We walked to towards the train station to purchase the Roma Pass. The Roma Pass gave us free entry to two of the big tourist locations and free public transportation within Rome for three days (does not include travel to/from the airport).
Once we picked up our Roma Passes, we walked to the Colosseum. It was about a half hour walk from our hotel. We used the Roma Pass for our entry into the Colosseum and Palatino/Roman Forum. Upon arriving, we also booked a tour of the Colosseum from tour guides outside of the area. We paid 13 Euro per person for the tour (on top of entry, which as I said, we used our Roma Pass for). We thought it was very worth the price we paid! We received a tour of the Colosseum and the Palatino. It's very difficult to decipher what you're looking at without a tour guide. Once our tour was over, we spent about another hour walking around the Roman Forum by ourselves. Our Italy book helped guide us once the official tour was over.
Around lunch time, we headed over the picturesque II Vittoriano and ate lunch across the street. Once we finished our lunch of sandwiches and wine, we walked over to the II Vittoriano to check it out. At the beautiful building, Italy has it's own changing of the guard ceremony. It is free to enter the building, so we went in to check it out and to see the beautiful views of Rome from the building. It costs money to take the elevator to the top, so we opted not to go all the way to the roof of the building. I am sure it's a beautiful sight to see!
After quickly touring the II Vittoriano, we headed over to the Capitoline Museum, the world's oldest national museum founded in 1471. There were beautiful pieces on display at the museum!
Once again, we took a late afternoon nap and then ate dinner at La Vecchia Roma. At dinner time, we wandered the streets around our hotel for awhile until we found a restaurant we wanted to eat at. We really enjoyed the ambiance of this restaurant! Of course, we finished off the day with gelato.
The day was a bit chillier than others. It also rained much of the morning. It created much smaller crowds, which was actually kind of nice!
Our first view of the Colosseum
It's pretty amazing!
Inside the Colosseum
Had to get a picture of Patrick in the Colosseum
What was underneath the "stage floor"
"Spectating"
Back outside the Colosseum, waiting for our tour of Palatine Hill (Palatino) to begin
Had to get a picture of the two of us together
Some of the emperor's ruins on Palatine Hill
More of the Emperor's ruins
On top of the hill, overlooking the Roman Forum
On top of Palatine Hill, overlooking some of Rome
The botanical gardens on the hill
Beautiful flowers
Patrick, taking a walking break, overlooking the city
Ruins within the Roman Forum
The ruins were incredible
Beautiful
Rome is still slowly digging up the ruins
Lunch time!
Awesome view
II Vittoriano
A nice family took our picture
On the stairs of the II Vittoriano
Changing of the Guard
Overlooking Rome from the II Vittoriano
Statue within the II Vittoriano... It looked like he wanted a kiss
Capitoline Museum
Capitoline Museum
Dinner time!
We really liked this restaurant
Gelato!
