Rome with Noah, Troy and Momma: Our First Day in Rome and No Jet Lag

Troy, Momma, Noah and the Colosseum
Via dei Fori Imperiali

Our first day in Rome was a really impressive and inspiring day. After arriving at the Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino International Airport (FCO), catching a taxi to the Hotel Opera Roma and then another taxi to the Via dei Fori Imperiali, we were in the middle of everything. It was already afternoon by the time we took the photo above.
This street was not too crowded and we followed it directly to the Colosseum which you can see in the background at the end of the street. You can see those distinctive stone pine trees that lined the hills at the FCO airport all up and down this street - the Via dei Fori Imperiali. As we turned and walked to the Colosseum, we had the Roman Forum, Palatine Hill and more on our right.

This day, we did not take any tours. We had just arrived so this was more the day for getting our bearings. We booked tours for the rest of the week though. The next day (Tuesday 12/27/2016), we booked a tour of Florence; Wednesday, we booked tours of the Colosseum and the Palatine Hill; Thursday, we booked a tour bus to Naples and Pompeii; Friday, we booked a tour of Vatican City; Saturday (New Year's Eve), we did the Palatine Hill part of our Wednesday tour and then flew back to the United States on New Year's Day 2017.

We walked around the streets of Rome for the remainder of the afternoon - up and down cobblestone streets, down winding alleyways, up and down steps and with awe-inspiring Roman architecture and history with every step.

Side view of the Altare Della Patria (The Typewriter)

As it got dark, we found a little Theatre Cafe for dinner on the Largo Magnanapoli across the circle from the Tower of Milizie (Torre delle Milizie). It was a great place to eat and finish up the night before we walked back up Via Nazionale to the Hotel Opera Roma.