Day 2 - Vatican City, Castel Sant'Angelo, Largo di Torre Argentina, Pantheon, Piazza Navona, The Palace of Justice & Piazza del Popolo
Day 2 we got the metro blue B line from Garbatella (closest to our hotel) to Termini Station which is the main station for buses, trains & the metro. We then had to change to get the red A line to Cipro-Musei Vaticani. When we got off we just followed everyone else towards Vatican City.
It wasn't what I was expecting at all. If you are like me & you didn't really Google or research stuff because you just wanted to be surprised by everything well this will be a bit of a plot spoiler.. There's a big massive wall that surrounds Vatican City! I thought it was just be like the big cathedral you see on the TV when the pope does his speech!
We walked around a corner & there was a massive queue with loads of annoying tour guide people asking if you had a ticket to go in the museum & if you don't you can buy one off them & jump the queue but we were like no thanks. There was one of these people every step of the queue trying to sell you a ticket! Once we finally found the entrance to the museum my dad was debating whether we should buy a ticket off one of these guys as to join the queue it was going to be a good 3hrs. But I didn't trust them & wasn't that fussed about going into the museum or to the Sistine Chapel. (I don't really know what it is if I'm being honest). I'm also one of the least religious person ever.
We then ended up doing a lap around the outside of Vatican City...
This queue stretches to around that corner
Every where in Rome there are water fountains. Not too sure how clean the water actually is but everyone else was drinking from it so we did too & filled our water bottles.
We kept walking then...
I over heard a tour guide telling his group in the Roman Forum the day before that if you plan on going into the Vatican Museum or to St Peter's there is not information in there & you are best booking with a tour guide otherwise you'll have no idea what anything is. This wasn't him trying to make him money but is actually true as he said there are no signs or anything giving information of what anything is. Holly advised me before we went that the view up St Peter's step is amazing with the 360 view of Rome but is really dangerous. I would've liked to go up to see the view but we ended up just taking loads of photos within St Peter's square.
We then walked down Via della Conciliazione (Road of the Conciliation) which is the big long straight up that the tour buses take up to St Peter's square. We walked towards Castel Sant'Angelo.
We didn't go inside as you had to pay to get in. So carried on walking to find Piazza Navona...
There's loads of wild cats that roam around these ruins with a sign saying not to feed them as they follow the people that feed them, then get ran over with photos of cats that have been ran over.
It's strange how there are so many random things just in squares around Rome. Like we were following the map to where we were going but kept ending up seeing random things we weren't expecting to see.
We then went to lunch at a little pub like restaurant. Where we got the pizza/pasta, drink & coffee for €9.50 deal.
Mum got the seafood risotto
Dad got the mushroom pizza
I got the salmon pasta
We then got a shot of espresso which was the coffee. I didn't have one though. With a full stomach we carried on walking...
Couldn't stop laughing at the pigeon just casually sitting on his toe
Palazzo Madama
Palazzo Madama
Vatican City from the Ponte Umberto bridge
We then bumped into the Spanish Steps!
SCAFFOLDING!!! Seriously picked like the worst time to go to Rome, they seem to have planned to have everything refurbished at the same time which is really annoying like why can't you do one at a time?!
We then went back on the underground to the hotel. On our way back we stopped at this shop that sold pizza for dinner. It was strange as it was sold by weight, so you picked the one you liked then they weigh it to give you the price.
I got the broccoli pizza, mum got chorizo & chips & my dad got a kebab. It was alright something different but it was greasy not my kind of food!
There's still one more post from Rome which I'm not going to say when I'll post it since this took longer than what I said it'll be done by. Just keep an eye out when it's posted!
We then ended up doing a lap around the outside of Vatican City...
This queue stretches to around that corner
Every where in Rome there are water fountains. Not too sure how clean the water actually is but everyone else was drinking from it so we did too & filled our water bottles.
We kept walking then...
St Peter's Square
Sunglasses - Vintage Ray-Bans Mum's
Top - Topshop
Shorts - Forever 21 Florida
Bag - Topshop
I over heard a tour guide telling his group in the Roman Forum the day before that if you plan on going into the Vatican Museum or to St Peter's there is not information in there & you are best booking with a tour guide otherwise you'll have no idea what anything is. This wasn't him trying to make him money but is actually true as he said there are no signs or anything giving information of what anything is. Holly advised me before we went that the view up St Peter's step is amazing with the 360 view of Rome but is really dangerous. I would've liked to go up to see the view but we ended up just taking loads of photos within St Peter's square.
We then walked down Via della Conciliazione (Road of the Conciliation) which is the big long straight up that the tour buses take up to St Peter's square. We walked towards Castel Sant'Angelo.
Castel Sant'Angelo
Largo di Torre Argentina
It's strange how there are so many random things just in squares around Rome. Like we were following the map to where we were going but kept ending up seeing random things we weren't expecting to see.
We then went to lunch at a little pub like restaurant. Where we got the pizza/pasta, drink & coffee for €9.50 deal.
Mum got the seafood risotto
Dad got the mushroom pizza
I got the salmon pasta
We then got a shot of espresso which was the coffee. I didn't have one though. With a full stomach we carried on walking...
Pantheon
We then found the Pantheon which wasn't what I expecting either... I thought the Pantheon was just pillars but nope it's another church!
Aside the fact it's a church which doesn't appeal to me but knowing how old it is & how they built these structures all them years ago with the machinery we have today just amazes me. The dome is still the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome even though it's over 2000 years old! The height to the oculus (the circle where the light enters) & diameter of the interior circle are the same, 43.3m (142 ft). (I got that from Wikipedia).
Piazza Navona
Couldn't stop laughing at the pigeon just casually sitting on his toe
Palazzo Madama
Palazzo Madama
Piazzo Navona was a short walk from the Pantheon. Surprise surprise there was a church you could go in! Rome is just made up of churches & water fountains! There's one on every corner, square! I wish we got to see Piazza Navona in the dark but cos we walked so much in the day time once we got back to the hotel my mum & dad didn't want to go back! So we didn't really experience Rome at night in the dark sadly!
We carried on walking not too sure where we were going...
We walked down a side street & seen these two guys feeding a random pig!
The Palace of Justice
We walked up to the Palace of Justice & actually had no idea what it was. We didn't actually know it was a palace it was just a guess & how grand it looked.
Vatican City from the Ponte Umberto bridge
Rome is exactly like what you see on TV & films. The buildings are what you expect & imagine. You know how you see things in films but don't believe or think things actually look like that? Well Rome is definitely true. It's so beautiful I do wish I lived there, in Liverpool we have historic buildings but they're not the same.
We walked along the Fiume Tever, the Tiber River & ended up at Piazza del Popolo.
Piazza del Popolo
Yes you guessed it the dirtier looking building on the right is a church! We thought it was a bit weird that the one you could go in happened to be the dirty one unless they were just cleaning the other one first then moving onto the one you can enter.
I think the road down the centre of the two buildings leads to the posh expensive streets with Chanel, D&G, Armani etc.
We then bumped into the Spanish Steps!
Spanish Steps
SCAFFOLDING!!! Seriously picked like the worst time to go to Rome, they seem to have planned to have everything refurbished at the same time which is really annoying like why can't you do one at a time?!
We then went back on the underground to the hotel. On our way back we stopped at this shop that sold pizza for dinner. It was strange as it was sold by weight, so you picked the one you liked then they weigh it to give you the price.
I got the broccoli pizza, mum got chorizo & chips & my dad got a kebab. It was alright something different but it was greasy not my kind of food!
There's still one more post from Rome which I'm not going to say when I'll post it since this took longer than what I said it'll be done by. Just keep an eye out when it's posted!
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