The first post in my three-part Italy series will focus on Rome, which is where we spent the most time on our trip. When planning our trip, we attempted to find a direct flight from Minneapolis to Italy. This proved unsuccessful, so we decided to fly out of O’Hare in Chicago instead. This was the best decision because this way we could fly directly to Italy rather than a layover somewhere else. From there, we took trains all over Italy. Looking back, this made our trip so much more relaxing. Rome was a highlight of our trip and one of my favorite places I have ever visited.

Our first day in Rome was all about navigating the city. We took the Leonardo Da Vinci Express from the airport to Rome Termini, which is the main train station in the heart of the city. My husband and I were committed to walking everywhere, which we did. Rome’s streets are older and all cobblestone, so we dragged our suitcases from the train station to our Airbnb. Maneuvering through Rome with our suitcases was a challenge. The streets and sidewalks are often very narrow, and with everything being mostly cobblestone, I’m surprised that our suitcases didn’t pop a wheel. While exhausting, I feel accomplished that I was physically able to do all that walking with my backpack and a suitcase to lug around. Our first day was mostly getting acquainted with the time zone and the city.

Our second day was spent seeing the Colosseum. The Colosseum was one of my favorite moments from the trip. When we walked to the Colosseum, we passed by all these beautiful marble buildings. On either side of us, there were historic pillars from buildings that were built so long ago. Rome is a historic city, and there’s so much to see while walking. Our Colosseum tickets were for a self-guided tour, and we had 75 minutes to explore. We walked around the Colosseum and to the outer ring of the arena. If you look down into the arena, there are these flaps that would lift up. This represents when animals would enter the arena, they would come out of these flaps to attack the gladiators. My husband looked this up, and it’s estimated that 1 million animals were killed during this time. While we toured the Colosseum, the weather was gorgeous! It was so sunny. We spent almost the full time walking around the Colosseum and taking a ton of pictures.

On the same day we did the Colosseum, we went to the Spanish Steps. The Spanish Steps are a monument in Rome, and it’s actually illegal to sit on them. Walking to the Spanish Steps, there are a ton of designer clothing stores on either side of the street. Gucci, Prada, Dolce & Gabbana, and more had storefronts in this area. I am not into designer clothing, but it’s impressive to see all the fashion designers in Italy. As we approached the steps, there was a big fountain in the middle of the cobblestone courtyard. Climbing the steps, we were treated to a lovely view of Rome. It was worth all the uphill climbing to get there.

The day before we flew home, we toured the Vatican. As a fun fact, the Vatican is located in its own city-state called Vatican City. My husband wanted to tour the Vatican as he wanted to see the Sistine Chapel, which has the paintings Michaelanglo did, specifically the painting in which God is touching his finger to Adam, giving him life. When touring the Vatican, there is a strict policy on what you wear. Shoulders cannot be showing, and any pants, skirts, or dresses have to be below the knee. Anything low-cut is strictly forbidden. Outside the Vatican, there are vendors selling shawls to those who need additional coverage. We originally signed up for an Italian tour because the English tours were all sold out. As we arrived for our tour time, the woman who checked us in gave us a look and asked if we spoke Italian. We responded honestly that we don’t, but we were really looking forward to the tour, and we knew what we had signed up for. She was able to pull some strings and move us into the English-speaking tour. It was lucky, but to reiterate, we knew what we signed up for, and we weren’t expecting anyone to bend anything for us.

While touring the Vatican, there were so many different marble statues and artifacts to see. There was a statue of the goddess Athena. Our tour guide explained that Athena’s eyes were black (as opposed to having regular marble eyes) to make Athena seem more intimidating. There are also several marble statues of lions, including Hercules holding the lion’s head. Our tour was a solid two hours, and once the tour ended, we proceeded to make our way to the Sistine Chapel.

The Sistine Chapel was much smaller than I anticipated it would be. It’s strictly forbidden to take photos of the Sistine Chapel. There are several security guards stationed throughout who were yelling at people who had their phones out. The reasoning behind this is that flash photography can ruin or damage the paintings. I think this is neat because it forces people to live in the moment and take it all in, versus taking a photo to remember for later. My husband felt this was one of his favorite parts of our trip.

Oh, and I can’t forget about the cat sanctuary! The Torres Argentina Cat Sanctuary was the site of Julius Caesar’s assassination. In 1929, this area was excavated, and cats would hang out in the area. In 1993, two women started working on getting the cats spayed and neutered. The cat sanctuary was born ever since then! When we walked up to the sanctuary, there were kitties everywhere! They were napping in the plants, walking around the site, and if you go down this set of stairs, there’s a door that leads to the front desk. As a cat lover, I was thrilled. The Torres Argentina Cat Sanctuary is fun to see, and it’s free, so why not go see the cats?

There’s so much more that I can write about, but those were the major highlights from Rome. I’m glad that we spent the majority of our time in Rome, as there’s a lot to take in. For my next post, I will be talking about Florence, including the cooking class we took.