Nanda & Nathan The Travellers: Rome, Italy (Day 2)

October 11, 2014 ---- On our second day in Rome we did, as Rick Steves called it, the "Caesar Shuffle" or the ancient part of Rome. After getting ready, we went to the cafe across the street from our hostel for breakfast, which was included to the room price. Italians eat only a croissant and drink a tiny cup of cappuccino for breakfast. We are not coffee people, so Nathan got tea and I got chocolate milk instead. However, Italian pastry is really good!

We took the metro to Colosseo station, which is right at the Colosseum. We both had one free site left on our Roma Pass cards, and I didn't want to use it at the Colosseum because I could get a big discount if I use it there after the two free sites. So we walked along Via dei Fori Imperiali toward the Trajan's Column, which was Nathan's favorite site of this trip. The column was amazingly perfect, so little damage to be seen. There was also a walking path where you can look at photos and learn the story carved on the column. Next to the Trajan's Column is the Forum of Augustus, and there was a wedding party there at the time.

Later we walked across the street to Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II or the National Monument to Victor Emmanuel II . The white building was huge, and there was a roof-top view point where you can get a panoramic view of Rome. The elevator to go straight up was €7, no stairs. Nathan and I found the ground floor to be high enough to see the view of the city, so we didn't pay to go up. Inside the building was also a free military museum where you can spend 10-20 minutes strolling around.

Then we went to the Capitoline Museum, where we used our Roma Pass for the last free site. It is famous for housing many important classical sculptures, such as the statue of Constantine and the Etruscan Lupa Capitolina. The museum was quite big and had many buildings and many floors, so we spent a lot of time there. From the museum, you can get a really nice view of the Roman Forum too.

After lunch, we went to the Roman Forum, Palatine Hill, and the Colosseum. A combined ticket for these sites was €12, but with the Roma Pass, we paid only €7.50. The line to buy the ticket at the Colosseum was extremely long, so it was a good idea that we just bought ours at the Roman Forum...almost no line there. We just followed Rick Steves' s free audio tours around the forum for almost an hour and then headed up to Palatine Hill. I had learned about Western Civilization in college, but I didn't remember much about it, so it was nice to go to Rome with Nathan because he knows so much about history.

Across the street from the Roman Forum is the Colosseum. The ticket line was really long, but Nathan and I already had the tickets from the previous site, so we just went straight in. And again we followed Rick Steves's free audio guide of the Colosseum. It was really entertaining! I don't know about the others, but for me, the Colosseum is a sad site. I can't imagine myself being one of those gladiators waiting to be killed by monstrous animals.

After the Colosseum, I was too tired to walk, so we went back to our room and took a nap before heading for dinner. We found a really good and cheap Italian restaurant located by Termini Station, 3 blocks from our hotel. It's called Ristorante Mangrovia. A 3-course meal cost 15 euro/ person. The first course was a huge plate of pasta. It was the best pasta I have ever had! The second course was salad and a meat of your choice, and the last was a choice of gelato ice-cream or cake. The food and dessert were so good that Nathan and I ate there two nights in a row. Nathan ate so much that his stomach almost exploded! Hahaha...

After dinner we went strolling near the Colosseum and Trajan's Column again for a night view of these gorgeous structures. There was a light show at The Forum of Augustus at night about, I guess, the construction of the forum. If you want to hear the story of the forum, you can buy a ticket and get a headphone and sit on the provided seats, but Nathan and I just stood there watching the free show with no sound. Well, our second day ended beautifully here. :-)