Rome was our marathon day – we had one day there, and the cruise ship port was a shuttle and a train ride (hour & 15 minutes +) away from the city of Rome. We got up around 5am so we could be off the boat ASAP once we ported around 6. We packed in as much as possible, and even managed to meet up with my good friend from Ashland and her family, who drove 2 hours into the city from Naples with their 4 kids to meet us for lunch. We made it everywhere we planned to go, although most were pretty quick stops. We cut it a little close getting back on the ship in time (long story, but basically the trains didn’t come as often as they were scheduled to, then we had to wait for the shuttle – pretty sure we were the last ones to get on the ship. Slightly stressful.) Our day in Rome in pictures:
Vatican
We almost didn’t make it into the Vatican because we didn’t bring our passports, and our reservation was under Nate’s name and he didn’t have any ID with him. We begged and pleaded, and they let us use my driver’s license. We went through fairly quickly – to be honest, we didn’t have a lot of info about what the highlights were and it was really crowded and kind of overwhelming. One of our favorite random finds was the basement empty-of-people room with all the pope-mobiles from the past. And, of course, the Sistine Chapel.
We went straight to St. Peter’s Basilica, where we loved seeing the Pieta, and were impressed with the size of the building itself. We had hoped to climb up to the dome, but they were closing down the building because the president of Germany was coming to the plaza outside (or something like that…).
Castel Sant’Angelo
We didn’t go inside the castle, but had just a little time before we were meeting my friend Becky & fam for lunch, so we walked down to it (through all the street vendors selling knock-off purses and sunglasses).
Lunch & Piazza Navona / Fountain of the Four Rivers
We had a great lunch with Becky & Gary and their 4 kids, then walked over to the Piazza Navona, stopping for some yummy gelato along the way.
I know – awful picture, especially with the lurker in the background – unfortunately, it’s the only one I took with Becky.
Pantheon / Trevi Fountain
After the Piazza Navona, Becky & Fam headed back towards the Vatican and we continued on our quest to see Rome in a day. Next up: the Pantheon and the Trevi Fountain (the fountain was crowded when we got there, but it started sprinkling, which fortunately drove away the crowds).
Roman Forum (and a few cool pics on the walk there)
Colosseum
Our final stop of the day before we headed back to the train station – we didn’t have time to go inside, but it was still fun to walk around it.
And finally…big city people
Sweet double-decker bike, and some pretty impressive street performers. A friend told us how they did this but I can’t remember now…
We had a great day in Rome. I have to admit, as much as I loved Rome, I was secretly glad when the day was over – I was kind of stressed about having time to see everything, details of meeting up with my friend for lunch when we had no way for her to contact us, and finding our train and shuttle, etc. So glad we got to go though!
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