It was a bit of a gamble going with this company, cruisingexcursions.com. I literally found them on a google search and I couldn't find any solid reviews other than their own website. BUT, the carnival tours made you basically choose between the Colosseum and the Vatican. I wasn't happy with that, so we took the gamble.... and I was not disappointed!
It was so nice to go from a tour bus to small vehicle with eight people. With having a small vehicle he dropped us off practically at the front door/steps of each sight. And the icing on the cake of this small tour was that the other five people on this tour were Aggies from Katy, Texas! They were on a totally different cruise ship from ours, but we crossed paths on this day. And if that wasn't crazy enough, we were talking on the way to Rome (another place where we had to drive over an hour to get to our destination), and we were talking about all the Aggies we had seen on the trip when I said, "yeah just yesterday in Pisa as I was getting off the tram I saw a guy in an A&M cap and I said Gig 'Em to him!" And the guy leaned forward to me and said, "Wait, that was you?!?"
Holy cow, what are the odds? We were on totally different cruise boats and tours the day before!
But they were the nicest people and ones I would choose over and over to do this tour with. Their family consisted of the two parents (Aggie grads), two daughters going into 6th and 8th grades, and their grandmother. I'm so happy it was them we shared this experience with!
Our driver was exactly what I envisioned a young Italian to be. He wore a nice long sleeved white button up shirt (even though it was hotter than hades outside), skinny jeans, all name brand accessories, gelled spiky hair, and wore his sunglasses on his forehead any time it wasn't imperative that he wear them over his eyes. He also knew exactly how to drive in Rome: crazy and as if you don't have a care in the world... a bit terrifying to the rest of us in the vehicle (but hey, if you are going to do the maximum you can in Rome in one day, that's the way to get there and be able to do it, right?).
We first made a stop to admire the view of Rome.
Then we made our way to the Capitol Hill area.
We took Michelangelo's grand stairway up to the Piazza del Campidoglio.
Santa Maria in Aracoeli Church
Victor Emmanuel Monument
Italy's Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
Then we drove to the Colosseum area where we literally parked this far away.
Roman Forum
Before I left for this cruise I bought a Rick Steve's book titled "Mediterranean Cruise Ports." I would highly recommend his guide books. But he also had a phone app titled "Rick Steve's Audio Europe" that I would also highly recommend. You have to download the audio guides while you are in wifi but then you don't need anything for them to run (which is good because I didn't have an international cell service plan). It gives you pictures and maps to help guide you. But it's all free and a very interesting tour!
View from the Colosseum to the Arch of Constantine
Palatine Hill
Roman Forum from the Colosseum
And on we went speeding through the scary small side streets...
Our next stop was the Trevi Fountain.
I would've done the whole throw a coin over your shoulder to ensure my return to Rome but there were a couple of tourists there at the time that kinda blocked my path.
And on we went to the Spanish Steps...
The Sinking Boat Fountain just across from the Spanish Steps.
We went to lunch at a cute little place that I didn't get the name of, have no idea where it was and would really not be interested in going back to. It was kinda part of the tour that we go there, it was included in the price and not a decision we got to make. I can definitely say we had a "When in Rome" moment or two there. The food was iffy- at best. We got to pick two courses each. First choice was pasta with red sauce or with an olive oil base. Neither were fantastic (nothing like the day before in Florence). The second coarse we had a choice between veal or veal with ham. Seriously. I went with the addition of Ham. It came with a gravy on top (very salty). I took a few obligatory bites. Dessert was some pudding/custard non-sweet thing. We were not impressed. But it was better than having to fight a crowd and waste time? Maybe?!?
Lastly, we made our way to the Vatican. Here's the walls of the Vatican.
Our driver gave us an hour and a half in the Vatican. Luckily, my brother warned me about how big the Vatican museum was (FOUR MILES to be exact!!!) because otherwise I wouldn't have had all the time I got in the Sistine Chapel. If you've ever seen National Lampoon's European Vacation and the part where they go through the Louvre in Paris and they don't have much time so they practically run through the museum; that's pretty much what we did in the Vatican (as best you can with the crowd and my mom's walking). But here's some of the pictures I took while on the run:
After that was the Sistine Chapel which you can't take pictures inside. But we got lucky in there and found a seat along the wall (highly recommend so you can see and don't get shooed out to make room for more people). You aren't allowed to talk in there so every one's tour guides were pointless at that point. But good ole' Rick Steve's didn't disappoint with his phone app. We sat and listened to his tour guide, it even had a map of the ceiling and corresponding photos on my phone so that I knew exactly what part of the ceiling he was talking about. It was really cool and gave the room so much more meaning to know what you were looking at!
One of the things we didn't get to do was go into St. Peter's Basilica. I was kinda sad about that but I know I will have to go back in order to do Rome the right way anyways, so there's that to look forward to doing for the first time!
We did go into St. Peter's Square. I was actually shocked by how much smaller it seemed than on TV when it's packed with people.
And then there was this just beside the square. Water that flows in from the original Roman aqueducts (in fact all flowing water in Rome is from these) and still good for human consumption, crazy!
We had such an amazing day in Rome, I hardly feel I did it justice in this post! I loved Rome and will have to go back one day to see more!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment