A European Christmas Part two; Roaming through Rome

The second part of my christmas holiday was spent exploring Rome for 10 days!!! We arrived in Rome on the 23rd in the afternoon and took an hour bus ride to the city center near our hotel. We are staying in this small hostel like hotel, while it was not the most glamorous hotel I've ever stayed at, it was clean, safe and very close to the subway and all major transportation. We spent the first day exploring some different places and kept it pretty low key since we were still a bit exhausted from the Munich debacle.

Inside of the Basilica

Piazza de Popolo; Par of Angels & Demons was filmed here

After exploring the city on a dreary day, we went out to a nice italian dinner. It is my favorite food so the fact we got to each real italian food for 10 days was so exciting. It was Christmas eve so we decided to have a nice dinner, but Jamie was a bit under the weather and was feeling sick, so Jeff and I went to this great pizza place that was awesome! Since the next day was Christmas, one of our highlights for the trip was to go to Vatican city on Christmas day for a blessing by the Pope Francesco. We need that we would have to get there early as it would be packed so we arrived about 2 hours early and found a nice little spot against a fence where we could sit and wait. We all got dressed up and it was just so surreal. This was truly a once and a lifetime experience, when will you ever again get to see the pope on Christmas day and be blessed by him. It is something I will remember for the rest of my life.

There he is; Papa Francesco

The blessing was obviously in Italian so I understood nothing, and the blessing itself only lasted about 20 minutes, and I am not really religious but again just the chance to see the pope and be in the same place as him on Christmas day was indescribable.

Our next big adventure was visiting the Coliseum. Which for me personally was one of the things that I was most excited to see. It was awe inspiring and so massive. It obviously was wicked packed and super busy, but we got to walk around and see where the gladiators were kept, and were people sat.

Outside of the Coliseum

These are some ruins that sit just outside of the Coliseum 

That is where they kept all the gladiators and animals

Jeffrey being silly, and goofy!

The other time in Rome, was spent visiting all of the different monuments and church's. We also downloaded and watched "Angels and Demons" so over the next few days we tried and successfully visited each monument and location from the movie. I have no doubt that we are not the first nerdy people to do this, but it was nice because it helped guide our vacation and map out the next few days. Some of the other sites we visited were Castel St. Angelo, Piazza Navona, Trevi Fountain (which was under construction), and all of the churches.

Castel St. Angelo; In Angels and Demons, this is where the Kidnapped Cardinals were kept 

View down the road to Vatican City

Jamie, channeling her inner goddess 

The fountain from Angels and Demons where the last Cardinal was dumped into the water.

Just a cool fountain in Piazza Navona

This is a picture from inside the Vatican Gardens. We got to take a tour of the Vatican and thankfully we didn't have to wait in the 4 hour line to get tickets.

View of Rome from inside the Vatican

A warrior always kneels to his lady

These guys where everywhere, they get you to take photos with them, and then demand money!

One of my favorite pictures; The Three amigos inside the Coliseum

We stole Jeff's phone and were taking silly pictures!

We were also very fortunate to be able to spend New Years in Rome. We asked around because everyone told us that Rome is one of the biggest party spots for New Years Eve. So we had a nice dinner and then decided to go a live music party outside of the Coliseum. Once we arrived to the party there was so many people that Jamie decided it was not for her as she does not do well with big crowds. I am in the same boat with Jamie I don't like big crowds of people, but I stepped out of my comfort zone and decided to stay with Jeff and I am glad I did. Down the road from the Coliseum there was a live big band with dancers performing. The music was awesome and we got to the front and just had a blast. Everyone was dancing, and singing, and of course drinking. Jeff and I were there for about 2 hours before the countdown and fireworks. I know I keep saying it, but it really was a once and a lifetime experience, to be outside the Coliseum on New Years Eve. 

Jeff and I bundled up in like 5 layers outside for New Years Eve!

The Big Band; they played awesome music. 

Over the next few days we just visited some more historical sites and tried to relax. One thing that surprised me was how cold Rome was. I knew Rome would be cold but it was freezing most days. New Years day was so cold that ice had formed on a lot of the statues in Rome.

The trip was fantastic with amazing company, I had never traveled with Jamie, and Jeff but had so much fun! If I could of done one thing different it would of been to explore and take a day trip outside Rome to Florence. 10 days is Rome is a lot and while we did see many many things at the tail end of the trip, we were running out of ideas of things to do. Another thing I would of done differently is not spend as much money. Rome is expensive as is any european city, but eating out for 10 days and all of the museums and sites was just expensive. I would have done it all again because it's an experience but you live and learn.

Stay Tuned for the next travel instalment......