Rome in 4 days?

Although I am not an agent of Avanti travel, I was asked to write about my adventures in Rome over a four day experience. My husband and I, along with One of my best friends from childhood and her husband all had a four day weekend, so we decided to do something other than stay home and be bored. So, we went to Rome, Italy! We flew from San Francisco to Philidelphia, then on to Rome, Italy. The flight was not terrible as we enjoyed envoy class on board U.S. Airways. Once we arrived in Rome, we were escorted by shuttle to our hotel, the Anglo Americano. This was one of the budget friendly hotels in the area, but still walking distance from everything worth seeing. The four of us shared a room, but when we walked inside the room we were quite surprised to see not two beds, but four single beds! Quite entertaining! So we put down our luggage and decided to start our exploring.

We found ourselves at the Collesseum almost every day, along with the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps. We had seen the Pantheon and many piazza's along the way. The scenary was incredible everywhere we walked. The buildings carry so much history and beauty, that we could not stop looking for new and exciting roads to travel every day.

We did decide to take the tour of the inside of the Colleseum, which is very worth the money. The building on it's own carries so much information and history! It truly is a remarkable structure. We ventured through the Roman Forum, where the ruins of the "beating heart of Rome" remain. In the very heart of the forum we discovered a heap of dirt with flowers covering it, come to find out, it is the grave of Julius Caesar. The Pantheon was another adventure as it is still a living and Holy Basilica...if you do not know what that means, it is still an active church with full services.

The Vatican was a whole day adventure. We did pay for a tour here, which I highly recommend! The tour allowed us to not only bypass the 5 hour line to get into the Vatican City, but also offered full commentary about what we had seen. We saw the tapestries that were designed by Davinci, and sculptures in the courtyard designed by Michaelangelo, but the most impressive of all would definately be the Sistine Chapel! My husband was not as impressed as I, and I do agree that it is not everyone's cup of tea, but the intricate designs and gold leaf work that had gone into creating such a masterpiece is quite stunning. Be careful when you go in here though as it is the only place that absolutely NO photography is allowed! Yes, it is still under copywright laws and owned by those that clean the ceiling every 25 years. Don't worry though, there are many opportunities in town to purchase post cards which capture the true essence of the chapel much better than any photographer could do with the many people inside.

Overall, Rome was an adventure! A four day whirlwind adventure that was very cold and wet in November, but still so much fun! The food and coffee were wonderful! The locals were very nice! And the sights just speak for themselves! If you are looking for a fun four day adventure, I highly recommend Rome, just don't go for only four days if you are not planning on walking a lot and pushing through the jet lag!!! **Jenae**