Our last day in Rome was absolutely jam-packed. So we decided to start off the morning like all Italians: with pastry. This was my first of two cheats over the whole week. A pastry woven with chocolate and paired with fresh squeezed orange juice. Fresh orange juice is all over Europe and it's fabulous:)
When we finished, we immediately headed for the Coliseum to purchase our tour tickets. After purchasing them, we had about an hour and a half to two hours before our tour started, so we headed over to the Roman Forum. Now, the Roman Forum was the heart of the Ancient Republic. It's the center where Julius Caesar was burned, it's the home of the Vestal Virgins, and the birth place of the Modern United States Government. Ruins of temples, grand homes, government buildings, and other buildings line the bowl.
I'm not going to lie, it was H.O.T. and we were at least lucky that it wasn't July and it wasn't 1 in the afternoon. Sweat dropped down my face pretty much all day long:)
We still had about a half hour before our tour so we walked around the top of the hill above the Forum and paid for an elevator trip to the top of the Altar of the Fatherland (Vitorio Emmanuel Monument). Hands down, the best view of Rome. We'd been wanting to get to the top of it for a couple days now, and it was finally our chance. In fact, the past couple nights we'd ended the days by sitting on the front steps and people watching (let's say Italian cops kind of reminded us of Jersey Shore playboys).
FINALLY, it was our time to meet for the tour:) We paid for the 3rd Ring and Underground tour so we could see the Coliseum from all angles! And it was totally worth it!
The next few hours went quickly. We got lost... again... and then had a crappy lunch (our only bad meal of the trip and it was BAD), BUT we stopped in at a Gelato place I'd been deeply wanting to try. Il Gelatone was luckily just across the street from the crappy crappy place we'd had lunch and it was sorely needed! And totally worth it:) After nearly a half hour of wandering Rome, getting lost, a sad lunch, a hot afternoon, and we finally had vegan gelato in our hands!
We went back to the Forum/Capitoline Hill (because of our beautiful faces, they let us back in, even though they weren't supposed to) and finished looking at the homes of the emperors! Ahem, we also passed the House of Griffins... hence the finger wands:)
We had a scheduled appointment at the Borghese Gallery after and so we bolted off for Borghese Park! We had the normal Metro ride, but the exit from the station was like the hole from Alice in Wonderland. Escalator after escalator! We thought it wouldn't end! But after a lot of laughs and tired feet, we made it to the park:) and honestly, the gallery... there are no words!
On the way back to the hotel to change, we were both propositioned by a program designer from Naples (he had a friend from like Brazil or something and wanted to take us Salsa dancing), and greeted by the missionaries!
Dinner was going to be a fantastic feast of all vegan/vegetarian delicacies! It was also out by the Spanish Steps:) The sunset was amazing, and the food was fabulous. The view from the Spanish Steps would have been even more amazing if the stupid Indian sales creeps hadn’t been walking around with laser pointers and glow toys. Terribly annoying, and a huge culture killer.
Oh… but the meal! YUM!
And our final pictures from Rome! Ciao!
This is where Julius Caesar was burned:
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