In the tiredness of last night, I may have left out a couple of things.

Unfortunately, my water demon is back. If you haven’t heard the stories from me yet, I’ve had a bit of bad luck surrounding water in the past—so much so that we’ve become really good friends with our plumber, Oscar. He gets a Christmas card and everything.

Yesterday was a day.

I had to put away my bottled water at last night’s dinner restaurant because no outside beverages were allowed. Somehow, it flipped upside down and opened itself in my purse, and the whole thing emptied out. My purse became a water reservoir for a while before I realized. It soggied up my cash and some other things, and infiltrated my passport wallet and even my emergency meds container. I was able to save most of it, but a few Advils, Tylenols, and baby aspirins kicked the bucket.

Then, just before going to bed, I went to take my nighttime vitamins and managed to spill a good amount on the bed, floor, and my phone. It spread quite a bit into my phone case, and my phone very loudly alerted me that there was water in the USB port. I had to pull out all the stops to keep it from demise—but we’re back to normal now.

Matt tried to use the first incident as an excuse to buy me an Italian leather purse. I didn’t let him. He keeps repeating that I can have whatever I want, but since we haven’t given up our sacrificial items yet, there’s no room for anything except postcards.

Anyways… I’m officially rebuking my water demon. May it be cast out far, far away from us.

Now on to today.

We got up early for our Vatican City, Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter’s Basilica tours. We stumbled across a café right in front of the train stop that had delicious cappuccinos that hit the spot really good. So glad we stopped there.

We got to our meeting point just in time. Most of our trip includes tours because we did not come to Italy to wait in lines forever. Time is money. And it’s way too hot here for the blaring sun of Saint Peter’s Square, where people are waiting upwards of two hours just to get in—and that’s a separate line from the Vatican City and Sistine Chapel.

Also… it appears that tour companies have taken over Italy. What happens is once tickets become available online, the tour companies buy them all up fast and then mark them up as “guided” tours. So, in other words, we paid about three times the face value of our tickets. I think the Vatican still sells tickets at the door, though—I’m pretty sure they don’t turn down money.

For us, it was more about the skip-the-line experience. We even got to take a shortcut door from the Sistine Chapel straight into the Basilica, avoiding another massive wait outside.

Speaking of the Basilica… it’s huge. There were several services going on in side chapels all at once. Matt wanted to ask if we could step into one of the prayer areas, but I preferred to keep moving and not impose. A lot of areas were blocked off, but there was still plenty to see. Our guide, Antonio, left us there at the end with a warning that even holy places like this have pickpockets, so be very careful.

We eventually sauntered out and grabbed a road sandwich so we could make it to the Colosseum in time. Once we got on the train at the Ottaviano stop, I noticed a man staring Matt up and down, with a very specific focus on his pockets. I pointed it out to Matt, and he noticed the same thing. We moved down a car to stay clear of him and observe from a distance. Turns out he was scanning everyone’s pockets—and eventually noticed that we noticed him. A little later, we saw another man also move down a car to get away from him. Wild.

We got to the Colosseum slightly early.

No tour group for our entry, but I had to set an alarm for 4 a.m. a week ago so I could buy the tickets the moment they were released. While still crowded, the Colosseum and surrounding sites were nowhere near as bad as the Vatican in terms of crowds.

The experience was amazing. Matt was obsessed, which checks out.

The Colosseum was basically ancient Rome’s version of reality TV—gladiators, wild animals, and 50,000 people watching like it was the hottest show in town. Built to impress and distract the masses, it’s proof that even back then, Rome knew how to keep things dramatic.

I tried to imagine what each nook and compartment held, and the paths gladiators took to get in and out of the arena. The Colosseum—and some soccer stadiums—were the only requests Matt had for this whole trip.

Once we left the Colosseum, we headed to the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill, which were way bigger than I remember. At some point in one of the exhibits, I found a photo of an old Greek piece that oddly looks like me.

Dinner was close to home. Pasta again. With a little bit of a show.