Roman Forum & Colosseum: not the place to go on the hottest day of the year

Of course the day I tackled the ruins, it was 100 degrees out (literally).

Roman Forum

The Roman Forum ruins were quite impressive, and as Rick Steves says, “many of the basalt stones under your feet were walked on by Caesar Augustus 2,000 years ago.” Where else can you find that kind of history?

My favorite parts of the Roman Forum:

Bronze doors

• The bronze doors still hanging from way back in the day, just to the right of the Temple of Antoninus Pius and Faustina

Ashes in the Temple of Julius Caesar

• The Temple of Julius Caesar (where his body was burned after he died, and where there’s still a pile of ashes with flowers on top – they’re not his ashes, of course)

Temple of Vesta

• Temple of Vesta, which was guarded by the Vestal Virgins, who if they didn’t fulfill their 30-year vow of celibacy were buried alive. Yikes!

After touring the Forum, I was dripping sweat, exhausted and cramping up. But I had to do at least one more part of the ruins trifecta (Forum, Palatine Hill, Colosseum) before calling it quits.

So I climbed up Palatine Hill. There were some beautiful gardens up on the hill, a refreshing sight of green after the brown, barren ruins. I have to admit, I kind of half-assedly explored Palatine Hill. It was just way too freaking hot. I literally thought I might pass out from heat stroke and dehydration.

I hurried back to the hotel for some much-needed AC!

But after a short rest, I decided to finish off my tour of the ruins with the Colosseum. The Colosseum was very cool, but unbelievably hot. Plenty of fellow tourists were literally sitting down in any piece of shade available, dying from the heat.

Me and my much-needed but almost-empty bottle of water

I didn’t even walk around the entire arena – it’s symmetrical, so if you’ve seen half of it, you’ve pretty much seen the entire thing, right? I took plenty of pictures, but I couldn’t last another minute so ran back to the hotel and into the shower to douse myself in cold water!

Rome by moonlight

After our daily nap, Daniela and I decided to do one of Rick Steves’ suggested night walks.

We took a bus up to Piazza del Popolo, which is this nice, very Egyptian-inspired square, complete with a huge obelisk in the middle, surrounded by a fountain. The entire square is surrounded by sphinx statues.

Piazza del Popolo

Then we walked down Via del Corso, which is lined with shops. We found a place to eat on one of the side streets, but it was pretty mediocre. I was hoping for more from Rome’s pasta!

Spanish steps

Next, we visited the Spanish steps, which were packed with people. There is this boat-shaped fountain at the base of the steps and (shocker) another Egyptian obelisk at the top of the stairs. But the view from the top of the stairs, onto a moonlit Rome, was truly beautiful. The crescent moon over the rooftops was picturesque. And apparently Daniela and I weren’t the only ones having a romantic moment – next to us some guy had brought his cat to the steps!

View of moonlit Rome from the Spanish steps

We headed down Via Condotti, which is lined with designer stores – Valentino, Louis Vuitton, Dolce & Gabbana, Burberry – you know, all the ones I can’t afford!

We walked to a bus stop in front of the Victor Emmanuel II monument – an overpowering, white building that is apparently refered to as the “wedding cake,” the “dentures” and/or the “typewriter.” And I have to say, it is even more unavoidable at night when spotlights accentuate its bright whiteness.

Parading around in Paris

After a day full of sight-seeing, we decided to do even more sight-seeing! Our last swipe on our two-day Museum Pass was the Arc de Triomphe. Yay, more stairs! Although, relatively speaking, it wasn’t too bad of a climb. However, the view from the top wasn’t that breathtaking – especially compared to our Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame experiences.

A picture I took of the Arc de Triomphe by being an asshole tourist and standing in the middle of the Champs Elysee

We got the Arc out of the way so we could focus on strolling the Champs Elysee. Unfortunately, it was getting late, so most of the stores were closed, but we did get to window shop a little (which, let’s face it, is all I can afford to do at this point anyways!) and spotted the humongous Louis Vuitton store.

Me pouting in front of the huge Louis Vuitton store on the Champs Elysee because I have not yet achieved my lifetime's goal of owning an LV bag!

 Across the street from the LV store, there’s a well-known cafe called Fouquet’s that allegedly offers celebrity sightings. We didn’t get close enough to see if there were any celebrities dining there at the moment, but we did see a hot pink Ferrari pull up for dinner!

After dinner on the Champs Elysee at a less-exclusive venue, I took a page out of my Rick Steves’ Europe book (literally) to guide us on a nighttime walk through Ile St. Louis. The island was so peaceful and charming, the type of area that really makes you feel like you’re in Paris. Our stroll took us across the island, over the Seine to Ile de la Cite for a view of the lit-up Notre Dame.

Seeing these historic landmarks lit up at night is such an experience, you really can’t capture it with a camera. Literally, it won’t come out that great on film, and beyond that, you just can’t capture the feeling of being on an island in the Seine River on a hot summer night, staring up at the Notre Dame flooded in light.

The last part of our walk – not in Rick Steves’ guide – was strolling back to our hotel.