8 Hours in Rome
Ahhhhh Rome! There's not another city like it in the world. It's both better and worse than you expect it to be. No matter how many times you go, you will always stumble across something very very old that will somehow be totally new to you. And you'll think, "Wow, it's BANANAS how well this piece of carved rock has been preserved! I wonder what it is? It should be in a museum!" and then some Italian construction man will roll by in an off-brand Bobcat and scoop it up with all the gentleness of a lion eating a gazelle, and you'll realize just how MUCH old museum worthy chunks of rock there are in this city. So many that they become about as important as a regular rock to the people living there. Or at least to the construction folks.
But, per usual, I digress.
We landed in Rome, from Minneapolis, at about 12:45 pm. Our final destination is Vienna, but there wasn't a flight out until 8:50 pm, leaving us almost 8 HOURS to explore the city. Now, 8 hours is very much not enough time to see Rome. It's barely enough time to leave the airport. It's one of those long layovers where you sit there and try to decide if it's worth leaving the airport at all. But Aaron has never been to Rome! So we HAD to leave the airport.
We grabbed the Leonardo Express train (14€) from the airport, hopped off at Roma Termini, and changed out of the Lucky Matching Sweatsuits™ into summer clothes. We learned that there are A LOT of random little kiosks selling tickets to the Leonardo Express - walk right by them all. You don't need to stop at a 3rd party tourist booth or even one of the official ticket vending machines. As long as you have Tap Pay set up on your phone, you can go straight to the turnstile and just tap your phone. This will save you from waiting in an unnecessary line, and will keep you from accidentally buying the same ticket for more money from a scammy 3rd-party vendor.
Another thing we learned was that Roma Termini has brand new remodeled bathrooms, which, being Rome, DO cost to enter (1€), but also actually take credit cards. Much like the train platform, these bathrooms were blocked by turnstiles, and you could tap your phone on the little pad to get access. Using a card was actually easier than Euro coins. While they did cost, the bathrooms were actually super clean, and we felt comfortable changing into some sightseeing clothes and brushing our teeth.
Once we were *more* presentable, we headed out in search of some lockers to drop our bags at. There are LOTS of places to hold your bags near Termini. There were also quite a few people trying to wave us over to use their bag drop. (The more a vendor tried to wave us over, the less I wanted to leave my bag with them.... Nor did I feel like leaving it just behind a counter at a random tobacco shop.) We ended up using one of the unmanned lockers, called Stow Luggage, where you paid by the hour, entered a pin code, dropped your bags into one locker, and left. I mean, look, for all we knew, there was another secret door in the back of the locker, and someone would come by and snatch our stuff. But it felt like the best option, and it ended up working for us. Nothing lost or stolen! Thanks, locker 41.
Finally, after all those logistics, we hit the town. Termini is only a 15-20 minute walk to the Colosseum, so that's where we headed. Aaron maintained that they're not a real history buff, and didn't care to see many historical sites on our trip, but this was the first of many times Aaron proved themselves wrong. We started off at a leisurely pace in that direction.
Rome was HOT. Like, really hot. Like, 98 degrees, direct sun, big crowds, and lots of dust, kind of hot. Still, that's sort of the Rome experience. Might as well embrace it. (Or just spend the day acting like you're dying, like me! Your call!!!)
We wandered through some smaller, shadier side streets, stopping for some Gelato at a place we saw along the way, called Gelatoria S.M. Maggiore. Their fruit gelato was fantastic, but their chocolate left a little something to be desired, IMO.
We kept meandering and eventually turned a corner, and there it was. The Colosseum. Rome is wild because you really do just stumble upon these incredible pieces of history, just right there in the middle of the city. There aren't too many places even close to comparable. Maybe Athens? But you really just round a corner and all of a sudden you're face to face with history.
Built sometime between 70 and 72 CE, the Colosseum is the oldest and (still!) one of the biggest amphitheaters in the world. And honestly, one of the most advanced. This ancient amphitheater was unique because it was built to be freestanding, as opposed to being built into the side of a hill. It would have been able to seat about 50,000 (!) spectators, and had a retractable roof to protect them from the sun. The roof would have been manned by Roman sailors, working rigging similar to that on a ship to retract and extend the shade. It hosted gladiator fights, battles between humans and animals, and could even be filled with water to stage epic naval battles... That's actually CRAZY. It then went on to be a church, post-introduction of Christianity, a fortress, and (womp womp) basically a quarry. Parts of the Colosseum even ended up being used to build St. Peter's Basilica.
Aaron and I didn't go inside, but we walked around the outside, took some photos, and read some of the placards.
From the Colosseum, it's another 20-ish minutes to walk to Trevi Fountain.
Along the way, we walked by the Arco di Tito, le Colonnacce, the Vittoriano (or Monument to Victor Emmanuel II), and Trajan's Column. Plus, probably about 17389 other things we didn't even clock.
When we got to Trevi, we had to wait in a line to get close to the fountain. This was new for me! Last time I visited (2016 maybe?), you could walk right up to the fountain. However, apparently, in 2023, some climate activists broke in at night and dropped a bunch of charcoal into the water, causing the fountain to be closed for 3 months while the city replaced 300,000 gallons of water and cleaned the fountain. When it reopened, they introduced the queuing system. Probably not a coincidence...
All things considered, I didn't actually mind the queue. It moved pretty fast, and meant that we could get some pretty clear photos, since we weren't scrapping and pushing to the front. The fountain guards were pretty funny, though - they reminded me of the elementary crossing guards, complete with silly vests and whistles. Plus, half of them were just leaning against the wall smoking, while a few others were taking photos of tourists, and like, maybe two were manning the queue or blowing their whistles when someone sat on the edge of the fountain.
We waited our turn, got a few pictures, and then, per tradition, threw a coin over our left shoulder, with our respective right hands. The coins were honestly why we waited in the queue at all. We want to come back to Rome, after all! (Though maybe in the fall or spring when it's less hot and crowded...)
By the time we left Trevi, we were about out of time. So we stopped by a restaurant on our way back to Termini, called Taverna Boccaccio, for some Italian pasta. Our whole meal, complete with two drinks, a starter, and two pasta dishes, was only about $60! Not bad. Then we scooped up our luggage (it was still there, safe and sound!) and hopped back on the Leonardo Express, where I promptly passed out for half an hour.
At the airport, security was easy and uneventful. Our flight lasted about an hour and a half, and we arrived in Vienna that night, tired, a little sticky, and satisfied.
Stay tuned for our adventures in Vienna!
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