If you’d like to read about the rest of our five days in Rome, go here. Thanks for reading!

Two days after Christmas, Ryan and I finally packed up our two (ill-fated) carry-on approved suitcases and headed to the Lexington airport bright and early for the beginning of our oversees adventure. This trip has been in the works for about a year, and it started with a 6 am flight from Lexington to Chicago, a short layover, a flight from O’Hare to LaGuardia, half a day in NYC, then a flight from JFK to London-Heathrow, and finally to Rome.

But before we get to Rome, a brief word on our traveling experience: if you can help it, never, ever fly United.

Not only did we receive conflicting information about having to check our carry-on luggage (and end up paying an extra $50 to check our bags, when having them with us as carry-ons could have prevented this entire debacle), but United also failed to re-tag our bags to JFK when their delayed plane issue made us miss our connecting flight in Chicago and forced them to rebook us on a Delta flight to JFK instead of LGA. When we attempted to contact United about the lost luggage, they pretended the bags weren’t in the system and refused to locate them at LaGuardia. We were then forced to fly to a foreign country with no clothes or toiletries (and didn’t get our luggage back until the day we flew home—but that’s a long story). I sincerely hope that was the first and last experience I have with United.

Now, back to Rome.

Hotel: Blue Roma B&B, San Giovanni

Ryan and I chose to stay a little off the beaten path in Rome to avoid high prices and noisy crowds and to have a more authentic experience. The Blue Roma B&B proved to be a perfect choice. It was out of the way, in a private apartment building with a beautiful little courtyard, but it was only a five minute walk from the nearest metro stop, as well as plenty of restaurants and shops. Our hosts, Mateo and his father, were welcoming, helpful, and spoke great English. Ryan and I loved our daily breakfasts served by Mateo’s father, Maurizio, consisting of the traditional Italian sweet breakfast of fresh bread, cornetti (croissants), Pandoro di Verona (a bread-like cake with powdered sugar), and panettone (a bread loaf filled with orange zest and other dried fruits).

Day One: Ancient Rome

Colosseum

Our first day started bright and early at 8:30 a.m. for the Roma Antica Tour through Context Travel (this tour was a Christmas gift from my mom, and it was one of my favorite parts of the trip!). Our guide, Valeria, was an archaeologist who had studied at UC Berkeley and Oxford, and I learned more about Roman history than I could ever hope to retain. We began the tour by skipping the (incredibly long) line to the Colosseum, as Valeria explained that the holes in the walls we often saw in ancient Roman buildings were spots for metal clamps, as most of these ancient structures were overlaid with marble.

The Colosseum is an amphitheatre, from the ancient Greek “amphi,” meaning “on both sides,” and “theatre,” meaning “place for viewing.” The original Greek theatres were semi-circles, and the Colosseum is effectively two of these built side by side. The Colosseum was finished in 80 AD, and it could hold up to 80,000 spectators, divided into different levels of the stands according to class and gender. The women were seated far from the ground—not because they were considered lesser citizens, but because they often fell in love with the gladiators and their husbands didn’t want them having affairs.

Valeria insisted we forget almost everything we learned about the Colosseum from Gladiator, as according to her, pretty much the only correct scene was the two seconds where they pull a cloth awning over the spectators to keep the sun off them. I’ll have to rewatch the movie with my new knowledge of how the real life Commodus is somehow way worse than he is in the film.

Palatine Hill

Our next stop was Palatine Hill, one of the seven hills of Rome. It gives a panoramic view of much of the city and the ancient sites we were seeing that day, and according to Roman mythology, it is the location of the cave where the twins Romulus and Remus were found by the she-wolf and is the birthplace of ancient Rome. If you aren’t familiar with the mythology of the founding of Rome: the story goes that Romulus and Remus were conceived through the divine impregnation of a Vestal Virgin, and when the king ordered their deaths due to their threat to his rule, they were abandoned in the cave. A she-wolf then suckled them (hence the logo of the Roma soccer team), and they eventually became charismatic young leaders set on establishing a great city. However, they disagreed on the location: Romulus wanted to begin it on Palatine Hill, while Remus thought Aventine Hill was the better choice. They asked for a sign from the gods, and Remus saw six eagles flying over Aventine Hill—but then, of course, Romulus saw twelve eagles, so Romulus killed Remus and founded Rome on Palatine Hill.

This site is also where you can view the remains of palaces built by Augustus, Tiberius, and Domitian. Emperors would be able to watch the chariot races in Circus Maximus without even leaving the comfort of their palace balcony.

The Roman Forum

The Roman Forum is a plaza created by the ruins of ancient government buildings and temples in the center of Rome next to Palatine Hill. Some of the important structures archaeologists have identified include the Regia (royal residence), the Temple of Vesta, the complex of the Vestal Virgins, the Senate’s assembly area, the Basilica of Maxentius (built by Constantine), and the nearby Arch of Constantine. No doubt, the Forum was the center of political, judicial, and religious life for many in ancient Rome. Notably, the Forum is also where Marc Antony gave his funeral oration for Julius Caesar and where the public burning of Caesar’s body took place (after which they built the Temple to the Deified Caesar).

Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, & Other Random Sights

After our tour with Valeria ended, we walked to the Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain—and stopped for whatever cool sights we happened upon. The first building we spotted after leaving the Forum was the Victory Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II, which is the large white building with horses on top. This monument is pretty universally hated by Romans, who think it’s ugly and call it the “Wedding Cake.” Then in Piazza Venezia, we found the building with the balcony and flags, which is where Mussolini gave many of his most famous speeches. I couldn’t help but remember something Valeria mentioned while discussing Mussolini in the earlier tour, which (paraphrased) was that Romans do not wish to erase mistakes from their history. History is to be preserved and in that way, learned from.

From there, Ryan and I headed to the Trevi Fountain, the largest in all of Rome. This was the moment from my twelve-year-old, Lizzie-McGuire-obsessed dreams. Except adult-Hannah hates crowds, and the Trevi Fountain was crowded. We had to wait for a pair to leave a coveted spot on the fountain’s rim, then make a mad dash for it before someone else snagged it. Don’t worry—I still took the time to throw a coin into the fountain (right hand over left shoulder, to ensure a return to Rome). Over 3,000 euros are thrown into the fountain every day, and these funds are used to subsidize a supermarket for Rome’s needy.

The Spanish Steps were similarly clogged with tourists and smokers (which is not great when you’re allergic to smoke), so we didn’t sit to people watch for long. Our original plan was to go to the Keats-Shelley Museum (the house in which Keats died is overlooking the Spanish steps), but it was closed for renovations, so we left it for another day. Instead, we continued strolling through the city, appreciating that despite our trip not always going to plan, we were still surrounded by the beauty of Rome.

Thanks for reading! If you liked this post, don’t forget to hit the heart button below and check out the rest of our Roman adventures!