The Sawyer Stories

So we have encountered our first major regret of this vacation. How did we ever think 36 hours in Rome was enough? Total silliness. New plan. We live here now. 

Highlights from Day 17

• We kicked off our day with a delicious vegan breakfast with baked goods and fresh fruit. Once again, Europe wins with its vegan options. Come on US. The breakfast came with a cappuccino, so we all tried it. In case you’re curious, 0 out of 3 Sawyers are a fan.

• We then headed to our tour of the Coloseum, Palatine Hill, and the Roman Forum. We found a tour as early as possible because the heat was the hottest of our whole trip: 100 degrees and sunny skies. We pregamed with frozen water bottles and cooling towels. 
• This was our first real group tour, so we had a device and headphones to hear the guide. While we missed a private tour, I’m not sure we would have heard a tour guide inside with how busy it was. 
• The tour of the Colosseum was fascinating facts about how it came to be and how it was used. 
  

• Some things that stuck out:The Roman’s claims more of their ruins stand because of special cement recipe thaw as used from volcanic rock. The gladiators had a vegetarian diet, mostly plant based! Just saying, that’s hard to argue with. We threw off the tour guide when she went down the line asking what we all thought the gladiators ate. People were all listing meat, until she got to Michael and he said we are vegan so, plants. Tickets to watch the events at the Colosseum was free to all, but your seat was based on your class. The emperor had the seats and view of course with his own elevator to enter from below. Speaking of elevators, there are 28 to have gladiators and large game animals enter as if by magic. The amount of loss of life for entertainment is beyond what is fathomable. It’s also the site of horrific mass crucifixions to early Christians.  
• The amount of people here, y’all, it was a lot. It was hard not to lose our guide or each other. Also, it’s important to restate that it was so hot! 
  

• We then entered into our second long line to head into Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum. Here you can see the ruins from homes and market places from Ancient Rome. This is site where Paul was imprisoned and wrote several letters now in the New Testament.  
  

• While we loved the tour, we were glad to return to our Airbnb for some cool reprieve. We now have a solid rhythm for these afternoon breaks. Michael naps, Amber showers, and Liam watches a show. This Airbnb was just perfectly Italian. We shared one giant room., with a kitchen and bathroom off to the side. When we talked about this place while planning, we always called it the one with the giant poster. We love the huge wooden doors to get in and the cutest courtyard outside. While we’ve had a good mix of hotels and Airbnbs, the Airbnbs definitely make us feel like we are a part of the city. 
  

• We really wanted to tour St Peter’s Basilica and Vatican City, but our one full day in Rome is a Sunday. Usually it is closed to the public on Sundays. While today was the one Sunday of the month where it is open to the public, there are no tours and it is claimed to be the busiest day of the year. So sadly, we will have to put that off on a future trip. 
• We did get to walk through the Basilica Saint Clement close by. The cathedral was incredible inside and we got to tour the crypt below. It’s fascinating to see how the city has built history on top of history, just covering up what was there before. There were so many artifacts and faded friezes below. We even found one for Saint Alexis for Lexi! Shout out to Joani for recommending we visit the belly of the basilicas during the heat of the day.  
• Speaking of history on history,  Michael learned from one of our tour guides that the city and people want to make more metro stops and tracks. They even have funds for it. But, every time they start to dig, they find more ruins and have to stop immediately. 
  

• We wanted to have an authentic Italian dinner, so we found an all vegan restaurant where we ordered course after course of delicious food. It did not disappoint and would be impossible to pick a favorite. 
  

• We ended our too fast day taking the train to the outside of Vatican City, as close as we could get, and eating gelato. Perfect goodbye to Italy.
  

• Sigh, Rome is the most gorgeous city we’ve been to. The beauty is so rich and deep and comes out of everything you pass by. We will be back…hopefully in a cooler and less busy season.