Italy 2015 - Rome - Day One

Italy 2015 - Rome - Day One

We woke up early on our first day in Rome eager to hit the streets and see the sights. First though we had to fill our bellies. We were staying at the Crosti Hotel which includes a complimentary breakfast with your room. We were pleased with the offerings, especially my Dad who had three cappuccinos. The breakfast room attendant laughed at my Dad and soon learned to just keep bringing the cappuccino after he asked for another one a few times.

We were on our way around 8am. It was a nice spring day and I was enjoying the warmer temperature. The trees had already produced fruit! This was amazing to me as I had just traveled from Canada where we had still been buried in snow.

I absolutely love Rome. The whole city is bursting with beautiful art and architecture. Here are some pictures from our walk down toward the forum.

We passed by the Quirinal Palace on our walk and enjoyed a beautiful view of Rome. We could see the dome of St. Peter's in the distance.

Quirinal Palace

View of Rome and St Peter's from the Quirinal Palace

Our first destination that morning was the Colosseum. On my previous trip to Rome I did not get to go into the Colosseum so I wanted to make sure to do so on this trip.

Once I caught sight of Trajan's Column and the Il Vittoriano I knew we had arrived at our destination.

Il Vittoriano and Trajan's Column

Detail from Trajan's Coumn

We got to skip the line to buy admission since we had our Roma Passes. This is when my Dad started to realize that I knew my stuff and that he should start listening to me. ;) That and I had navigated our way to the Colosseum with no problem. Our admission to the Colosseum also included admission to the Palatine Hill and The Forum. The Palatine Hill was our main destination that morning as none of us had ever been there before whereas we had all been to the Forum and Dad and Maria had been to the Colosseum. But, before exploring the Palatine I got to enter the Colosseum for the first time.

It was very crowded but that did not bother me. The Colosseum is meant to be crowded after all!

Arch of Constantine as seen from the Colosseum

Arch of Constantine

Arch of Constantine

 After my exploration of the Colosseum we made our way over to The Palatine Hill. The Palatine was where the emperor's lived, most famously Augustus.

Entrance to the Palatine Hill

 The Palatine was lovely with a wide mixture of ruins from different time periods.

Ruins of an apartment complex on the lower Palatine Hill

 There was a lovely garden built a couple centuries ago that featured a great view over The Forum below.

View of the Forum from The Palatine

View of the Forum from The Palatine

View of the Forum from The Palatine

Temple of Vesta in the Roman Forum as seen from The Palatine

View of Temple of Antoninus and Faustina

View of the Temple of Romulus and Remus in the Roman Forum

Arch of Septimius Severus in The Roman Forum

We wandered into a tunnel that had these beautiful carvings on the ceiling. I was surprised to see these outside rather than protected in a museum.

Water fountains were everywhere in Rome.

 The ruins of Augustus' Palace were very impressive. It was very easy to imagine how these buildings must have looked when they were intact. Definitely suitable to be the home of the emperor's.

Had my stepmother stand below this window to show the scale

The Circus Maximus

 Once upon a time the emperor's would have been able to walk directly from their palace on the Palatine to their viewing box in the Circus Maximus which is located directly next to the Palatine Hill. Chariot races would have been held here and it was a major gathering spot during the Roman Empire.

There was also a small museum on The Palatine that housed a small sculpture collection. Overall we were very impressed with the size of the ruins on the Palatine. Before the trip our impression had been that there was not much to see there but that was not true at all. We got to see the ruins of the palace of the emperor's, lovely gardens, and ruins of some of the original hill settlements of Rome.

Next we descended into The Forum