Italy: Rome ~ Day 2

Rome

4/2/12 - 4/5/12

Mediterranean Sea

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Roman Forum

4/3/12 ~ The plan was to wake up early and head over to the Vatican Museum, however after the busy day before we might have ignored the early alarm and slept until 10 a.m. whoops. So we changed our plans and put on bathing suits and sun dresses!! Yea SUN!! Our first stop was cappuccinos, my new addiction. After  the quick caffeine hit the next stop was the Roman Forum. Our tickets for the Colosseum were for two days and were also to the Forum. It was like stepping back in time. I wish I could have seen a speech given a few thousand years ago it would have been epic. Juliann and I wandered around for a while and took tons of pictures before heading out. Our next stop was to grab some lunch of pizza, mozzarella tomato and basil for me and gelato chocolate and banana before heading to the train station. 

Ostia Antica

The day was super nice, warm and sunny, not something that I am used to in Ireland. We got our train tickets and headed to Ostia Antica, an old sea port that is no longer surrounded by water. It is a city of ruins that is roughly the size of downtown Galway. We spent the morning exploring all the ruins. Some of the structures are still standing while others are mostly run down. We also  wandered through the secret gardens. Then we went over to the old theatre where people used to give speeches and do plays. Lastly we had a giggle fit and sat in fake bathtubs where we pretended to read.

Mediterranean Sea!

We then headed back to the train station to make our way to the Mediterranean Sea! AHAH so awesome my first view of a sea! The water was a bit chilly at first, but we got used to it quickly. It took a bit of convincing but eventually we were all playing around in the sea! After some fun time swimming around and lots of laughs we decided it was about time to head back. We also grabbed some pizza before the ride back and discovered on our walk that it was a bit chilly when traveling after a dip in the sea.

Spanish Steps

Once we got back to Graham and Francesca's it was time to warm up with a hot shower and a change of clothes. After warming up we took Graham and Francesca out to dinner at one of their favorite restaurants. I had ox tail and pasta dish with vegetables and a tomato sauce, which was amazing. We finished the meal off with lemoncello and a lovely singing party of the staff from the back of the restaurant.

Throwing in my coin at the Trevi Fountain

Megan, Juliann, and I then headed out to explore Rome at night. I figured out that my camera will take great pictures in black and white at night and horrible ones in color so everything at night is in black and white. Our first stop was to see an Obelisk that was originally stolen from Egypt back in the ancient days. There are a ton of them around the city. Next we went over to the Spanish Steps. There is a fountain of a boat at the base of the steps and then 138 steps to climb to reach the top. At the top we talked to some Italian guys before heading off to the Trevi Fountain. I have to say both are so much better at night then during the day. For starters there are less people so you can see everything better and they both also look so much cooler at night. We spent a good amount of time at the Trevi Fountain taking pictures and making our wish as we tossed in a coin. We then headed off towards the Pantheon, which we would go back to during the day so we could go inside of it. After a quick photo opp we headed over to Vatican City to see St. Peter's at night.

St. Peter's at Night

On our way back to the flat we stopped by Old Bridge to get more gelato, we needed to get our fix while still in Italy. I can't remember what kind I got this time, but by the end of the trip I had tried chocolate, cookies, caramel, banana, chocolate chip, nutella, eggnog, and some white one that I can't remember the name of, having a couple of them more than once. I focused on enjoying my gelato on the walk home while Megan and Juliann had a theological debate, normal occurrence between the two of them. We finally got back around 2 a.m. and passed out. It was a spectacular day and Rome at night is gorgeous!