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I was in Baveno, near Lago Maggiore, for official purpose and it was impossible not to have explored the beautiful country! I had a one week itinerary planned and Preethu planned to join me directly at Rome. Once the work part was done, I headed to Milan to catch my evening train to Rome [1]. We had booked our stay at Hotel Corot, near the Termini where the train lands. Preethu's flight got delayed, but she eventually managed to catch a shuttle service and reached the Hotel directly. We had some confusion as I was waiting at the Termini, expecting her to come in Leonardo express and Preethu had to wait some time at the Hotel reception.
Next day morning, we were back at the Termini, took the Line A to Ottaviano and headed to the St Peter's square. We faced a huge crowd there and a bad news that the church will be open only after noon. But, it was still worth roaming around the St Peter's square and we planned to come back later in the evening to get inside the church.
We walked by the beautiful streets of Rome for a while, some times by the banks of River Tiber (Fiume Tevere). Preethu had a map and a mobile app, which she used to lead us to many of the popular monuments in central Rome.
We visited the Pantheon, famous for a large concrete dome with a central opening to the sky. Inside the building, this opening - known as the Oculus - is pretty much the only source of natural light.
After some more walking, we were at the Piazza Navona, which had a few beautiful paintings on display. We also went inside the Sant’Agnese in Agone church, next to the Piazza Navona, which had some few beautiful paintings inside on its walls, ceiling and dome.
It got a little cloudy as we reached the National Monument (Altare della Partia), which now houses a museum. The rolling clouds around the building, only made it look more appealing.
Next stop was at the Trevi Fountain (Fontana di Trevi), where people keep throwing coins to get the wishes granted. During our visit, the fountain was under maintenance and no water was there, in spite of which the coin throwing was still going on.
It was past 4.30 now and we had walked quite a long distance - so, we decided to take the metro to get back towards Vatican. The nearest station was Barberini (on line A) and it involved some more walking to get there as well. We took the metro from Barberini station to get back to Ottaviano and was soon at the St Peter's square.
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It was drizzling by the time we reached St Peter's square, but we managed to get inside St Peter's Basilica - regarded as one of the largest / holiest and most beautiful churches in the world. After spending a while admiring the beautiful paintings inside the Basilica, it was time to take some rest and we were soon back at Termini heading back to the hotel.
Later in the night, we were back at the Termini station, catching the metro towards the Colosseo station, which was right next to the Colosseum. Entry inside the Colosseum is not allowed in the night, but it was well lit all around and we could walk around it and take a few pictures.
Since, the light was good, we could even take a few portrait pictures!
We headed back to the metro station by about 11 and took the last train back to the hotel - only to come back next day morning.
The ticket counter at Colosseum tends to get crowded - so, we headed towards the Capitoline hill, which sells a combined ticket for Capitoline hill, Roman forum and Colosseum.
We got a good view of the Colosseum as well as parts of Rome city from the top of Capitoline hill.
On our way down, we took a different trail, which passes by the ruins of Roman Forum.
The tickets we purchased in the beginning allows entry to the Colosseum as well and we did spend some time inside, at both the levels.
It was time to leave now - but, not without a final shot of the Colosseum.
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