Monday: day 1
We stopped in the centre of Rome so that we were close to many landmarks that we were interested in seeing. For the first day we decided to visit the Colosseum and the Roman Forum as they were next to each other. As we were staying close by we walked down to the Colosseum, taking in all the beautiful architecture and colours of the buildings. When we reached the Colosseum I literally stopped in amazement. When you see pictures of it, you're not taking in the actual size or expectations of it. It was huge and just filled your vision with wonder of what it used to be. It took us all morning to walk around it and absorb it's gory past.
Afterwards, we went across to the Roman Forum which again was amazing to our eyes. There was ruin after ruin and with incredible details. We walked to the top of Palatine Hill which was an excellent view point and caught the whole collection of buildings and monuments.
Throughout our daytime adventures and in the evenings, you can imagine we were indulging in the glorious foods of Italy! Pizzas, pastas, spaghettis and copious amounts of gelato...
Tuesday: day 2
On the second day we travelled to the Vatican City on the underground and spent all day there. We arrived at St Peter's Square and headed for the Basilica. The building had incredible artwork, sculptures and monuments. Afterwards, we strolled around St Peter's Square then dined al fresco with fine local Italian food. In the afternoon, we did what seemed like a never ending walk around the Vatican Museum. It was room after room with beautiful artwork, statues and objects from ancient times and different countries.
Wednesday: day 3
For the third day we had booked a high speed train to Pompeii, which was well worth the time it took to get there. The whole trip was filled with wonder, excitement and amazement, but Pompeii was our favourite place. It was like an open air museum that transported you back to what felt like you was liberally living in ancient times. We saw the terrifying 'ash cast' victims from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, which you could see in the breath-taking backdrop of Pompeii. We walked around the ancient town and explored all the nooks and crannies we could. Gary even managed to inject some creativity into his photo taking.
Thursday: day 4
In the morning of our final day, we went out to see the Spanish Steps. I think we were also included in a TV broadcast that was happening at the time. We then walked our way to the Trevi Fountain. At this point it was raining so we took cover under one of the fountains alcoves for a short while, before getting an umbrella and walking to squeeze in the Pantheon.
I'm very lucky to have visited Rome and Pompeii. Currently I know these are the only the ancient places I have visited, but you get this really strong historic atmosphere from them that makes you feel curious of what the ancient Empire was like. Probably because the ruins are still very much intact in their original form, even if they have been restored slightly. There was so much to take in, but we did a superb job to get as much in as we could to say we had four days there. It was a pretty exhausting trip, so now its time to plan and book a relaxing one!
