Even though we had managed to cross off quite a lot on our list of places to visit in Rome (click here for Part I), we still had a lot left to visit. We had one last full day in Rome, and the first stop was the Colosseum.

Major tourist attraction site – The Roman Colosseum

Wee! We managed to get a photo without a giant crowd of people in the background!

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It was a little jarring to see the newly restored portion next to the older side.  It seems so mismatched, you would think they would try to “age” the new side a little to make it look a little more blended and aesthetically pleasing.

Since we visited Pompeii a couple days prior, and saw plenty of colosseums there, we opted not to go inside.  A downside to visiting so many sites in Italy is that you’ll have to pay entry to practically every site, so sometimes we’d have to pick and choose which sites were worth it for us (especially when on a budget!).

We grabbed lunch at a meatball place, All bi One, nearby that was pretty good and had a wide variety for us to try out.

Meatball flavors – classic, marinara, truffle, chicken curry with tater tots

After lunch we tried our first cannoli in Italy at Ciuri Ciuri. I was a little confused when the girl working there asked me if I wanted cheese filling. It’s actually ricotta cheese filling, which is similar to cream cheese, but not as dense and sweeter. It was so delicious!

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Minh and Keanna had passed by what they kept referring to as the “epic building” the night I had dinner with my old coworker and had been wanting to check it out.

Minh super excited we’re finally going to see the “epic building”

We finally managed to visit it after talking about it so much, and wow! It definitely is epic. The “epic building” turns out is the Altare della Patria, which is a monument in honor of Victor Emmanuel, the first king of a unified Italy.  It also houses the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

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Another great feature of this place is that there are some great views from the balcony of the building. If you want a full 360 degree view, you can also take an elevator to the roof.

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We also got some great views of Palatine Hill without having to actually walk through the ruins in the hot sun with all the crowds.

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Our last stop of our sight seeing for Rome was, of course, a Bernini piece – The Ecstacy of St. Theresa.

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Our last dinner in Rome, and the last night before my sister returned home, we went to the #1 rated place on yelp -Ai Tre Scalini. While on our way to dinner, we managed to snag some beautiful photos of the Colosseum all lit up.

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Ai Tre Scalini was really crowded when we arrived and lots of people were just hanging out drinking on the sidewalk right outside the restaurant. Luckily, we asked our hotel to help us make reservations the day before. It was a tapas style place and we ordered a lot of food – all of it was great! If you want to visit, make sure you make reservations!

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To finish off our time in Rome, and our time spent with my sister, we got gelato at La Romana. There were lots of Italian locals there and their gelato was made fresh in batches. You can choose white or dark chocolate (from their fresh flowing fountain) in the bottom of your cone!

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It was a great ending to our time in Rome, and I was really sad to see my sister go home, as it was so much fun having her join us! Come visit us again Keanna, we miss you! 🙂

Rome is such a history-rich city, with so much to see. At every stop, each of us would be exclaiming how amazed and in awe we were that we basically ran out of adjectives before we started repeating ourselves over and over!  Walking into stunning landmarks in history made for plenty of (literal) jaw-dropping reactions from each of us.  Reading about it in text books and only seeing it on television/online pales in comparison to seeing the scale and detail in person.  From the Vatican, to the numerous roman sculptures and artwork, to the great food, it’s no wonder it’s such a popular destination for visitors from all over the world!