Roma: A Whirlwind Tour

Saturday my mom arrived into FCO airport on her first transatlantic flight ever. We got in the car around noon and headed in to our hotel near Termini. By time we got on the train to head to our Vatican tour, it was almost 2pm and our ticket was for 3pm. We grabbed a few pieces of pizza and got a move on. The combination of the heat (90's) and a late plane arrival, we didn't have much time for relaxing for a few minutes. When Kacey and I visited the Vatican 3.5 years ago, the line was huge so this time we booked tickets online. We arrived at a surprisingly line-less Vatican around 2:45 and prepared for our entry. We gave ourselves about an hour and a half to reach the Sistine Chapel. We had to start rushing at the end, but we still got to see quite a lot.

We took the back door exit to St. Peter's after the Sistine Chapel. I was looking forward to seeing my mom's reaction to the size of this church; I think she enjoyed it.

After the Basilica we took the subway to the Trevi Fountain area for dinner and a night viewing of the fountain. It was crowded as usual but mom was still able to throw her change in the fountain. I also attempted a panorama picture here. We then took the subway to see the Colosseum at night, which was pretty cool. By time we got back to our hotel and got the A/C working, it was after 11.

The morning we headed toward the Forum. This was pretty cool, but not as cool as Pompeii. Kacey and I didn't have time to see the Forum when we visited a few years back, so it was also nice from that aspect. While taking my shots for the panorama it struck noon and all the church bells started sounding! I took a video of the action, check out the link below. This was also my favorite panorama I got.


Video from the Roman Forum

We exited the Forum and walked toward the Colosseum. We were very glad we had our Roma Passes; there was at least a 2 hour line in the heat! We walked right in and spent about 90 minutes walking around and taking pictures. I also took a few panorama shots here.

After a short walk to St. Peter in Chains we got back to the car for the 2 hour drive home. Although very hot and pretty busy, the trip was pretty successful.

Pictures from Rome