La dolce vita

Buona sera from Roma! I arrived at around noon today and have already seen things I will remember for a lifetime.

First off, my train from Florence was great. I was a little nervous about the luggage situation as you only have so much space to store your stuff and my luggage is too heavy to lift into a compartment above my head! No worries, I was in the train early enough to get a good luggage spot. Anxiety averted.

I sat with a woman from Australia traveling with her husband and two young children. She told me her kids are learning italian so they thought they would bring them to Italy. Awesome mom! She said her kids are their translators while they are there. Perfect, she’s already got them working too.

She was telling me on the train that you need to have reservations to see the Colosseum or you will wait all day in line. Ugh, I’m done with lines. So when I checked into the hotel the concierge recommended a tour I could take this afternoon that would get me in without the wait. Great!

Except… this means another dreaded bus tour with old people that complain incessantly. Everyone was complaining about the walking. They had no idea they would have to walk so much. Umm, hello, you are at the freaking Colosseum! When will you be here again. Suck it up grandpa and relax, or go grab a taxi and find an early-bird buffet. You don’t even walk faster than a snails pace on these things anyways.

Ok, besides that minor annoyance. The Colosseum was larger and more impressive than I expected. And I expected a lot! The Romans sure knew how to build things that would last. It’s a blessing to be in a place with so much history. To touch and walk around within it is an added bonus.

 

Look at this place! It’s ginormous and kick-ass. Our tour guide was excellent. She really knew this place and you can tell she loved talking about it.

We then walked over to the ancient ruins. It was about a five minute walk. (Oh the horror!) How do you describe this place? It’s just one of the coolest places ever. All this amazing stuff was just dug out of the ground. It’s crazy that today’s Rome is sitting on yesterday’s Rome. After seeing what they have dug up so far, you understand why their subway is so limited.

So now I’m in the hotel room, sitting back and enjoying my evening inside. Oh yeah, my room is so nice here. I have a great view of the street with a little stone balcony to step out on and a walk-in closet! With the added bonus of free wifi and a pool. Yep, this is definitely a good hotel to end my trip. Ciao!