Rome - Day 2 - free day

Day 2: 

Booking the underground tour was a pain....
We woke up late.  I called the Colosseum tour again and asked if they could put us in tonight, since the representative said I could only book over the phone and not in person.  After 5 minutes of waiting, an agent finally picked up and said the underground tour cannot be booked on the same day.....ACCCkkkkk I blew up.......I called long distance so many times before and they kept saying the schedule was not out (even the week before)?  After a bunch of crap, I finally was able to book an underground tour on Friday (Sept 21) at 12:40pm....

Our cheap little breakfast from vending machines:
We bought 3 sandwiches from the hotel's vending machines for breakfast (only 2,50 Euro each ~ Tuna salad, Egg salad and Shrimp...nothing too fancy...but quite good).  We also bought mocha and cappuccino from the vending machine too...

We didn't have much plans and we just decided to stroll around Rome.  Weather was quite bad, very cloudy and gloomy.  We walked on Via Nationale and checked out some of the leather shops.  We took some photos of some ruins, Altare della patria & Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio (Piazza Venezia).  That was like the centre of Rome, well for us it is.  Whenever we got lost, we just had to look for the Piazza Venezia.

We walked to the Spanish steps and the shopping district (high end fashion brands like....Prada, Chanel, Gucci......) We walked into this fast food place and had some pasta.  The bottle of white wine was only 3,70 Euro and it was quite good.  

Food court lunch - casual and cheap :)

After lunch, we went to do some shopping and suddenly it was pouring rain...so we went into the McDonald's and had some mcnuggets.  It was packed inside..many tourists went in and waited until the rain stopped, the server got quite rude to other tourists.  The McDonald's was quite trendy though.

Finally, the rain stopped.  The spanish steps....not as many tourists as I expected... It looked nicer at night time though (night shots at another pose) :)

Parking in Europe is quite impressive.....they leave so little space in between the vehicles.....it was quite amazing to see some of the parking jobs.  In Canada, we leave lots of space when we park.

Since our hotel had a very nice terrace, we decided to just relax and chill for the night.  We bought some freshly made sandwiches and opened the complimentary bottle of red wine we got from Florence.  The hotel's roof garden was quite nice.  It was still raining so bad, and it felt very peaceful just chilling at the covered patio :)

Day 1 - First Day in Rome

First day in Roma - part 1

Lasagna, Pizza, Beer and Italian orange soda

After checking in the hotel, we walked out and tried to look for food nearby.  We stopped by the Piazza della Repubblica.... and had our lunch there.... Nothing special, but the orange soda was quite refreshing.  So many birds will come to you when you eat at the outdoor terrace :)

After lunch, we basically just followed the map and walked to the Colosseum.  I researched on the underground tour for the colosseum online and talked to someone over the phone....I never got a proper reply back.  So we were heading there to see if we could book there.

Nope.  We couldn't book at the counter, we had to do it on the phone.  It was the most annoying thing ever to deal with that.  I wanted to book their official underground tour because they were the only tour that allowed their tourists to go to the "prohibited areas and the underground".  Apparently I had to call again to book.

It was about a 20 minutes walk....walking downhill?... We took a lot of photos there..just the outside of the colosseum.

When you thought the cobblestones were from ancient time...nope I just saw some were newly paved.. not sure about these ones

Tah dahhhh....finally arrived to the Colosseo ..... just going to take some photos from the outside for now

lots of ruins everywhere in Rome..

Just a day of exploring rome by following the tourist map :) we walked everywhere...

This auditorium looked like Colosseum

Some fountain in the middle of the road

Random Italian Restaurant in some back alley - Beef Carparcio 

Trevi Fountain finally :):) it looked bigger than I thought.  Night time wasn't crowded

Rome at night was quite peaceful :)

Rome - iQ Hotel Roma

iQ Hotel Roma:
via Firenza, 8 Roma

Termini station to iQ Hotel Roma:

After a comfortable first class ride from Florence to Rome's main train station (Termini), we looked at the map at the station.  It was approximate 10-15 minutes walk from termini to the hotel.  I googled map it the night before, so it wasn't too hard to find (must not repeat the "lost in Venice" incident again).

Lots of drinks to pick from...cheap too :)

General comments about hotel:
- hotel room was quite small

- the two beds were movable

- bathroom was very clean

- very nice terrace upstairs, must spend a night there chilling with snack and wine, play some fuse balls

- vending machines upstairs

- very good location, easy/moderate walk from hotel to Colosseum, Pantheon and Trevi fountain

- we pretty much walked to everywhere from hotel...even to spanish steps...etc....  

  - easy walk to metro

  - highly recommended ! :)