We left Halifax, Nova Scotia for Rome at 5 pm for our first stop on a short flight to Montreal.

Airplane wing extending into a bright blue sky flying above a layer of fluffy white clouds creating a serene view of the horizon. The airplane’s winglet shows an Air Canada logo.

Two people wearing headphones around their necks are smiling and sitting close together airplane seats visible behind them airplane interior with overhead compartments and window.

In Montreal we had a two hour layover at a gate three or four times smaller than needed with nowhere to sit and absolutely no airflow.

After what appeared to be a free for all boarding the plane we were on our way. A short seven hour flight later we landed in Rome at 9:30 am local time.

Our first day in Rome was busy starting with taking a bus from the airplane to the airport, apparently an airplane still at our gate was in the middle of a repair not able to be moved. Once in the terminal we waited at least an hour for our luggage. Pretty sure they were the last ones off the plane.

At a friends suggestion we had hired a car for transportation to the hotel. Would definitely recommend, especially if you have never been to your destination before. We eventually met up with the driver, a lady who could have a former career as a race car driver, and experienced some crazy traffic and crazier drivers while en route to our hotel.

We had booked a tour for the Colosseum, Roman Forum, Palatine Hill, and the Mamertine Prison that should have allowed us to bypass the lines. Two days before we left for Rome the tour operator contacted us and told us their tour was cancelled due to the first Sunday of the month being free entry day to almost all major attractions in Rome. We did not know this when booking our vacation. We would not recommend, spoiler, the lines were insanely long.

After dropping our luggage at the hotel we headed to the Colosseum in the rain to see if we could beat the lines. We could not.

A large ancient stone amphitheater with multiple arched openings stands as the main object The structure appears weathered and historical with visible columns Visitors in modern clothing gather and walk around at the base of the amphitheater The sky above is cloudy The text reads Il Colosseo si racconta

While looking for the line to pick up our free tickets we happened on a “tourist ambassador” who helped get us a replacement for our cancelled tour. Not gonna lie, this was giving us a real scam vibe but turned out to be legit.

The tour started in the line for tickets, because of the “free entry day” each person must pick up their own. We had 45 minutes of Rome history from the tour guide while we waited to pickup our tickets and then 45 minutes within the Colosseum itself ending up over looking the arena floor.

The Colosseum stands as a large ancient amphitheater running semi-circular stone seating structures people exploring its many levels and corridors an overcast sky with clouds forming the backdrop historical ruins and remnants populate the center of the arena wall structures and arches surround the scene

We had enough of the lines and the heat and headed back to the hotel. On the way we found pizzadellamadonna tucked into a side street and stopped in our first authentic Italian pizza and then retired for the evening exhausted.

Double doors lead into a dimly lit interior with hanging lights. The exterior left wall has two flower pots with pink flowers and a mounted menu stand The façade features a street sign reading VIA DELLA MADONNA DEI MONTI 108

A salami pizza topped with black olives sits on a table next to a glass bottle of Coca-Cola Zero Zuccheri. In the background, another person is dining with a different pizza and a glass bottle of Coca-Cola Zero Zuccheri. The table features a dark textured surface.

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