Rome day 2

Day 2 up early and out to do some sight seeing, first stop the colosseum. Mistake numero uno, the metro at 8-9 in the morning is rammed. Mistake number 2 trusting my sense of direction to find the next metro station, an hour walk lead me in a circle back to Bologna metro station. By the way the metro offer various tickets but for €1 you get 75 minutes of travel, enough to get anywhere unless you have my sense of direction. Eventually I arrived at coloseo metro station and was not expecting to walk out and see the colosseum. But that is exactly what happened, the best view of the colosseum from outside is from the north side where the third floor is still in tact and that is exactly where the metro station is. Breath taking is an under statement, the place is magnificent. At the colosseum I purchased a roma pass, this costs €25 and gets you free entrance to the first two attractions, discounted entrance to everywhere else and includes travel on the public transport system for 3 days. The entrance to the colosseum costs €12 by itself, so well worth it. I downloaded a number of audio guides for attractions in Rome so spent a few hours in the colosseum listening to those and wandering around the immense grave of roman culture.

And that's where I am now, sat on a stone that is defintely older than any american history and probably but not definitely older than my good friend Miss Hughes. To my right is the colosseum, directly in front of me is the arc of constantine and to the left is the temple of Venus. I can just about make out the top of Rome forum. My mother in law told me rome was amazing but she often tells lies, normally to get me to do something I don't want to but in this case amazing doesn't start to describe my experience in the short time i have spent here thus far. Right that's enough for now off to the pantheon.

 The pantheon, starting outside is a square surrounded by restaurants, stopped here and had an amazing palma ham and cheese sandwich. The pantheon is not that impressive from the outside but inside it makes up for it. The massive domed roof with the hole in the middle is simply outstanding. The church houses a number of tombs including Raphael. It is definitely worth a visit, is in angels and demons and there is no charge to enter. Right let's go see what this trevi fountain is all about. 

Trevi fountain was another shocker, you are walking through back streets and you can start to hear water but nowhere seems bigger enough to hold a decent size fountain. Then you turn the corner and the space opens up and there it is. I am pretty sure that sooner or later Rome has got to stop shocking me but it hasn't yet. The fontana de trevi is truly beautiful, even with the five hundred Asian tourists all taking fifty photos of each other and throwing money over their shoulders. It is impossible to describe it, i've seen it in pictures, on the Internet and in films but it is simply indescribable. Sat by the fountain and had an ace bit of ice cream, this place is awesome, seriously thinking that Rome could be somewhere to consider living.

 

I feel like I've done quite a lot of sight seeing today therefore I have found a different Irish pub. It is right in the middle of Rome called scholars lounge and costs €6 for a beer. But it's a real pub and a lot bigger than the one I found yesterday. Have a few in here me thinks!!!!