Day 11---8/4

ROME.

Our grand plans to leave super early didn't pan out...we were about an hour later than we planned but we were FINE with that. We're all starting to get toured out so we decided to do Rome OUR way. We caught the 9 am train (75 minute ride) from the port to the city of Rome. It was a good "naportunity" for the Andersons! :) Zzzzzzz....all the way there. :) We were refreshed and ready to go when the train arrived in Rome.

Things don't always go exactly as planned but all in all, we DID have a successful day in Rome. We started out by taking the subway to the Coliseum....and wow, what a sight! We waited in line to get in for a LONG time before finding and Anderson loophole which allowed us to go to the front of the line. WOOHOO! The Coliseum was amazing and WAY huger than I imagined. And weirdly enough, we happened to run in to my mom's tour group there! Small world, eh? Haha... :)

We headed over to the Roman Forum, walked through and on to a couple other monuments and parks before seeing Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps.

We stopped for a quick pizza (good, but not as good as Naples pizza) and hopped on the train to the Vatican.

Once inside the Vatican, we made a VERY quick decision to skip the Basilica and the Sistine Chapel. The lines were RIDICULOUS! Imagine a line, 6 people thick, that would wrap all the way around the Metrodome. THAT'S WHAT THEY WERE LIKE! But, we were there....and as we all know, that counts as another country for us! WOOHOO!

Our train ride back was hellish....LITERALLY, as hot as HELL. The second I was back on the ship, I ate an ice cream cone as fast as I could and jumped in the pool. Ahhhh....much better. :)
It was another early night. All this travel makes me sleepy. Plus, tomorrow is TUSCANY!!! And for me, TUSCANY = COOKING CLASS! WOOOOOOHOOOOOO! Can't wait!

:)