My husband and I visited Italy on our honeymoon. Rome was our first destination. I felt pretty disconnected when we arrived. It was a long flight, and I was in some pain during it…on top of being quite terrified of flying. When we arrived I felt exhausted, confused, nervous, and excited. We walked out of the airport and our ride to our hotel was there waiting for us. She was a Scandinavian woman that had lived in Rome for almost 10 years. We followed her, blindly, around the airport and to the car.
It felt so strange being there. I cannot completely explain why I felt so odd. Everything was just so new and I felt so tired, but we wanted to experience as much as possible as we were only going to be there for two days. I had just spent the last thirty minutes from the airport holding my breath, because of the driving. It was a whole new experience, holding on while our driver whipped through traffic and pushed on the break last minute. There was so much to take in, so much to look at, but all I could think about was getting out of the clothes I was wearing for the past 12 hours and getting into a bed to sleep.
We were nervous because we arrived at our hotel way earlier than our check-in time, but we were able to wait in the lobby while they got our room ready. We sat in a nice air-conditioned lobby, a complete privilege, one we were yet to know. Air condition is not a common occurrence in Italy, and we were, of course, visiting during the warmest time of the year. That’s how you get good rates though, so give and take. Fortunately, we worked out all of our hotel rooms having air condition.
When we got into the room we completely crashed. Fortunately, we set our alarms because we had scheduled a tour to the Coliseum later in the day. We wanted to get up a couple of hours before so we can do some exploring, but of course, in complete jetlag fashion we kept on sleeping.
When we finally got up we walked to where we were scheduled to mee the tour group. It was wonderful taking in the sights with clearer heads after getting some rest.
We decided to book some tours to the popular sites because of reading how long you may wait in line if you don’t. Our tour of the Coliseum was absolutely fantastic, except for one major drawback. The good things were that our guide was exceptionally knowledgable and was incredibly passionate about Rome and the history and sharing that with a bunch of tourists. I had never been on a tour group before, so my first experience was pretty great. Except that my husband and I enjoy taking our time and exploring on our own, and it’s pretty difficult to do that on a tour.
The Coliseum is amazing, and I mean that in every sense of the word. There is so much history attached to this building partly in ruins. The history is grotesque with the realization of how many humans and animals were killed where we stood, but still, the history is so rich. Did you know that the Coliseum in its true day was painted with bright colors and gold?
Although I am happy that we went with a tour guide this time, because there was a long wait in line and our guide was exceptional, I wish we had time to really explore some more. I also wish we took the time to go see it at night.
The second part of this tour was seeing the Forum which also put me in awe. It was fantastic seeing these historical buildings while also imagining the spectacularness of it all in its prime. We spent a couple of hours at the forum and when our tour ended, the sun was setting, and it was getting cooler, and we spent a bit longer just walking around and enjoying our time together.
Rome is filled with so much history and beautiful architecture. If you like us and you do not have a lot of time to spend in this city, just simply walking around will entrance you. My favorite thing from these walks that my husband and I enjoyed were these trees. They are called Stone Pine and they go well with the stonework around the city.
I think sunset in Rome was my favorite time. Honestly, sunset in any part of Italy was my favorite time. It’s not surprising how much art revolves around this beautiful country. The sun wraps around these beautiful buildings and statues, filling you with warmth and romance. There really is nothing like it.
The last place is, of course, Vatican City. I am not a religious person, so I hold no close attachment to the Vatican, but it is undeniable the grandness of that place. Everything is so large and intricate and awe-inspiring. We took another tour, but this one wasn’t as enjoyable. The guide was not great. She rushed through everything and there was so much that we missed. I would look for a self-guided tour if I was to ever do one again. There is so much to see and so much to take it, that you really want to take your time there.
On our last night in Rome, we decided to just stroll around again. We didn’t have a destination. We didn’t have a map we were following, we just walked and walked and enjoyed being together in this beautiful place. We were lucky enough that we were able to stroll by the Trevi Fountain. We didn’t get too close as the number of people around it was insane, then we got gelato and sat underneath the Pantheon, which was a wonderful way to end our last night in Roma.
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