Rome in 2 and half days!

WOW!   Like the saying Rome wasn't built in a day, the same goes for seeing Rome - you cannot see it in a day or even 2.  There is just so much to see in Rome and we are trying to squeeze it all into 2 and half days while battling a little jet-lag!   If you are like us and haven't been to Rome before and are taking a cruise out of Rome you really do need a couple days to even scratch the surface.   If your cruise is round trip it might be easier to do Rome after the cruise but either way I think you need at least 3 days to just get a sampling of Rome.  
  As I said yesterday, I chose a hotel based on location that was close to things I knew we wanted to see and we really have walked to everywhere we have been in these 2 days.   Yesterday our step meter said we did 13 miles!   Our hotel's location allows us to walk to the Trevi fountain in about 2 minutes which is nice since that place is always crowded.  We found this morning when leaving for an early tour we passed the fountain at 8 am and that was the least crowded it we have seen it.   Our front desk said the best time to go is 3 am - which would be possible being this close but don't think we really need to do that unless we cannot sleep tonight for some reason.   We have also easily walked to the Pantheon, Spanish Steps, and Piazza Navona.   All of these you can just walk around for free no tour needed.   Slightly longer walks but still easy to handle were the Colosseum and Vatican City.    I did pre-book us a tour for the Colosseum with Project Expedition and I am so glad I did.  Even though this is considered slightly off-season for tourists things have still been very crowded.   Our tour not only allowed us to skip the lines but it also got us into places you cannot go on your own.   It was very cool to go underground and also up to the very top level of the Colosseum.   The tour also included the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill.   Having a guide over there was really great since there was so much to see and learn about.  
We weren't really sure how we would be feeling so I didn't want to pre-book too much and I am glad I didn't since we really couldn't have been up early the first day after an overnight flight.  We decided for the Vatican we would just explore the outside for this visit.   By the time we got over there the crowds were already large so I wouldn't recommend doing that without a tour that lets you skip the lines.  
We also walked around the river and other things like Circo Massimo, Castel Sant Angelo, and Largo di Torre Argentina (this is where Julius Caesar was killed).   There are also lots of shops, churches, monuments, and piazzas we wandered around.   You can see how easy it was to do 13 miles in a day!   
Food in Italy is pretty much as you would expect lots of pasta, pizza, and gelato pretty much every where you turn!  There are just so many restaurants it can be hard to choose.  I asked our hotel for a suggestion and they gave a great one.   I also checked google reviews to get an idea.   As  you walk down the street many of the restaurants will try to pull you in.   That wasn't as bad as some of the other people in the streets trying to get you to buy things.   As with most tourist areas you will find the street art like the different performers and artists which can be fun.  Then you have the "pop up" shops and guys walking around selling things which is fine to me as long as they are not pestering you to buy. Apparently selfie sticks are the biggest thing for these guys in the streets to sell as they were pretty much at every major attraction trying to get you to buy one.   One thing I can stay about them is that a simple no thanks and they left you alone.   The one thing I really didn't like were the African men that seemed to line the street around the fountain and they would pretend to want to shake your hand but really slip a bracelet on and then expect you to buy it.   They were very aggressive and very annoying.  It made me not want to walk that street and I am sure I wasn't alone on that.   We went into the wonderful gelato shop right next to our hotel and the owner even said something about them and how he isn't happy about them being out there.  The funny thing is we were going to walk down towards the fountain to get gelato but then decided we didn't want to deal with those guys so just went next door.   It worked out since we realized that shop was great and very convenient for us.   We have had a great time in Rome and definitely would come back again.   Tomorrow morning we head for the ship.   The port is about an hour away so you really do need to plan for transportation over there.  There won't be much rest for my feet as the cruise is 9 nights and out of 10 days only 1 sea day!   Most Mediterranean cruises are like that since there are just so many great places to see in a short distance.   On one hand it is great to pack so much into one trip but on the other hand can be exhausting as well.   I highly recommend planning at least a day or 2 after a Mediterranean cruise to relax and recover (kind of like a Disney World visit).