Rome Part 2

The next day, Kristina and I woke up and went to see the Colosseum. It was beautiful and much bigger then I had expected!! There was a 2 hour wait to get inside, so I just paid to join one of the "skip the line" tour groups and then listened to a little of the history and went on my own when I got inside. Kristina had already gone to Rome with her family while I was in Greece so she stayed outside and ate some lunch. I couldn't believe how incredible the ruins were. There was even a tiny section of the bleachers that had been somewhat restored. It was awesome! To be standing in a such a monumental building that was completed by 80 AD was so cool! 

Our next stop was the Trevi Fountain. This, besides the Vatican, was my absolute favorite part of Italy. I love love loved the Trevi Fountain! My favorite part was the two sea horses, one calm and obedient, while the second was restive. I thought the detail in the stone was absolutely incredible and huge!! It absolutely dominated  the entire square that it was built in. Kristina and I both threw a coin over our shoulders and into the fountain, in hopes to return one day! I thought it was so beautiful and couldn't get enough. I forced her to walk back with me in the evening to see it at night!!

After the fountain, we made our way over to the famous "Wedding Cake" or as the Romans call it, "the typewriter" or historically known as, Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II. It was in honor of the first King of unified Italy, Victor Emmanuel. The Corinthian Columns were amazing and the statue of him on a horse was very fitting. It can be seen throughout Rome and is probably the most intense monument I had ever seen. It is 443 feet wide and 230 feet tall. The base of the structure is museum of Italian Reunification  and in 2007, an elevator was added to  allow tourists to the roof for a 360 degree view of Rome!

So after the "Wedding Cake", we made it over to the Spanish Steps, which I thought were phenomenal. It's hard to say anything in Rome was disappointing really. The Spanish steps were very nice, but very crowded so the feel for them was a little less exciting. We headed back to the train station after that because it was reaching around 7pm. I loved Rome but I was also glad that I decided to live in Florence. I felt that Rome has many of the monumental tourist attractions but Florence is so much more cultural and fun! I never knew how much bigger Rome is then Florence until I went. It was amazing though, to experience Rome.