Thanksgiving 2013 in Maldives: Rome Layover

• Introduction
• Austin to Frankfurt
• Frankfurt Layover & Frankfurt to Rome
• Rome Layover
• Rome to Bangkok
• Bangkok to Male via Singapore
• Conrad Maldives
• Male to Manchester via Colombo and Abu Dhabi
• Heading back to Austin

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We were determined to make the most of our short stay in Rome even with the slight delay on arrival due to dealing the luggage and the jetlag kicking in. After checking in and dropping of our bags at the Best Western Hotel Universo, we headed back to the nearby Termini station and took the metro to the Trevi Fountain. I visited Rome and the Trevi fountain during the day years ago and without Lydia and the fountain looked much more beautiful than I remembered especially this time with Lydia and with the lights turned on at night and less of a crowd than during the day.

We then made our way to the Spanish Steps which we didn't spend much too time since it wasn't too interesting. We headed back to the Termini station and made a detour at one of the many McDonald's around the area for a late dinner/snack. We ordered a ciabatta type sandwich that I assumed was unique to Italy and it was pretty disappointing. The fries also came out soggy and we both agreed this was probably the worst McD we've tried.

We got up bright and early next the day to again maximize our time in Rome and hopefully beat most of the lines. The day started of with the mandatory espresso and croissant at one of the many espresso bars nearby the hotel. There's one thing I love about Rome is the endless supply of amazing espresso.

The main objective of the day was the Vatican and St Peter's Basilica. The sun was only coming out when we got there and I was happy to get some pretty good pictures of the Basilica and the square.

The only good thing about arriving early was the lack of lines and crowd. We got in as soon as the Basilica was opened and was even able to get close to the Michelangelo's Pieta. The downside was that half the Basilica was closed for a private mass that was going to happen later so we couldn't see much. 

Since we still had time due to the partial close of the basilica, we made another stop at the Colosseum. We were too cheap to pay for a ticket to enter since we didn't really have time, we just did the touristy thing of walking around and snapping a few pictures. I must say that the LA Coliseum that the USC Trojans play in is much more impressive :P

With that, we returned to the hotel for a late complimentry breakfast/brunch before packing up and heading back to the airport via the Leonardo express for our flight to Rome.