Roma

So I arrive in Roma at about midday and headed off to find my youth hostel, it was in the best position-walking distance to the main train station and had only been open for 10 days so everything was nice and new. I was really sad and came home early on the first night to have a nice long shower without wearing shoes. It's very sad that showers in youth hostels are better than at 'home'. Since I was travelling alone I decided to go on one of those open-top buses and got a 24 hr pass. It was really great but in hindsight, if I was more prepared I should ahve gone straight to Vatican or Coloseum and got one of the major sites out of the way. But I spent a lovely afternoon exploring Rome, hopped off near the spanish steps and watched the sunset over Rome, was gorgeous!

Then headed to Trevi fountain, where I had the most amazing Pizza for dinner (so so good). Threw a coin over my head into the fountain (I'm not entirely sure what the fountain is meant to bring you...hopefully its good luck!).
Wondered through the shopping district which was bliss by myself, can stop and browse and buy whenever you feel like it, was great and picked up a few winter goodies.
The next day I had grand plans to see the Colosseum and the Vatican in 1 day so woke up nice and early (had another LONG shower) and headed to the station to drop my bags off. Ended up having to wait in a queue for about an hour (thanks terrorists) because now you have to get your bags scanned before you can leave them in the lockers!
Headed straight to the Colesseum, decided to pay the extra 4 euro for an audio guide which meant I could skip the queue too. I thought it was a really smart idea until I got there and there were no more english guides left! Signed up for the guided tour, but had to wait about 45mins for it and since I had paid I was getting my money's worth!
The tour was actually wirth it, learnt so much more about it than you do if you just stroll thoruhg (there isn't actually a lot to see). The ticket gets you into a few other places near like Circus Maximus and another place which I have forgetten about!
Sitting by the fountain in St Peter's Square
Grabbed a Panini for lunch (not as good as Pizza) and headed to catch the bus to the Vatican which ofcourse I had just missed! I htink I got to the Vatican at about 1pm. Coloseum
My bus left at 5pm from some godforsaken station miles away and the queue for the Vatican was so so long (almost around the entire square!). So I made the decision to rather spend the last 3 hours I had exploring the rest of Rome rather than waiting in a queue! And now I have an excuse to go back!
At the Colosseum
Ended up walking all through the little Piazza's and seeign the Pantheon and other famous monuments, my feet were aching by the end of the day but was nice just to chill out. Ending up buying a gorgeous winter coat which I love and got to the bus to Florence on-time which was good!
A different Arc de Triumphe!
Trevi Fountain
Spanish Steps
Sunset from Spanish Steps.