Travel Day 7 – Roma

Spencer Pollock
6 min readJun 5, 2018

--

2:45. That’s when Dean and I were up to head out to the airport the morning of our flight to Dublin. I didn’t really sleep because I didn’t want to miss my alarm, but that’s alright I’ll sleep on the flight; or so I thought. Checkout was simple, drop the keycard and ask reception to call a cab. Fortunately 2 guys in the lobby were also on their way to the airport so the 4 of us split a cab. Nice.

Once in the airport we were there so early that we had to wait for security to open so we could go through. Yeah, super early but no worries and no rush as we waited. It was nice because security afterwards only took 5 minutes! Fastest security line ever. Burger King for breakfast (because the airport is a lawless place) and we were off to the gate, and 2 hours later on our flight to Rome!

I see why so many people in Europe travel constantly, because in just 3 hours we went from Dublin to Rome and really it was a superb flight. We were right at the back but had the whole row to ourselves so elbow room! Oh, I forgot to mention: while we were waiting at the airport Dean and I booked a tour to the Vatican.

Pro tip: buy tickets online. More in a bit.

Once we got to Rome we just followed the signs out of the airport to the train. Thank God Dean looked up where we needed to go last night before we came, because I had no clue where to go or what to say to purchase the tickets. Once again we lucked out with timing and walked onto the train as soon as we scanned our tickets. The ride was super smooth and we made it to Rome in 30 minutes. Another 10 minutes after the train and we checked in and dropped off our packs at the hostel. It was time for food and after the Vatican!

Around 13:00 we grabbed our first pizzas in Italia (myself with a Margherita and Dean with a 4 cheese wonder – I had a bite when he couldn’t finish). Ok, *now* onto the Vatican. Remember how I said purchase your tickets online? When we got there there was this 4 hour line. It took us all of 7 minutes from that photo to get in. 7. Minutes. Then (since we were so early) we waited. about 30 minutes for the tour to start. Best part of the tour was our guide Emily (#trustyourguide) was INCREDIBLE. Her charisma and spirit (also witty jokes) were on point the entire way, and she went in detail through all that she could the entire tour. I know all the guides are super helpful and knowledgeable but I think we lucked out yet again.

Before I tell you how amazing the Vatican is I have to warn you of one thing first: it’s frickin **hot**. I’m talking, no ventilation, packed packed rooms, and pants. Yeah you gotta have shoulders covered and knees covered, and since we didn’t want to risk our shorts (which come low but don’t cover the knees for either of us) we ended up in our pants. The entire tour was just hot so be prepared for that if you go.

The Vatican is a wonder and I’m so glad we decided to go to it with our spare time. The museum and its relics of ancient society and the arts are mystifying. What really aided in this trip was the visit to the Chester Beatty Library the day before however. That coupled with the Vatican gave real insight into the history of the religion and the history of the church and construction. As we made our way through the church it got busy. Pushing and shoving was constant through the tour and a few times we fell behind the guide just due to the mass of people. That said, the pictures were worth staying further back from the group and I can’t wait to post the high resolution versions when I’m back. Luckily the tour ended at about 16:40 so we had enough time to go through both the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica before they closed. Once more in both chapels I was lost to the sheer mass and masterpiece of the structures, statues and paintings. I especially laughed at Dean’s shock as he was “speechless” before both sites.

With the Basilica closing and us being ushered out, tired and sweaty it was time to see the square, grab some (amazing) gelato and be on our way back to the hostel for a much needed shower after sweating our way through the tour. Once done cleaning we went downstairs for some free sangria (ok it was really just wine with fruits in it but hey, free alcohol) and started chatting up some of the other guests. Australia, UK, USA, Mexico, Brazil, a fellow East Coast Canadian and more all became friends (I would say) and had a grand time. Since Dean and I still hadn’t eaten since the pizza before the Vatican and just a small gelato cone afterwards it was now 21:00 and time for food. We gathered a few of the new friends we made and headed off to find food. The East Canadian Naiomi wanted to head over to the Colosseum go see it at night and so after grabbing a panini at a corner store (they were delicious and gone in minutes) we walked headed to the Colosseum for the spectacle. It was as beautiful at night as it is during the day.

After the Colosseum Dean headed back with one of the guys and I continued on with the other 4 to visit Trevi Fountain. Oh, and all this walking was done in flip flops. Not the best choice on cobblestone streets and after all the walking at the Vatican. The crew wanted to walk over to the Spanish steps after but I had to call it quits as it was approaching midnight and really I was too tired to do any more walking. The first day in Rome was packed and tomorrow we have an actual tour of the Colosseum, the Roman Forum and everything else (of which I don’t know yet). Let’s see what happens tomorrow and hopefully my feet don’t fall off.

~Spencer

--

--

Spencer Pollock
Spencer Pollock

Written by Spencer Pollock

💻Software Engineer | Game Developer | DevOps | Project Enthusiest | Technical Writer — Working to make things simpler. I’ll tell you my story as it unfolds 📖

Responses (1)