Day 3: Colleseum and Vatican City

Day 3 in Rome we woke up early again to go to the Colosseum. We knew the line would be super long and we also had tickets to go to the Vatican museum at 1:30 p.m. so we had limited time. We got up at 6 am again (ughh) and arrived at the Colosseum at 8:30 am. Even at 8:30 a.m. it was already crowded. It could have been worse but it opens at 8:30 so it was kind of surprising. The Colosseum ticket is a dual ticket with the Roman Forum, which is the ancient ruins of Rome. We ended up running out of time for the Forum though so we never got to see it. It was kind of sad but I saw so many other amazing things in Rome I couldn’t be that upset.

The Coliseum was interesting, but it was pretty much what I expected. The only thing that I didn’t expect was the fact that the inside part is a museum. They have sculptures and paintings and all these historical facts. It was very interesting.

Arch of Trajan, The original Victory Arch, inspiration for Arch de Triomph in Paris and many other famous arches

Colleseum

Spain!

Trajan

Socrates

Pythargoras

Aristotle

Colleseum Panoramic

Me at the Colleseum

All of us at the Colleseum

After walking around for a bit we wanted to see if we could get into the Forum. We decided that we didn’t have enough time before the Vatican to go see it though so we just headed to Vatican metro stop instead. Before heading to the Vatican museum we stopped for gelato at a place that Alex and Jess’s friend studying abroad recommended. It was called Old Bridge Gelato and it was seriously the best ice cream I’ve ever had in my life. All of us agreed.

Typical Lunch in Italy

Best Gelato ever!

When we got to the Vatican the line to get into the museum literally wrapped around half of the perimeter of Vatican City. It was insane. I’d estimate it was a 4 hour+ line. Luckily for us though, we got our tickets online ahead of time so we didn’t have to wait in any lines.

We got in easily and then realized how huge the museum was. We went to one random art section first and saw some really amazing works of art (Michelangelo, Da Vinci, Caravaggio, Raphael ect..) and then decided we should probably go to the main attraction, the Sistine Chapel. That of course had a really long line. They also make you walk like a mile though half the museum to get to it. The good thing about that is you do see the entire museum, whether you want to or not. The bad thing is it takes like 2 hours to get to the Sistine Chapel.

Last Supper Tapestery

St. Jerome in the Wilderness, by Leonardo Da Vinci

A Carvaggio Painting

another two Carvaggios

When we finally did get to it it was worth it. Its kind of hard to believe one guy painted that whole thing. I remember in middle school watching a video about Michelangelo painting the Sistine Chapel and how it hated it and it caused him to go slightly blind from all the paint that fell into his eyes and going in there I could def see how that would be the case. It is painted magnificently from floor to ceiling.

The Sistine Chapel!!!

After we got through the Sistine Chapel we were all exhausted. We decided to go back and take a nap because we were going out that night. We meet Jess and Alex’s friend for dinner in Piazza Navona again.

After dinner she was taking us to Trastevere, the going out area in Rome. Its was kind of far away from our hostel but she said there was a night bus that could take us back so we would be good. We went to this really cool place that had chocolate shots. The cups were made out of chocolate and then they put chocolate liquor in them and whipped cream on top. They were really cute.

After that we just went to a few bars and then decided to go home around 1. We found a night bus and got on and it was the craziest bus ride I’ve ever been on. The driver was insane and every stop were we all thrown forward into the seat in front of us because they driver stopped so abruptly. The bus ride also took 2.5 hours to get back to our hostel. It was ridiculous. Compared to Madrid, where you can get anywhere in the city in a maximum of 40 minutes, we were all shocked. I think all of us agreed that despite Rome being beautiful and amazing, we were relieved to be studying abroad in Madrid where the transportation system is so good.

Chocolate Shots. Aren't they cute?