Year 5, Day 162 “Living the Dream”. Thursday, 10/09/2025 – Day 3 of 30 day trip to Rome, Italy with a Mediterranean cruise and a transatlantic cruise back to Bayonne, NJ. Slept like a baby last night in the Hilton Garden Inn Rome Airport. Well, I just crashed about 7pm Rome time. Then up and in the shower at 5am. Got out of the shower and there was a loud bang and it is pitch dark. Yup, something blew out in our room. So it is a wet hair day. Went and had the hotels breakfast buffet. Definitely different food. I had baked cauliflower, cabbage, a thick cheese slice, some potatoes, and some assorted seeds. Unusual for me, but a good breakfast. I will get pictures tomorrow morning of the breakfast. The hotel said they had one room with twin beds. We could change to it. Maintenance came in at 7am. They would report our light issue to them. We elected to wait till 7am. Hey no one knows me the messy haired little short lady here in Rome. Who knows maybe I won’t look like the original old lady American tourist like this. Steve asked for change in coins in case we needed to pay for bathrooms. The front desk person said oh no you won’t need that here. Only in France they do that. We left the hotel at 7am to meet our tour group. The trip is about 20 miles. We took the free hotel shuttle back to the airport. The train station was across the street from where we were dropped off by terminal 3.
We bought round trip tickets. We took the express non stop train, the Leonardo Express, from Fiumicino Airport to the Rome Termini station. You can buy tickets at the airport station or online from Trenitalia. The tickets cost 28 euros each for round trip tickets. These express trains depart from tracks 2 and three. We departed the station at 8:23am.
The ride was very very comfortable and smooth with farm fields and round bales of hay. There are some really strange trees in this region with vegetation only on top. I don’t think they have giraffes eating the lower leaves – lol.
We arrived in the Rome train terminal at 8:58am. We had to meet up with our tour group at 9:15am. We are running late. We booked a guided tour of the Colosseum, Palatine Hill, and Forum Romano. We paid for it a few months ago. The cost was $154.80.
Maps said it would take 20 minutes to walk to the meet up location. This is in front of the Basilica of San Clemente, Piazza di San Clemente. We walked out of the train station and saw taxis. We decided it would probably be faster to take a taxi. Ok the taxi driver says get on that bus. Bus 85 and it will take you there. It cost $1.50 euros to ride a bus. You just tap your credit card. Forty minutes later we get to the meet up point. Well we missed our tour.
The tour guide called and sent our tickets so we could do the Colosseum on our own.
On the bus we met a US college student studying abroad. What a nice young man from Northern California. He assured us we were on the correct bus. Make sure you buy your tickets ahead of time. The ticket line was wrapped around the Colosseum. It must have taken hours for those people to buy tickets at the door. We walked right in. You do have to show a picture ID and go through metal detectors. We walked through the Colosseum with a huge crowd of tourists.
The Colosseum is the largest standing amphitheater in the world, made from travertine, tuff, and brick-faced concrete. It is estimated that 60,000 to 100,000 were employed in the construction of the Colosseum. The building is 1,937 years old. The entire building has a surface area of 6 acres. The Colosseum could accommodate between 50,000 and 80,000 spectators.
It is estimated that around 400,000 people died in the Colosseum over its 350-year history. This number includes gladiators, but also slaves, convicts, and other prisoners sentenced to death. The bodies of deceased gladiators and other performers were carried from the arena on stretchers or carts. These bodies were transported out of the Colosseum through a specific exit known as the Gate of Death. Enough of these gruesome details. One last thing is that the Colosseum is widely reported by visitors and staff to be haunted. This area is more crowded than Disney World. We walked around outside of the Colosseum and across the street was an archaeological dig. They are still unearthing historical artifacts shovel by shovel.
Around in Rome there are free water fill up stations and phone charger stands. We walked back to the train station. There, we ate a lunch of pizza, gelato, and the best coffee in one of the train food galleries.
The pizza was okay, but not to my liking. Oh yea, the coffee in Italy is good no matter where you go. The Gelato was also excellent. Love it so much more than ice cream. It is made with more milk and churned slower so it has less air and is therefore denser. Gelato is also served warmer than ice cream and has less fat content. Gelato is considered healthier than ice cream. Roma Termini is Rome’s biggest train station, and one of Europe’s largest as well. There are 29 platforms and daily service to cities all over Italy as well as elsewhere in Europe. The Leonardo Express train runs on tracks 23 and 24 and departs every 15 minutes. The trip is 32 minutes. It connects Fiumicino Airport (FCO) and Roma Termini with no stops. We then headed back to the hotel where our room lights are on.
We spent a little time in the lounge before turning in for the night. Going to the Vatican and Sistine Chapel tomorrow. Think we can make that tour.
Things to ponder today! Have to leave you thinking.
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