We slept until nearly 7am today, despite our 'early to bed' last night. We were wiped out- from the heat, the humidity, the crowds and the ten zillion steps we took yesterday. Speaking of steps, I actually left my fitness tracker at home this time around. My ship's card deactivated at least six time last cruise, after almost never having had that issue in the past. The only thing that was different was my fitness tracker, and I got tired of going to the Passenger Services Desk (PSD) every other day to get a new card. We'll see if my old luck returns.
We lingered a bit over breakfast and cappuccinos. We didn't have any kind of schedule today, and it felt wonderful. Our goal (albeit flexible) was to get to the Colosseum and Roman Forum, and the fastest way to do that would have been to take Rome's two metro lines to get there. (Due to all its buried archaeological sites, Rome has only the two lines). But underground was not how we wanted to do this. First, we wanted to see the city, not move under it. And second, after my experience in St. Peter's dome coupled with yesterday's earthquake (we had felt nothing, by the way), I was just not that anxious to go underground. While we had been walking around the Vatican area our first night here, we had seen one of the the city's trams, kind of like streetcars, powered by overhead wires. These looked pretty cute to us and we wanted to ride one while we were here.
We walked north on Via Vespasiano a couple of blocks, and then east one block. We passed a tobacco store that sold public transport tickets, and bought two for 1,50€ each. Crossing the street from there took us to a center median that was the boarding area for the #19 tram. When it arrived, we were delighted to see it was one of the oldest trams, with just a single line of seats down each side with a middle aisle. While we had waited for it, we studied the sign that showed the stops along the line. We knew we could change trams at about six different stops, and memorized how many stops it was to the first and last of those. We struggled a bit to validate our tickets but a local stood up to show us how. Easy peasy once we were shown the trick.
We changed trams in from of the Mueseum of Modern Art, to a #3 tram. This one was a little tougher; we needed to get off at the 17th stop, but some of the stops were actually two stops so we had to watch the signs at each stop. We needn't have worried; once we rounded a final corner, the Colloseum appeared, huge and ancient, right in front of us. It would have been nearly impossible to miss that stop. The Colloseum was completed in 80AD and is the largest amphitheater ever built (and yes, several Michigan Stadiums could probably fit in it).
We walked around then Colloseum looking for the ticket office, and caught sight of the crowds inside and the lines to get through security. As we were about to buy a ticket, G said he had had enough of both yesterday. It was a gorgeous day, low 70s, sunny and low humidity, and what we wanted to do more than get a detailed history of the Colloseum (we had read Rick Steve's section on it and found it a bit...disturbing) was simply walk around and take some photos. And that is what we did, spending an hour or so at our own pace, viewing the Arch of Constantine and the Colloseum from different angles and then walking up toward the Roman Forum and Palantine Hill (one of the seven hills of Rome)
Arch of Constantine
Road to Roman Forum
Roman Forum area
Just this side of the security check for the Roman Forum and Palantine Hill (long lines nearly back to the Colloseum), we turned off on a road called San...something (Benefacio? I'm not certain) and we walked up what was basically Palatine Hill but outside the security fence. At the end of that road was a small, unpretentious (at least by Italian standards) church that was a real hidden treasure. We spent a few minutes inside and then walked back to the Colloseum.
Looking back at the Colloseum
At that point we had spent enough time in crowds for the day. We saw several different Hop On Hop Off (HOHO) buses near the Colloseum and decided on the spur of the moment that that was how we wanted to spend the rest of our afternoon. We chose one that cost 18€ per person for the day, climbed up to the second level and sat back to enjoy the ride. We saw way more of Rome that way than walking through crowds at street level, gorgeous views above the cars and people. The buildings in Rome are like the statues in the Vatican Museum; there are so many beautiful ones that eventually they feel a bit less awe inspiring.
We rode the full loop once and then stayed on back to the stop nearest the Vatican. We had talked about getting off near the Trevi Fountain and Spanish Steps but decided we were just not that interested in getting another punch on our list of 'sites we saw in Rome'. Instead we wanted to have energy for a nice walk back to the hotel and then dinner out at a sidewalk cafe. After we disembarked the bus, we crossed the Ponte (Bridge) Sant'Angelo over the Tiber River. It was built by the Emperor Hadrian in 134 AD (these dates are just amazing) to connect the city center to his newly constructed mausoleum, the Castle Sant'Angelo. At that point we kind of went on instinct, left turns then right turns. When we found same shade we used the Maps.Me app to confirm that we were on track, and soon started to recognize the area.
It was so nice to return to the hotel around 5:30pm with a bit of energy. We got cleaned up and went back out for dinner, choosing a sidewalk cafe we had passed on our walk to the tram this morning. G had lasagna and I had tagliatelle with seafood and we split a bottle of wine and generally had a wonderful meal to wrap up our very short Rome stay. As he was reviewing his photos, G just said that we've met some really helpful people here, but the traffic and crowds are so horrendous that he could never stay here more than a few days at a time. We love Rome...in very small doses.
The alarm is set for 7am tomorrow. As soon as we returned back to the hotel we went online to check on the whereabouts of the Pacific Princess. Great news...it has left Genoa and is making its way to Civitavecchia by 5am tomorrow morning! I had had the scare of a lifetime this morning when I checked my emails and saw a Cancellation Notification from Princess. What???? It turned out that it was the notification we had never received in invoice form of the last cruise's cancellation. But it almost stopped my heart until I figured it out. All that stands between us and the Pacific Princess is one sleep, one breakfast, one pack up (easy to do since we've lived out of our roll aboards since we arrived in Rome) and one long transfer. We can do this! The Pacific Princess can do this! And exactly two weeks after the Nice mishap, we'll meet up again.
Life is good. :-)