Rome may not have been built in a day...but we managed to SEE it in ONE DAY!!!

Saturday was a day I will never forget...our crazy day trip to Rome! Natalie had wanted to go to Rome from the beginning of this trip to Italy and I wasn't about to stop this dream from coming true. She was determined to find a way to get there and see all the sights! She found us tickets online for the fast train that left from Venice at 6:25 am and arrived in Rome at 9:30 for 80 euro a piece! It was a 2 for 1 deal on Saturdays so it worked out well for us. It was really awful to get up again that early in the morning. I was so tired that I had a hard time staying awake when I was driving to Venice! Right when we got there, we went to the cafe for a coffee so we could stay awake just a little longer and then sleep on the train. We boarded the train and I was impressed with how nice it was! It had very comfortable seats and was spacious enough that you could move around a little bit. We helped a nun with her luggage that was sitting next to us and she was so nice! We thought we had started off our trip with good karma for the day! I slept the entire 3 hours to Rome, out like a light. Nat didn't sleep much but she had never been on a train before so she was excited to see what it was all about. They check for your tickets much more often on the fast trains than they do on the others. When we arrived, we thought we should eat a little more for breakfast and try to find a bathroom. It cost one euro to use the bathrooms at the terminal, they were not free to use for anyone. We started off by taking the metro to the Colosseum first because it was the closest stop to the terminal. Right as we walked out of the terminal, the Colosseum was right in front of us! Man, it is a little bigger than I remembered it being! I went on a trip around Europe with my friends right after high school and had been to Rome before but it never gets old to look at all the spectacular sites to see all around Europe! I could go every year and still find something new and exciting to learn about and see in a different way. We had to wait in line for 30 minutes or so. While we were waiting, we ran into some interesting people! Two Russian girls tried to cut in front of the line and the man who worked there called her out in front of everyone and said, "Do you think these people are stupid that are have been standing in line forever? Do you think you can just come here in the line and no one will see you? Leave!!!" She said some choice words to him and walked off...Nat and I later found her walking inside with her friend. They had to have cut in line somewhere else because it was too fast for them to be inside already. It was pretty entertaining to watch and then the worker telling all his buddies what he had done to get the girl to leave. We also met a very nice French man in line that was behind us. Well, we think he is French...we aren't sure but he was pretty cute and very nice! He was by himself and we later thought that we should have invited him to come walk around with us so he wasn't alone. Walking into the main floor of the Colosseum is just surreal because I just can't fathom a building being this old and still having thousands of people a day come to walk through it! To think what went on there throughout the years and to think we are standing in a place where there has been so much history was amazing. I could have stayed there for hours and just looked at every nook but we had to keep going to the main attractions because we didn't want to run out of time. Our train left at 6:50 and we wanted to be back in plenty of time. Nat had four main places she wanted to see and everything else would be a bonus. Colosseum, check...Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, and the Pantheon. It seemed doable but it was so hot that we didn't want to walk to every place so we waited for the bus at the Colosseum while eating gelato. Somehow we were lucky enough to find the bus we needed to get to the Pantheon but we ended up hopping off of it in a hurry because we saw a huge building that we had to take pictures of. It is called Vittoriano, which we later found out from our handy map that we bought for 3 euro! There was no time to go inside it but it was nice to see from the other side of the street. Well, off to catch the same bus again so we didn't have to walk in the heat. It was at least 15 degrees hotter in Rome than it was at home...too hot to be walking around! We caught the bus and found the Pantheon down a small street inside a large piazza. I remember the Pantheon being beautiful but I don't ever remember that it had a huge hole in the ceiling that was used as a sun dial on the church floor. When it rains, the floors have a draining system on the sides so the floors don't stay wet. I can't believe they built these enormous monuments so long ago and they are still being used today! Nat and I used this time to take a little rest because I think this whole week of walking around everyday was catching up to us. I couldn't even feel my feet by the time we left and the day was only half way over! We reminded ourselves that we needed to take a second to eat so we stopped for a nice pizza near the Pantheon. One thing that is incredibly important to note is that you always use the bathroom every time you go into a place to buy something and they have one open for their customers. If you don't use it then, there may not be a place to go later and that is never good! It makes travelling much more enjoyable if you freshen up and wash your hands and face a couple times a day while going through a place like Rome. Also, water spigots are VERY important! Big towns usually have them at every main attraction but some are not to be used as drinking water so you have to be careful and read the signs before you drink it. If we bought every bottle of water we drank on this trip or in Rome alone, we would have spent hundreds of dollars so these spigots come in handy! Every time we see one, we fill it up because the water is usually gone instantly and always needs refilled. Well, it was off to see the Trevi Fountain next. We decided to walk there since it wasn't too far and we had just refueled with lunch. Following the crowds, we found it! It is bigger than I remember! We took pictures and made a wish with a coin that we threw in the fountain. I don't know if you are supposed to make a wish or not but it felt appropriate! Next, was the last thing on our list...and the most daunting...the Spanish Steps. I remembered them from before and I knew they had a lot of steps that I wasn't looking forward to climbing in the heat! Natalie really wanted to climb them and I wasn't about to sit down at the bottom by myself in Rome so I went with her. It wasn't too bad but when we were at the top of the 132 stairs (Nat counted!), we were in desperate need for cold water! Our warm spigot water just wasn't going to do. We bought ice cold water and were satisfied with the view, our water from heaven, and proud of our hike up the steps in the blistering heat in the middle of the day! Conveniently, there was a metro stop right at the top of the stairs so we decided that we could take it back to the terminal and be there in plenty of time for the train. We even thought we might be able to change our ticket so we could leave an hour earlier. We waited in line at customer service for awhile and they said the tickets were not possible to change because they were a promotional deal. It looked like we had some time to kill in the terminal. We ended up going shopping and having dinner while waiting for our platform number on the departures screen. We finally boarded our train, right on time, and it was off to Venice for our final stop. I tried to sleep but I just couldn't get comfortable. I was so exhausted and frustrated that all I wanted to do was sleep but it wasn't happening. I about finished another book on the train and then we arrived in Venice. We still had another 45 minutes to drive home so I stayed awake as best I could to drive us home to bed. Man, what an amazing day but so exhausting! Rome in one day...check!!!