Time to wake up for my second day in ROME! We got up, got ready, and went down to the breakfast at our hotel. I got to skype my boyfriend Patrick for a couple minutes :) then we checked out and left our bags in the lobby. We set out to see the Pantheon first and get it done quickly. We went the bus stop and waited…and waited…and waited. While we were waiting, two girls passed us and crossed the street. They were backpacking and had huge packs on their backs. As one of the girls was crossing, all of the sudden she just toppled over! Completely on the ground! Her backpack had gotten too much momentum and pulled her over! Luckily she was fine and laughing about it. We finally realized that the bus wasn’t coming anytime soon, and the Pantheon just wasn’t going to work out. We were okay with this, considering how much of the other stuff we’d gotten done in the two days! The Coliseum was more important to us, so we set out to find that. We went to the train station first to buy train tickets for later, since a lot of SAS kids would be coming back Rome last minute, and we had learned the hard way in Florence that train tickets do sell out.
When we were in the train station, I suddenly started feeling sick and my stomach was really hurting. It got worse and worse and I finally couldn’t stand, so I was squatting down in line. We decided to all split up because it was SO crowded and the lines were so ridiculously long. I would stay in line for the metro passes and get 3 of those, Michelle went to get 3 train tickets, and Brittany set out to find some kind of medicine for me. I think it was food poisoning from something. We set a meeting point, and all reconvened. Success! The medicine Brittany found for me was all in Italian, and she said it had been really hard trying to figure out what to get and communicate it! We inspected all the instructions and warnings and labels and tried our best to figure out what they were, so I took something that we thought was antacid.
We took the metro to the Coliseum and right when we got off, there were a bunch of people trying to sell us our tours. By this time, it was noon and we had train tickets for 3, but we also had to make time to go back to the hotel to get our stuff, then go back to the station and catch our train. We talked to one woman and considered getting a 2-hour tour of the Coliseum and the Roman Forum, but they only took cash so we ended up not doing that. The line for tickets at the Coliseum was SOOOOOO long- probably over two hours. We had heard back on the ship that the tickets can also be bought at the Roman Forum and nobody really knows, so the line is really short. The only problem was finding that line, that took about 30 minutes. Luckily we found it and it WAS much shorter! Probably 30 minutes or less. It was soooooooo hot, though. Like, SO hot. Sun beating down, us drenched in sweat…if only we had a fan. Men were selling umbrellas and water bottles and boy were they selling fast! We went into the Roman Forum first and saw all the ruins. They were incredible, but it was SO hot and we were a little miserable. Our bodies had gone into automatic mode and were just going and going. At least we could get our bodies to keep walking! There were public fountains crowded with people pouring water over their bodies and downing bottle after bottle. We partook. I knew the ruins were really cool, so I took tons of pictures so I’d be able to enjoy them more later when I was not overheated and on the verge of falling over and passing out! On the way out, we found some shade, where a tour was conveniently located. We sat nearby and eavesdropped on what the tour guide said for awhile. No, we hadn’t paid for the tour but we had paid for plenty of tours that other people listened in on so we figured it was okay for just a couple minutes!
We finished up at the Roman Forum and headed to the Coliseum. Now, by headed, I mean ran. Yes, literally ran- us three girls, booking it in the intense heat. I think it’s safe to say that today was the most I’ve sweated…swat?...in a long time. Even more than cross country meets in the blazing sun. Some people we talked to on the train who live in Rome said it was one of the hottest days they’d had all year. That’s saying a lot for hot Rome! They said probably up above 110 degree Fahrenheit easily. Anyway, we got to the Coliseum and walked (rushed) around, listened in on some more tour groups passing by, and took plenty of pictures. We spent a little longer there because we all were looking forward to seeing it so much. Finally we all decided we were ready to leave, and we headed (okay, ran) for the metro station. Back to the hotel we went, grabbed our stuff, then ran to the train station. We got there at 2:40 and looked at the screens- there was no train at 3:09 like our tickets were for. The next one was at 2:45 and after that was after 3:30. We didn’t want to cut it that close with getting back to the ship before on-ship time (1800) so we ran- again- to get to the 2:45 train. We jumped on and a couple seconds later it left. Seriously, what is with running to trains in Italy?!?! Every single one. Every. Single. One! Whew, we were on the train! Now, remember how I mentioned how sweaty we were? All of us, just drenched and dripping in our summer dresses and sunglasses and backpacks. It was sure a sight to see. There were only 3 of us, so we sat in a 4-person area. There was an extra seat. To make a long story short, we scared 3 different people away after they sat down and realized how gross we were. I don’t think we smelled THAT bad because we were all putting on deodorant, and the rest of Europe doesn’t even use deodorant. And trains are filled with nasty BO, so it already smelled bad. When we got up to leave, our seats were wet. This is an after an hour train ride! Yeah, that bad. Ew, I’m a little embarrassed now! But at the same time, I really didn’t care at ALL at the time. All I wanted was to get back to the ship on time, and be in the AC.
We got back to Civitavecchia, and had a little time to spare. Michelle had some more minutes on a calling card she had bought, so she used those up while Brittany and I found some yummy pizza and ice cream. After enjoying our little booster-snack (we missed lunch), we walked back to the ship and made it in time. Success! Oh, and I forgot to mention- at the train station in Civitavecchia, we found a free bathroom! Woohoo!
Once we were back, all we wanted to do was SIT and BE. Talk to nobody, do nothing, just sit. We vedged for awhile. Then we ate dinner, debarked from Italy :( and worked on homework. Leaving Rome was sad, but think it’s pretty impressive that I saw the Vatican, Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, Roman Forum, and Coliseum in just 24 hours!!
Now we’re en route to Croatia! On the ship it is rumored to be the most beautiful port we’ll go to!
And now thinking back (since I didn’t mention it much before) and looking at all my pictures, the Coliseum was AMAZING! I am SO glad I got to see it! The Roman Forum was also really cool!
When we were in the train station, I suddenly started feeling sick and my stomach was really hurting. It got worse and worse and I finally couldn’t stand, so I was squatting down in line. We decided to all split up because it was SO crowded and the lines were so ridiculously long. I would stay in line for the metro passes and get 3 of those, Michelle went to get 3 train tickets, and Brittany set out to find some kind of medicine for me. I think it was food poisoning from something. We set a meeting point, and all reconvened. Success! The medicine Brittany found for me was all in Italian, and she said it had been really hard trying to figure out what to get and communicate it! We inspected all the instructions and warnings and labels and tried our best to figure out what they were, so I took something that we thought was antacid.
We took the metro to the Coliseum and right when we got off, there were a bunch of people trying to sell us our tours. By this time, it was noon and we had train tickets for 3, but we also had to make time to go back to the hotel to get our stuff, then go back to the station and catch our train. We talked to one woman and considered getting a 2-hour tour of the Coliseum and the Roman Forum, but they only took cash so we ended up not doing that. The line for tickets at the Coliseum was SOOOOOO long- probably over two hours. We had heard back on the ship that the tickets can also be bought at the Roman Forum and nobody really knows, so the line is really short. The only problem was finding that line, that took about 30 minutes. Luckily we found it and it WAS much shorter! Probably 30 minutes or less. It was soooooooo hot, though. Like, SO hot. Sun beating down, us drenched in sweat…if only we had a fan. Men were selling umbrellas and water bottles and boy were they selling fast! We went into the Roman Forum first and saw all the ruins. They were incredible, but it was SO hot and we were a little miserable. Our bodies had gone into automatic mode and were just going and going. At least we could get our bodies to keep walking! There were public fountains crowded with people pouring water over their bodies and downing bottle after bottle. We partook. I knew the ruins were really cool, so I took tons of pictures so I’d be able to enjoy them more later when I was not overheated and on the verge of falling over and passing out! On the way out, we found some shade, where a tour was conveniently located. We sat nearby and eavesdropped on what the tour guide said for awhile. No, we hadn’t paid for the tour but we had paid for plenty of tours that other people listened in on so we figured it was okay for just a couple minutes!
We finished up at the Roman Forum and headed to the Coliseum. Now, by headed, I mean ran. Yes, literally ran- us three girls, booking it in the intense heat. I think it’s safe to say that today was the most I’ve sweated…swat?...in a long time. Even more than cross country meets in the blazing sun. Some people we talked to on the train who live in Rome said it was one of the hottest days they’d had all year. That’s saying a lot for hot Rome! They said probably up above 110 degree Fahrenheit easily. Anyway, we got to the Coliseum and walked (rushed) around, listened in on some more tour groups passing by, and took plenty of pictures. We spent a little longer there because we all were looking forward to seeing it so much. Finally we all decided we were ready to leave, and we headed (okay, ran) for the metro station. Back to the hotel we went, grabbed our stuff, then ran to the train station. We got there at 2:40 and looked at the screens- there was no train at 3:09 like our tickets were for. The next one was at 2:45 and after that was after 3:30. We didn’t want to cut it that close with getting back to the ship before on-ship time (1800) so we ran- again- to get to the 2:45 train. We jumped on and a couple seconds later it left. Seriously, what is with running to trains in Italy?!?! Every single one. Every. Single. One! Whew, we were on the train! Now, remember how I mentioned how sweaty we were? All of us, just drenched and dripping in our summer dresses and sunglasses and backpacks. It was sure a sight to see. There were only 3 of us, so we sat in a 4-person area. There was an extra seat. To make a long story short, we scared 3 different people away after they sat down and realized how gross we were. I don’t think we smelled THAT bad because we were all putting on deodorant, and the rest of Europe doesn’t even use deodorant. And trains are filled with nasty BO, so it already smelled bad. When we got up to leave, our seats were wet. This is an after an hour train ride! Yeah, that bad. Ew, I’m a little embarrassed now! But at the same time, I really didn’t care at ALL at the time. All I wanted was to get back to the ship on time, and be in the AC.
We got back to Civitavecchia, and had a little time to spare. Michelle had some more minutes on a calling card she had bought, so she used those up while Brittany and I found some yummy pizza and ice cream. After enjoying our little booster-snack (we missed lunch), we walked back to the ship and made it in time. Success! Oh, and I forgot to mention- at the train station in Civitavecchia, we found a free bathroom! Woohoo!
Once we were back, all we wanted to do was SIT and BE. Talk to nobody, do nothing, just sit. We vedged for awhile. Then we ate dinner, debarked from Italy :( and worked on homework. Leaving Rome was sad, but think it’s pretty impressive that I saw the Vatican, Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, Roman Forum, and Coliseum in just 24 hours!!
Now we’re en route to Croatia! On the ship it is rumored to be the most beautiful port we’ll go to!
And now thinking back (since I didn’t mention it much before) and looking at all my pictures, the Coliseum was AMAZING! I am SO glad I got to see it! The Roman Forum was also really cool!
Roman Forum
Roman Forum
Roman Forum
Roman Forum
Roman Forum
Roman Forum
Roman Forum
Roman Forum
Roman Forum
Coliseum
Coliseum
Coliseum
Coliseum
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