Hola!
The port we arrive in is actually Citeavecchia and of course Rome is a drive as is with most of these tours ....
We seem to always get up late and are running to meet up with our tour bus group .. And where these numbers so folks know what tour you are with. I know understand why.. There are sooooo many tour groups here .
It's the day that I expect to be the best ..but in writing this after the fact .. It was the hottest day of the year here ..
We board our bus ...to an express train .. The Roma Express which Takes about 35 min to get to Rome versus another bus ride.. The train was something out of the 1950's with seats that looked comfortable ..alas they were not.
After arriving at St. Peter's train stop ..we then have to walk to the square .
First stop St. Peter's Square. I am simply in awe of all the sculptures and simplicity of it all. I love the Roman period in history and this was great ! The issue here is you really need more than one day to see all the sights .
We stopped , took lots of pics and got instructions from our tour guide on what tours to take and we took both .
The first is the tour of the Vatican Museum and the second is the hop-on hop-off bus and we are gonna try and make it to the Coliseum.
I felt rushed and hurried and like a heard of cattle trying to get to the Sistine Chapel. For all those who don't know , the chapel itself is in the Vatican Museum and my tour allowed us entry to the museum only .. Lots of walking and lots of steps. So many people and so many museum rooms to pass through before you even make your way to the Sistine Chapel. I took loads of pics shame I can't upload them yet ..there is no picture taking allowed in the chapel. It's much smaller than I imagined but a sight to see nonetheless. Imagine just standing in the middle of the floor looking all around you ..including up and some of the greatest art work of all time ... As I'm cussing up a storm since its so darn crowded...
Here are some of the pics I finally figured out how to add them from google pics! Yay!
Ok so it's about 40 seconds we stand there and now i'm hot and bothered and they are squeezing more folks in the middle of the floor. A pick pockets' dream. I'm ready to go.
It takes another 15 minutes at least to exit the museum ... It's designed for you to spend money like any other attraction. .. All exits lead through the gift shop. Surprise!
Folks feet are on fire ( not mine but my leg is like. sit yo behind down now.) is to find a taxi and get to the hop-on bus stop which is quite a ways away.
We are instructed to look for the yellow bus .. Which we buy and then we are on the bus ..we have to be back at the train by 4:30pm...
We set our sites only on the Coliseum since its about 12:30pm and it seems quite a distance. It really isn't but it seems the ho-ho buses here just stop at any point for a mini-break of 15 minutes ..WTH? And they turn the bus off!!
The best way to see the city icon top but I notice the buses are canopied topped probably cause its so darn hot. I will say this wasn't has hot as the 100+ heatwave for 7 days I left behind in NYC but still I spent money on water ...lots of it.
We finally get off the stop for the Coliseum , and missed the stop for the Trivoli Fountain but saw it.. I did want to toss my coin...
The Coliseum was awesome ..took great pics! The stop was very crowded and we didn't want to chance coming back late so that's all we did..
Got back to the square in time to have lunch..pizza and pasta! I'm sooo ready to go home and drink green juice. No pasta and pizza for a minute.
Did I mention there must be a premiums on ice in Europe? One thing I learned ..you must ask for ice if you want it.. Another stop with few public bathrooms.. But there's always restaurants if you buy something. Haven't seen any self cleaning toilettes like in France .. There's the new and old city of Rome. Trying to do both the new city ..as the Vatican is a separate city ..and then trying to do Ancient Rome in the same day is cray. Rome isn't as clean as France .. Visually.. At least the parts we visited today....
Next stop Sorrento and Pompeii!
Ciao!
Sent from my iPhone
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