THE ADVENTURE BROAD - living a big life one small adventure at a time: Roma

I am exhausted! We made it into quite the day of sightseeing. I woke up at 10 am - Italy time - which was 4 am Providence time. Not too bad considering I usually wake up at 5 am back home. I was able to stay up until 9 pm last night and after THIRTEEN HOURS of sleep, I felt pretty darn well rested. This was good because we embarked on an ambitious day of walking around the Eternal City.

It is my practice to journal each morning, which I did so with a cup of espresso by my side. I always sign up with Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) in case something funky is going on in the world that I need to know about. It was super helpful in March 2020 when I was kind of freaking out over the rumored US border closing due to the pandemic. I reached out to the office and got the actual scoop that settled me down. I also learned the very good news that I can reenter the US without taking a COVID test! Of course, we already spent $200 on the necessary testing kit but now re-entering the country will not be such a hassle.

Today was a day of churches. Our taxi driver told us yesterday that there are 1800 churches and 4 basilicas in Rome but a quick google search reveals only about 900 of them. Well, we visited just a few today: Basilica Papale di Santa Maria Maggiore, Basilica dei Santi XII Apostoli, and a couple of small ones. In one, the sun was shining in one window and served as a spotlight on a statue of Mary.

We climbed down the Spanish Steps and weaved our way over to the Trevi Fountain where hundreds of tourists were also convened. There were a couple of polizia working the unfortunate duty of keeping an eye on a few fools insistent on climbing parts of the fountain. Rose and I did toss our coins into the fountain, too!

We also climbed the many steps of the national monument, Altar of the Fatherland, also known as Vittoriano that provided a fantastic view of the Colosseum!

We headed out to pick up some food at the market and swung by The Forum and the Colosseum only to be surrounded by THOUSANDS of people celebrating Rome's Gay Pride parade.