On the Tuesday of our trip we were up quite early to have breakfast. There wasn't tons of choice in the hotel but it was fine, enough for us both to eat. Then we set off out to the Spanish Steps.
Now, I went to Rome when I was fifteen, on a school trip to Florence. We just went for the day and I don't remember a lot of it. But I was pretty sure we had seen the Spanish Steps. However when we got there I didn't remember them AT ALL. We also did some window shopping in Prada, Gucci, etc, all the posh shops. They're around the bottom of the steps. Then we walked up them - which was difficult for me and especially as it was quite warm - and we rested a couple of times on the way.
Then we bought some bus tickets from a vendor on the corner of a street, and walked up a big hill to the bus stop. I know Rome is built on seven hills, and people always compare Sheffield to it, but believe me, Sheffield is way hillier! This was the biggest hill we walked up and then we had to wait for our bus for a while, but eventually we were on it. We sat inside because it was full upstairs on the open deck, but no matter.
We had planned to get off at the Jewish Quarter to look at the synagogue and the old ghetto, but getting from our stop round to near there took ages, so we didn't want to risk not getting to the Vatican at the right time. So we stayed on the bus and then got off it near St Peter's and walked across the bridge to St Peter's Square. I did remember this from went I went before. It is a beautiful church and the square is, too.
We decided to get some lunch from a truck in the area. They had a few different types of sandwiches so I got a mozarella and tomato one and some crisps and a drink. I was glad I had my hat because it was hot and very sunny, and I had my hair tied back because I was incredibly sweaty. We considered going into St Peter's but didn't, and that is maybe my only regret of the whole holiday. Instead we walked round the walls to the entrance to the Vatican Museums. It is a LONG way away from St Peter's and up a bit of a hill.
We finally got there and got to go to the front of the queue thanks to my blue badge. We had tickets booked for later in the afternoon but I'm glad we got in earlier because the Vatican is a LOT. You have to go through security and so on, and there are so many people around. We eventually got upstairs into the beginning of it. We decided to sit and have a drink in the main square area, which was very welcome.
Then we began the long walk to the Sistine Chapel! I did go to this when I was younger but really don't remember it. I am glad we went because it is stunning - it's much bigger than I remembered and the scope of the artwork is amazing. We had the audio guides which made it much more interesting as it was explained. We had heard too that you get shuffled through but this isn't the case at all. There is space for you to sit or stand and look at the ceiling for as long as you want, which we did.
By the time we had made our way out of the Vatican it was about 5pm and we were exhausted. I had actually thought I was going to faint at one point - my vision went all black and I had to sit down. We considered getting a taxi from outside the Vatican but they wanted to charge us 38 euros back to the hotel but that was way too much! So we walked downhill a bit hoping to catch a passing cab, but couldn't. Eventually my mum realised she had Uber on her phone so she ordered one and thankfully it turned up very quickly. He dropped us off close to the hotel and it was only about eighteen euros. Be warned if you're going to Rome!
We then had a long lie down in the hotel because we were both knackered. I took an eye mask with me which was very cold as I'd put it in the fridge, so that was lovely. I then had a shower and we got dressed and went out for food.
We ended up eating only a couple of doors down from our hotel. There was a really friendly lady in the doorway and we had said hello to her each time we had passed. The menu outside didn't have a ton of vegetarian options, but she said they could do pasta alfredo with mushrooms, which sounded great, so we went in. We were shown to a little cellar area a little bit lower down and to begin with we were the only people there, but fortunately it got much busier so it had more atmosphere.
I had some kind of cocktail, a bellini I think, and we shared a bottle of prosecco. I had tagliatelle alfredo with mushrooms, which were so good! My mum had salmon pasta which she loves, and we both had tiramisu for pudding. It was perfect Italian food, and service - slow to give you time to chat. However a few Americans had a problem with this and ended up leaving! Loopy.
We got back to the hotel about 10pm and went to bed because we were very tired! I was wearing a purple dress that I hadn't worn before, though. It is from Shein originally, but I got it on Vinted brand new with tags. It's a gorgeous light and breezy dress for the summer.
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