2022-07-20: Florence to Rome

We got ourselves up at 8:00am again this morning. We headed for Rome today. We got ourselves cleaned up and finished packing, then went for a walk to find some breakfast. We found a nice looking cafe just down the block from the Ponte Vecchio. We grabbed a few pastries and a few fruit cups and enjoyed our last breakfast in Florence in the cafe. After breakfast, we returned to the apartment to grab our luggage and walked to the train station.

We were at the train station early since we had to be out of the apartment by 10:00am. Our train wasn’t scheduled to leave until 10:48am and it’s only a 15 minute walk to the train station. We found a spot out of the way and parked our suitcases while we waited for them to announce which platform our train would be arriving at. While we waited, Amanda took Michael to the customer service desk. He forgot his hat on the train when we arrived in Florence so they asked if there was a lost and found. If we had called them right after we noticed the hat was missing, they could have dispatched someone to see if it was still on the train, but since it had been a few days there was nothing they could do. Not surprising, but it was worth asking. The arrival time for our train came and went according to the arrivals board and it hadn’t arrived yet. Michael was getting a little concerned that we wouldn’t have time to get on the train. We assured him we’d have plenty of time to get onboard. A few minutes later, the platform was announced and we made our way to platform 12 to catch our train. We watched it pull into the platform and then got onboard. We found our seats and made ourselves comfortable for the two hour ride to Rome.

We arrived in Rome on time and made our way out of the station. The host for our apartment, Martina, informed us she would be at the apartment around 1:00pm so we could drop off our bags, but it probably wouldn’t be ready for us until 2:00 which is the published check in time. It was about 12:35 at this point. We walked to the apartment which only took about 15 minutes. We rang the buzzer but the Martina hadn’t arrived yet. We waited outside the apartment and she showed up about 10 minutes after 1:00. She let us into the apartment and it was a mess. She apologized as the housekeepers should have been in the apartment already but they were nowhere to be seen. She sent them a message and then gave us a quick tour of the apartment. She mentioned that Rome was having a bit of a Covid outbreak so recommended we wear our masks in crowded areas. As we were about to leave, she got a message from the housekeepers that the apartment would be ready at 3:00pm. No problem, we left our bags and headed out to grab some lunch.

After lunch, we walked around the area for a little bit. We are a block away from Basilica Papale di Santa Maria Maggiore which is a beautiful Basilica from the outsdie. We returned to the apartment at 3:00pm to find the housekeeper still cleaning the place up. We asked how much longer and he said it would be another 20 minutes. We weren’t too impressed. There is an outdoor terrace in the apartment that he said we could use if we wanted. We decided to wait there while he finished up. Once he was done, we had a quick bathroom and drink break before heading to the Colosseum. We had timed entry tickets for 4:05pm.

At 3:45 we made our way to the Colosseum which was about a 15 minute walk from the apartment. We made our way through the entry line and were given a red sticker to put on our shirts since we had purchased access to the arena floor as well. We were told to make our way to the arena floor first which was at the far end of the Colosseum. We found our way to the arena and had a great view of the building from there. It really is an amazing structure. How they built it so long ago is baffling. After taking a bunch of pictures, we continued our tour through the other sections of the Colosseum. The boys bought a couple of souvenirs at the gift shop and then we made our exit.

We were right across the street from the Roman Forum but we were all needing a big drink of water. We found a market nearby and grabbed each of us a large bottle of water. After rehydrating, we made our way to the forum. We explored the forum for examining the remains of the old center of Rome including the Arch of Titus, old temples, Trajan’s forum, and residential houses. It really is amazing that they still exist after 2000 years.

After exploring the Forum, we exited just outside the Victor Emmanuel II National Monument. We walked back to the apartment passing back along the forum. We were back at the apartment around 6:30pm. We got ourselves cooled off and called it an early night. None of us were hungry for dinner and we have an early tour at the Vatican in the morning.