ITALY BLOG SEPTEMBER 1st, 2025 - ROME

 

9/1/25– It’s a restful night’s sleep but still difficult to fully wake up. Unfortunately, there’s no room for sleeping in any longer as we have timed Colosseum tickets to go to. The normal admission tickets are easy to get but we both opted to explore an extra part which sells out as quick as they are put up a month in advance. Luckily, I found Sharece an underground Colosseum ticket with guide for 10:45am while I snagged the upper Attic view for 11:30am.

The walk is a brisk thirteen minutes (with a cafe stop on the way for breakfast). I thought I ordered the Bavarian cream croissant but turns out to be a very rich, icing type of pistachio. I barely eat half as it’s very sticky while Sharece eats a portion of her club sandwich. We continue on and arrive in time for her to join her tour at the ticket line.

I now have an hour to kill before my timed entry begins, so I fill up my water bottle at a nearby natural spring fountain (free, fresh water is awesome) and I walk over toward the Roman Forum nearby to see if I’m able to still get in despite using my ticket yesterday. Unfortunately I’m greeted with the dreaded phrase, “It’s not possible”.  A common phrase here in Italy that is starting to become really annoying. Not to be outdone, I find a gate nearby and climb half way up onto a platform to get a nice shot of the Colosseum that I’m sure many never thought of. Life of being a professional.

11:15am roles around and I’m finally able to enter the gates. Once passed security, I’m told to go all the way to the elevator to begin my tour. I’m the only one in line and escorted up the elevator to the next level. Upon exiting, I find myself at the museum portion of the 2^nd floor, scurry to the open forum area and mosey my way through the crowd to get a great view of the Colosseum from above.

With the sun baking my skin, I continue around the arena before taking the elevator back to the ground floor. It’s now around noon and I text Sharece to see where she’s at. Somehow, our wires keep getting crossed and it’s impossible to get to each other (see now I’m using that word). Apparently, her tour won’t allow her to come over to my side, but we don’t realize this until after about fifteen minutes of waiting.

It’s at this point when I realize, “Wait a second, did I actually go to the attic or just the next level?” I mean, there were quite a few people crowding my way and can’t imagine all of them paying extra for this tour. So I head back to the elevator area and find out that I apparently was supposed to follow the person who originally brought me up and not wonder around myself.  So this time, I follow and am lead through a secret, side gate where I walk up stairs to the top level. Okay, now I’m getting somewhere.

There’s a slight walk down a corridor that leads to more stairs to the upper level, and once there I realize how few other people are around and can now enjoy this experience. There’s yet one more level that brings me even higher with a great birds-eye view of everything else. I can only imagine these nose-bleed seats being the cheapest two thousand years ago, but today it’s an extra premium.

Finally done, I wait on Sharece to try and meet up with her again, but we are on the other side of the Colosseum from each other. It’s just easier to meet outside the exit at this point, so that’s what we do.

Resting in the shade, we take our time explaining to each other how crazy that all was before deciding to endure the rolling hot weather another thirteen minutes to our next destination of Palazzo Venezia. This palace is quite large, and once we power through the many steps to get to the base level, we locate the entrance (ticket 18 Euros per person) and bask in the overwhelming cool breeze blanketing us through the columns. It’s a tranquil moment and a much needed break on our legs and body.

We thought this area is the 360 view we came to see, but soon realize there’s an elevator at the back of the building which takes us to the very top. Without hesitation, we flash our tickets again and journey up to see a spectacular view of Rome from all sides. After ten minutes, we get our feel and take the elevator back down to hit up the restaurant inside the palace for some drinks. Unfortunately, the place feels like an oven and quite unbearable to stay in for very long. Luckily, we still have Shaece’s other half of her sandwich to share.

Bypassing the drinks, we walk through the museum on our way down to the street level and march again through the heat to pick up some burgers before heading to our hotel.

What a crazy two days so far. It’s been a bit difficult finding the energy as we’re both tired from the journey and exhausted from the heat, but at least there’s blue skies for our pictures. Tomorrow may be a different story with some rain coming in, so stay tuned.