Touring Rome in 3 days - Day 2

On our second day in Rome we woke up feeling pretty jet lagged. It really took a lot out of us to fly that long! We had to find a new hotel to move to because our hotel double booked us. We found a small cafe and researched a new hotel. I had my first Italian espresso! I put a whole pack of sugar in it and loved it! Very strong. We found an opening at Hotel Cosmopolitan and it looked nice and was in a great location next to the Colosseum. We checked in and dropped our stuff off and walked to the Republic building, and ate lunch at the Pantheon.

We ate a delicious lunch outside of the Pantheon. Melon and Prosciutto di Parma, delicious white wine, and bruschetta. 

The Pantheon was so interesting and surreal to us because of how long ago it was built. It is apparently one of the best preserved Roman buildings that was built in 126 AD. It is almost 2,000 years old!!! And we got to walk inside of it! The Pantheon's dome is still the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome. The oculus in the middle is open and it often rains through the middle and the water goes down a drain inside the building. I read that this is a really special place to be when it snows.

After lunch we walked to the Colosseum. The line wasn't very long and we got inside in about 10 minutes. The stadium was so massive and hard to believe it is still standing. I can't imagine what it would have took to build it back then. It was really cool to see the structure, but kind  of creepy to think about how many lives were lost there. 

We saw these guys on our way to the Colosseum. Pretty tricky!

Trying my first drink out of the Roman Aqueducts. 

The weather changed a lot throughout the day. Good thing we wore a lot of layers. It was rainy and windy in the morning and a little chilly, and then the sun would come out and I would be sweating! 

Our tickets to the Colosseum got us into the Roman Forum and Palatine. the Palatine was gorgeous. The Palatine (meaning Palace) excavations show that many affluent Romans lived there since around 1000 BC. Even including Caesar Augustus! You get to walk right through both exhibits and experience all of the old ruins.

This is the view from inside the Roman Forum looking back at the Colosseum.

The view from the top of the Palatine.

A gorgeous building inside the Roman Forum.

This is Palatine Hill with the Roman Forum beneath it. 

We took a break from walking around and soaked in the sun for a while on some steps. We definitely didn't eat enough or drink enough water and we felt so weird because our core temperatures we fluctuating constantly and we were freezing during the day and really hot at night. We looked it up and it can take up to one day per hour of time change for your core temperature to finally regulate.

From the top of the Palatine Hill, there is a gorgeous view of the city

Our hotel was just to the left of this ruin/museum. 

We got back to our hotel and took a nap from 6-7 and then had dinner at a cute little pizza restaurant close to the Pantheon. We thoroughly enjoyed our second day in Rome and were excited to check out the Vatican on our 3rd day.