Today was another eventful day in Rome with the family.

The sleeping arrangements were Robbe and Dad in one room and Mom and I in the other. Of course my dad was up bright and early like always, but somehow forgot that our tour this afternoon wasn’t to start till 2:45. So instead of letting us sleep in he came and woke us up. 2 grumpy girls early in the morning can be a scary sight. I'm pretty certain that he will NEVER wake us up again.

We all got ready for the day and then headed down to the breakfast buffet at the restaurant. I was happy with the food because they had sausage links and soft undercooked bacon, my favorite.  My brother ate a ton of fruit, my mom a sunny side up egg, and my dad a glass of OJ.

After breakfast we headed back to the Piazza del Popolo to catch the bus again. The tickets for the bus here are valid for 2 days which is really convenient. Since we got to see every site on the bus tour yesterday, today we would use the bus primarily for transportation to different sites. We took the bus to Piazza Barberini where there was a pretty cool fountain in the middle.

Just down the street was the Crypt of the Capuchin Monks. It was one of the most morbidly beautiful things I have ever seen in my life. There were about 6 different rooms in the crypt just full of bones. Arranged in the most strange ways ever. Turned into lanterns and used and decorations, it’s a pretty creative thing to do with dead bodies. The church above the crypt was very beautiful as well and was completely empty. Its always nice to go in to really old churches with no one else being present.

After the church we walked down the street and found a bank. All we had were large bills of Euro so my mom went inside to exchange them for smaller bills. My dad and I waited outside next to a strange looking fountain. It was a giant shell with 2 bee/fly sculptures on it. As we are standing there we learn that this is one of the many drinking fountains in Rome. They all come from natural springs and have great cold water coming out of them. This fountain in particular was one of the oldest in Rome as well. My mom and brother finally came out of the bank and said that they had given up. Apparently the line was very long and there was only one teller working. She said she never moved in the line. Oh well.

Next we headed over to the Trevi Fountain which was just down the street. There were hundreds of people there but it was really fun to go and see. My mom through some coins in the fountain for the family and made some wishes. We took a good share of pictures  and then headed on our way. We took  a walk down the street and found a small market with fruit. My mom and brother shared a peach while I went to the gelato shop to indulge. Then we found a painter on the street who does watercolor paintings and I got one for my room which is actually 3 small paintings framed in one frame. My mom also got one of the Spanish Steps that is very colorful and nice to look at!

After that we decided to get back on the bus and head over to the Colosseum. Once there we walked up a street and found a quiet air conditioned restaurant to eat some lunch at. I had 4 cheese gnocchi which was the tastiest sauce ever. We hung out inside for a while because it was nice and cool and we had awhile before our tour.

Finally we decided to make our way to the meeting locations for the tour. We found it and relaxed in the shade until it was time for the tour to start. Our guide then moved us into the sun and talked about the history of the Colosseum and about the time when it was built. Of course it was too hot for me to handle and I was not able to pay attention at all. Eventually we moved into the Colosseum to see the inside.

It was pretty cool to learn about and see what is left after so much time. Learning that the Colosseum used to be covered in marble and bronze but was all completely looted was somewhat sad to think about. I can only imagine how magnificent it must have looked back when it was functional. We walked all through the Colosseum learning different tid-bits and taking plenty of pictures.

After the Colosseum, the tour headed over to Palatine Hill to see everything up there and then finally on to the Roman Forum. Everything there was magnificent and so amazing to see it still standing.

From there we were all so tired we decided to grab a cab and head back to the hotel. We all took showers and rested for a bit before heading to dinner. We asked the front desk for a recommendation and they told us about a restaurant only a couple of blocks away. It was a very nice restaurant and reminded me of a place I have been to in Sorrento. It makes sense since the restaurant was themed around Carpi and featured fish from Capri as well. I had a filet minion with a red wine sauce to die for. It was such a nice change to have good rich food like that again. Throughout the entire meal there was a man playing his guitar and singing traditional Italian songs. At the end of dinner my mom tipped him and asked him to play her favorite song. Of course my mom being who she is started to cry from the song. He did a really good job signing the song and put a lot of passion into it so Ill give her a break this time.

After dinner we started walking back to the hotel, but were stopped when we saw a gelato place with tons and tons of people coming in and out of it. So we decided to have desert. We each had different kinds of chocolate gelato which was really fun and great to taste each others. (When I saw We and I'm talking about desserts it doesn’t include my dad who just watches from afar).

Finally we made it back to the hotel and hit the sack for the early morning ahead!