Tourist Tuesday

After four hours of sleep, my alarm went off bright (actually dark) and early at 5:00. Our Art History class was canceled for the day, leaving our schedules wide open for adventuring! Missy, Ashley, Maggie, Bridget, Mary, Katie, Megan, Kelly, and I met at the bus stop at 6:00. Why? To watch the sunrise at the Trevi Fountain! Several of these Early Birds have been making a habit of waking up before the sun to watch it rise over important monuments (Vatican is a popular choice). Paolo, our Art History professor, told us that early in the morning is the best time to really appreciate the touristy spots without the tourists blocking the view. Thus, Tourist Tuesday was born, a day we can do all the toursity things we don't have time to do normally.

We took a quick stop at the deserted Pantheon for some pictures (this was when my camera decided to stop working) and continued onward to the Trevi. With only three other people in the entire area, we took full advantage of the open space for pictures, wishes, and even some sweet dance moves! Although we couldn't actually see the sunrise, it was pretty watching the blue change in the sky and the lights on the fountain shut off. It was beautiful! (Mary took some pretty amazing pictures, and since my camera had a meltdown, I am stealing her photos of the Pantheon and the Trevi)

Never seen it that pretty before! And so empty! 

The Tourists:
(Kelly, Megan, Missy, Me, Maggie, Bridget, Mary, Ashley, and Katie)

My attempt at being unique: I figured everyone has a picture standing and throwing coins. 

Since several of us are in the History class, we got to go into the Roman Forum the day before free of charge (it was pretty impressive. Lots of ruins we'd seen from the outside, but the view from the Palatine Hill was amazing! ) Our Roman Forum ticket also got us into the Colosseum and was good for two days. Not wanting to waste our free tickets, this became our next stop on the schedule.We grabbed a quick cup of coffee and began our short walk to the Colosseum and the Arch of Constantine. Kelly, who- like Mary- takes professional looking photos, had brought her fancy camera and let me use her digital one for the rest of the day (It was nice to have a camera that didn't shut up every time I tried to zoom...)


The Colosseum wasn't scheduled to open for another hour so we spent our time taking pictures of the Arch of Constantine and the facade of the Colosseum. I practiced my artsy photographer skills some more.

Sun just coming up as we arrived!

Arch of Constantine! So pretty in the morning light!

We went inside the Colosseum, and I was once again blown away by how massive it is! It's so hard to fathom it filled with spectators watching men fight wild beasts for entertainment. We walked around and soaked it all in.

So massive!

After we had gotten our fill of pictures. Kelly, Bridget, Ashley, Megan and I went to the area outside the Vatican. We had the most amazing crepes for lunch: mine was prosciutto, tomato, and mozzarella- it was divine. We then looked around at the various shops and market area to work up enough of an appetite for strawberry,peach, and nutella gelato at Old Bridge (hey, it's Tourist Tuesday... gelato is totally implied)  It was wonderful day of photographs and full stomachs!