end of our visit there, Win ducked into a store to buy a leather cap. While trying to find him, our tour group left. Yay running through the streets of Rome to find him and drag him back to the bus! Once we reached the bus, we found that we weren’t late cuz all the retirees were still climbing into it. ^^;;

DRIVING THROUGH ROME – Can you believe this parking? There are Smart cars everywhere and the Mini Cooper looks like a big car in comparison. Anyway, people park on the sidewalk and perpendicular to the road. Wow.


Passing by a side street…


Only 11 and a half k! IN EUROS! That’s what… a little over 16,000 USD? Sound about right?



EPIC PARKING. They apparently park their vehicles on the SIDEWALK! And there was still plenty of room to walk around it. lol! Good luck doing that in SUV land California.


We just drove by Hadrian’s Masoleum, the Castel Sant’Angelo. I really wanted to take a walk down the Bridge of Angels! Outdoor works of art by Bernini. It’s incredible.

LUNCH IN ROME – We ate @ Vanni Restaurant in Rome. It was a charming lunch but I was uncomfortable sitting with so many retired folks. Though one guy we sat with was rather nice. It seemed he was taking the cruise with his young, quiet son who was also a graphic designer. His father was a trooper and was always walking quickly and ahead of everyone. lol Something about his hustling personality made me like him. lol

VATICAN MUSEUM – VATICAN CITY – Man, this place is magical. We will come back to Rome JUST to visit this place again. It’s massive and you could not possibly see everything in one day. Inside, we visited the courtyard (=_=) walked through a hall of carpets (=_=;) and then a hall of maps (=_=;;). I guess it was the tour guide’s easiest way to get to the Sistine Chapel (WHICH WAS AWESOME!) But there are paintings we just never go to see. :/ THAT’S what we want to find! Tsk.


Passing through the hall of maps. MAPS.


The doorway exiting the hall of maps. X_X!


We ducked into a room with some lovely paintings. I didn’t get to catch who they were by. :/


Yikes.


Briefly passing through halls of busts & statues.


The statues of animals are so incredible! <3
This little guy looked like he’d be happy to join my collection of reference photos. XD


All along the halls, the ceilings are heavily decorated. Every now and then you’ll see a beautifully painted panel. I saw these and had to stop to take the picture. Not just the figures, but look at the stunning greyscale background. <3
And the figures in battle in the background? It looks so familiar…


Loved the sparkling sun. <3
Being pwned from heaven. XD


Another pretty oculus ceiling.

SISTINE CHAPEL – Holy crap, this was amazing. It’s incredible to see how massive the works are but at the same time, it was surprising to see how flat the the values are in the skin & fabric. Michelangelo’s figures are just fun to look at — so massive and muscular! lol We saw people getting escorted out of the chapel for taking photos. Some dumb asses took flash photography. Smart move. Just snapped this picture and bought a book. ^^; Seeing the paintings in its physical space makes you really appreciate the works all over again. I could not imagine how the HELL he managed to do that and so high. X_X And still have control. Double X_X.


NO PHOTOS!

LEAVING VATICAN MUSEUM / ST. PETERS BASILICA & SQUARE – The basilica is magic! <3 You could spend another whole day just slowly walking through this space. The sculptures are incredible (duh) and every square inch can reveal to you something special. We ditched our group to try and see as much as we can inside. The Pieta was my favorite sculpture when I was in high school. Seeing it in person was so moving. <3 The smoothness in the marble just takes you away. <3
We just left the Sistine Chapel and I’m all happy from the experience! <3
Just outside the Sistine is a drinking fountain.


So, I drank from it. XD Some said it wasn’t safe. Some said it was. Um. I’m fine.


Inside St. Peter’s Basilica. It’s so massive and overwhelming! One of my most favorite spaces in Rome, now. <3
The Pieta by Michelangelo.


Right by the entrance is a holy water well. These little guys decorate it. <3 And by Catholic tradition, I went ahead and did the sign of the cross. <3
Charming detail of their face…


The baldacchino/Papal Altar by Bernini. Those columns are trippy. <3
Bernini’s St. Longino.


The front of St. Peter’s Basilica. The front center window is where the Pope does public showings.


Vatican gaurds. I dig the pants. <3
The Pope’s apartment. His window’s open meaning he’s home. ::shrugs?::


Just leaving the square. <3 I severely miss this place!

About the author

Comments

  1. I love how there are only pics of the ceiling for the Hall of Maps! It’d be awesome to hear mass at the Sistine chapel or St. Peter’s Bascillica. Though I probably wouldn’t understand it. & be utterly distracted by the surroundings haha

    1. Yeah. Totally didn’t pay attention to the maps or the carpets. Just had my neck craned back and staring up the whole time.

      I agree! I said that to Win and he said the same thing. XD Though, I’m not even sure they’d hold ceremonies in the Sistine Chapel anymore… (?) At least, they can’t burn candles inside! Doing that turned the painting black and ohhh the restoration process must’ve been hell. They left a corner of the Sistine Chapel unclean just to show the difference and oh boy– huuuuge difference!

      1. nuuuuuuuuu! nuuuuuu! @_@ I j-just don’t know what to say.

        But but but!!! I TOTALLY know how you felt while walking around people who can’t walk! OMG! I know I shouldn’t be talking ‘cuz I’m overweight, too!>.<;;;;; But I'm a walking champion!! *flexes!!*

        1. Noooooo. I mean severely overweight and retired kind of people! You’re a city girl — I’m sure you could out-walk me!

Comments are closed.

error: Content is protected !!