Europe Trip Part 5: Rome

June 22, Thursday

Michael and I got up at 6 AM so we could be ready for our Rome tour. We all went up to the Windjammer buffet for breakfast around 7 AM. We came back and finished getting ready. I told everybody to meet us in our room at 7:40 AM. It was about 8:10 AM by the time we got to our driver. His name is Andrea and he got us to Rome very quickly. Unfortunately, there was a lot of traffic in Rome. He gave us some interesting facts as we drove around. He also took us on a more scenic route to avoid the traffic so we got a beautiful panoramic view of Rome. 

We wanted to drive past Trevi Fountain and the Pantheon but we didn't have time. He took us to the Colosseum and we got there around 10 AM. We were supposed to meet our tour at 10:30 AM so Andrea walked me to the office of Ultimate Italy so we could check in and get our tickets. They didn't give us tickets but they gave us some red stickers to put on our shirts. While I was doing that, Michael and the kids were in a busy, crowded touristy area. Apparently, somebody came and started putting bracelets on the kids and then demanded that Michael pay him €20 for it. If I had been there, I wouldn't put up with that nonsense but Michael is a softy. We had a little argument about that and I told him to be very careful and not let anybody approach them or touch them. We had this exact conversation while we were preparing for the trip and I warned them that this could happen but this guy was a really good scam artist, I guess. Michael tried to give him €10 and he asked for more so gave it to him. I would've just said no, but whatever. We went to get a picture in front of the Colosseum. We had our tour guide take the picture for us and it looks like they turned out well so I'm happy about that. 

There were hordes of people. We finally met up with our tour guide and she walked us over to the line. We stood in line for security for quite a while. 

Andrew had said he needed to go to the bathroom and I assumed there would be an opportunity but she walked us right in and started the tour right away and he didn't have an opportunity to use the bathroom before the tour started. So, he had been holding it since we were on the ship. So, when we were switching levels, Andrew and I snuck off to go use the bathroom. Then, apparently, she even told the whole tour that our family had to use the bathroom. I don't know what everybody else did, but that was awkward and unnecessary. The tour guide could've mentioned that there were not going to be opportunities to use the bathroom. Whatever. Andrew and I were able to easily catch up with everyone. I knew we were going to be able to go to the arena floor but I didn't realize we were going to be able to go to the upper level so that was cool. It was cool just to be there and look around and hear about the history of the place. We got a few pictures inside. When we were standing on the arena floor, there was no shade and it was so hot. We were all melting. Michael was sweating like crazy today. I had read that Rome is hot but I figured it couldn't be that bad since were used to Phoenix weather, but it felt even hotter than Phoenix at points. It was almost 100° today and wasn't too bad in the shade but the sun was so hot. 

Luckily, we were able to find shade for most of the day but it wasn't easy. There was an opportunity to go to the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill, but there was no way we would have had time for that. The tickets specifically said that we could have entrance to the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill to explore on our own, but the guide was telling us that that wasn't the case and that we had to go with the group. So, I don't know why that was advertised incorrectly, but it didn't matter because we didn't have time for it anyway. I wanted to buy a little magnet but the gift shop was too crowded. We were able to get a good panoramic view from the stopping point of the tour so we just took some pictures there and moved on. 

We wanted to get back to our driver as soon as possible to try to stop at some places before we went to the Vatican. On the way out, I saw another little souvenir shop with no wait so I grabbed a couple of magnets and bought those and made sure I got plenty of coins for change so we could throw them into the fountain. We went out to meet our driver and we were supposed to go across a busy road but it was pretty treacherous so we had to walk a little while to get to the crosswalk. It was cool to see the Colosseum from the other vantage point, as well. 

We got in the van and our driver took us to the Trevi Fountain. It was a massive horde of people. You could barely get between people to throw your coins in the fountain. Emily and I went down to do that. Michael and the boys stood above and viewed it from there. Nathaniel and Audrey also went to the fountain and threw a coin in there. 

Our driver said we only had five minutes there so we quickly went back to the van. We were supposed to meet our group tour for the Vatican, Sistine chapel, and St. Peter's Basilica at 1:15 PM and our tour was supposed to start at 1:45 PM. By the time we left the fountain, it was about 1:10 PM so we didn't have much time. There was so much traffic that it was supposed to take us 22 minutes to get there, but somehow Andrea got us there in way less time than that. 

We ended up parking and walking to the Crown Tours office because that was quicker than trying to drive through the streets to get us closer. He walked with us to the office and made sure that we were able to get in on the tour. I don't know why they demanded for us to be there half an hour early because we got there around 1:30 PM and we still had to stand outside and wait for a while. We all got Powerades and water and stood outside the tour office and waited. They walked us around the corner and they took a very long time getting us organized. They had to gather the children and give us our stickers. I guess they had some sort of mishap with people on the tour and they didn't have the right numbers or something. It took a very long time to get us organized and it wasted a lot of precious time that we didn't have. They finally walked us to the Vatican Museum. 

We got in somewhat quickly and then she went to get the tickets or something. She had to take the kids with her and figure all that out. Since the boys were a different price, they had to go with her to verify their age but she said they didn't need ID because they looked younger than 19. Then Andrew scolded us that we didn't go with Jonny because he didn't have his ID with him because I've been holding it for him all this time. It did come in handy this morning at the Colosseum because I had to show Jonny's ID to get the child’s price. Anyway, we used the bathrooms and then met back up with our tour guide, got our headsets, and headed to the museum. She took us to room after room after room of art today. There were long halls of statues and it was really cool. Toward the beginning, she took us out to a courtyard and explained about the Sistine Chapel ceiling in detail. It was hot but at least we were in the shade for most of it. It was quite interesting what she told us. For instance, there's a painting of a man holding what looks like a costume. But really, it's a representation of somebody's skin because they were skinned alive, but Michelangelo made it like a self-portrait of himself like that was his state of mind or something. I didn't quite get it but that was interesting. 

It was interesting because in a lot of the artwork, everybody's naked. However, in the Vatican paintings they use pieces of cloth strategically placed to cover up and make them more modest. A lot of the statues had a fig leaf where the private area was to hide the naked statue. 

It was almost 4 PM and we still hadn't made it to the Sistine Chapel. We went down a couple long corridors with statues and tapestries and it was just a massive horde of people. It made Disneyland look empty. I was getting nervous because we still needed to see the Sistine Chapel and Saint Peter’s Basilica and meet our driver at 4:30 PM. 

Finally, she took us into the Sistine Chapel. You were supposed to be quiet in there but she was talking to us on our little headset so I don't know what to say about that. We told her we were in a hurry and we needed to finish up so she gathered us and gave us directions on what to do. We turned in our headsets. Unfortunately, we didn't have much time to look at the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, but at least we got to see it and it was very cool to see in person. We couldn't take pictures or anything. We left the Sistine Chapel and went down a long set of stairs then went out of there and turned right to go in to see St. Peters Basilica. It was amazing in there! The Basilica was enormous. I wish we could've stayed there longer. 

I took some pictures and video and then went hunting for Michael and the kids. We found everybody but Emily and Daniel. They had come looking for us and when we couldn't find them, we decided to go check at the exit and thankfully they were out there. The driver had given Nathaniel a little map because he was sitting in the front seat and he explained to Nathaniel how we exit. I snuck in a quick picture in front of Saint Peter’s Basilica as we left and then we raced back to our driver. 

We had to go through a tunnel. It was 4:37 PM by the time we got to the van and we headed back to the ship. We got back around 6 PM so that worked out perfectly. We boarded the ship and we all went to our cabins. I asked the kids to come down so we could finish reading scriptures and have a prayer. Then we got freshened up and the kids all went to the Windjammer before us because we weren't ready yet. Everyone was hungry because we didn’t have time for lunch. We planned on that, but it was still rough. Michael and I went up and took our time eating a ton of food. It was interesting that everything that was on the main dining menu was also available on the buffet in the Windjammer, so that was nice. That way we were able to try everything. I had fun sitting by the window with him and looking out at the water.

This is the company we used for our transportation in Rome, Rome in Limo.  

https://www.romeinlimo.com/rome-civitavecchia/highlights.htm

We designed our day ourselves with these tours:

https://www.tiqets.com/en/rome-attractions-c71631/tickets-for-colosseum-small-group-tour-p1015963

https://www.tiqets.com/en/rome-attractions-c71631/tickets-for-vatican-museums-sistine-chapel-and-st-peter-s-basilica-guided-tour-p1060726