So, after a MUCH needed good night's sleep (we all woke up between 10:30 and 11) we did a lot more walking today, coupled with a lot of stairs too, but this time was with tour guides. After breakfast, we bused to the Colosseum and did a two hour tour, then we had a "free" tour of the Palatine Hill which included the Roman Forum and the Arc of Constantine. That tour too lasted for about an hour and a half. Everything we saw was incredible. My mom and I still keep saying we feel like everything is fake because it's so amazing; we almost feel like we're walking around Busch Gardens, not that BG is anywhere near as beautiful, but we just can't believe it's all so real, so old, and still here. Our tour guides were great as well. The tour guide for the Colosseum, Isabella, gave us tons of information. Then, James, the tour for the remainder of the sites had a British accent.. So, immediately, he was awesome. He did give us good information too. I probably paid more attention to him, but took in half as much as I did with Isabella. I'm just too focused on the accent and remembered him using the expression "stark-raving mad" rather than the history... whoops!
On the tour with James, we talked about Romulus and Remus; naturally, I began thinking Harry Potter (Remus Lupin) and kind of spaced out for a couple minutes on my own.. plus I thought James had a tattoo on the back of his leg of the Deathly Hallows symbol--it ended up not being it, but I pretended it was, only adding to his coolness.
The tours took up our entire day, other than sleeping and eating. Oh, and trying to get back to the hotel.. We took Bus 63 from our hotel to the Colosseum, so we figured Bus 63 would take us back to our hotel if we got on at the same spot we got off (we'd just have to ride around for a few extra stops). But, no. It took us to a train station not even on the map we had. If we had stayed on the bus, while it was parked in the bus terminal, and waited for it to go again, we would have gotten back but it would have taken another hour or so. Naturally, being the adventurers we are...ha, we got on the metro on the purple line, had to switch to the red line, got off at an exit nearish to our hotel, and were planning to walk the rest of the way (which is all uphill) until we saw a bus stop sign with our bus number (63) on it. We took it, and got dropped off right next to the hotel.. So, we made it! And, since we didn't have lunch, we were starving. Both last night and tonight we've been to great Italian restaurants. True Italian pasta is absolutely delicious!
Tomorrow, we're headed to the Vatican! So excited to see the Sistine Chapel.
Ciao!
