On our last full day of the trip, we met our bus driver Pino and trip guide Angie on the bus at 9am to head over to the Colosseum! Once we got there, we met our tour guide, Pietro. Angie told us multiple time he is her FAVORITE local guide, so we were all pretty excited. Sure enough, Pietro was an adorable man in his 70âs and was basically a walking encyclopedia.
We stood outside the Colosseum while Pietro explained that there used to be 4 main entrance gates for the elites of Roman society, but 80 entrances in total. It was built in 72 ad and took 8 years to build! The name âColloseumâ came from a statue of Nero that used to stand facing the arena. The statue stood as high as the third arcade of arches of the arena and therefore it was called âColossoâ, or giant. Pietro continued his tour by explaining that there isnât anything holding the rocks together, but instead the ancient Romans inserted metal poles between the rocks. This is the only spot in the entire Colosseum that one of these poles is visible!
After Pietro shared the different types of battles that were fought in the Colosseum and the story behind the battles (most of the gladiators were slaves), he gave us some free time to roam about. We took the opportunity to take a few snapshots and run into the souvenir shop to warm up a bit before continuing on.
Next, we walked over to the ancient Roman ruins, where many pieces of the ancient city still remain intact. For instance, hereâs a memorial for Caesar Augustus after he was killed in 14 AD:
Since we only had a day in Rome, we ate a quick lunch and then regrouped on the bus to head over to the Vatican museum. Pietro first explained the Sistine Chapel to us on posters near the lobby, as they now ask that tour guides to not disturb the other guests once in the chapel. We then followed him through a part of the museum, specifically learning about many of the tapestries.Â
The Sistine Chapel was stunning but, unfortunately, youâre not allowed to take pictures in there. All the better reason to go see it for yourself! We made our way over to St. Peterâs Basilica next, where Da Vinciâs second Pieta lives. Because a visitor in the â70s attacked the work of art, there is now glass and an alarm between visitors and the sculpture, but it was no less moving because of it.
There is so much to see in the cathedral alone that it would take more than an hour to see it all, but some highlights included the statue of St. Peter (itâs said to be good luck to rub his foot), and a beautiful manger display was up for Christmas.Â
By the time we left the Vatican, we were all EXHAUSTED. We headed back to the hotel and tried to nap, though we were all still feeling sick. We got ready for dinner and met everyone around 6 to head off to our âsurpriseâ. The restaurant we went to was below ground and had the appearance of a cave. It was called Le Terme del Colosseo. It was very cute and we were the only people there at first. Windsor, Taylor, and I sat with our Australian friends and toasted to the last dinner of our Contiki adventure. Just as the servers began to bring out the food, the surprise happened â they burst into song! And not just any song, mind you, but opera.Â
Not only was the singing excellent, but the food was delicious as well! It was one of the best meals we had (the Tuscan dinner being the only exception) and was definitely a fantastic way to end the trip. After dinner, we had to say good-bye to our new friends, which was pretty sad. Some people were heading out to the club, but since we had to get up at 4am to catch our flight the next day, we decided to skip the discotech. We finished packing up and went to bed for a few hours of sleep, but it was 4am before we knew it. We gathered all of our stuff and headed to the lobby to wait for our taxi to take us to the airport.
At 4:45, as we were all logged onto the lobbyâs internet on our phones, our friend Chan appeared. He had mentioned the night before that he would wake up to say good-bye, but we never expected him to actually remember, let alone get up! He waited with us until the car came, and then helped us with our bags out of the hotel. It was raining when we left, the only time it rained the entire two weeks, and Chan stood there as we drove away from our new friends, Angie, Pino, and all the fun we had on our Contiki adventure.
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