Photo Diary: Colosseum, Roman Forum & Palatine Hill In Rome, Italy 2018

I found a folder titled "Italy" on my laptop and realised I took a whole load of photos on my Italy trip back in 2018 with the intention to share them here on the blog, but never got around to it — oop.
And oh my goodness, looking at them now makes me feel all sorts of wanderlust.

These photos are actually from my second trip to Rome and while I did share a few pics from that first trip back in 2013 on the blog, they're so embarrassingly bad — it was the digital camera era, guys! — I'm just going to pretend this is the only batch of Rome photos I have.

Shah and I purchased tickets for the 3-in-1 Colosseum + Roman Forum + Palpatine Hill package beforehand so that we wouldn't have to join the inevitably super-long queue, which was the exact same thing we did back in 2013 too. This is some advice I would give anyone who is planning to visit Rome: buy tickets to enter tourist attractions in Rome in advance, peeps, very important!

Then again I'm not sure how much the ticket would cost now so if you don't have the budget for it, don't worry, there's plenty to see and many photos to snap for free from the outside. A lot of the photos here were taken from places that need no ticket to stand on (well, aside from a plane ticket, providing the site is the same now in 2023, that is).

I like this photo because of the peekaboo couple there, do you see them?

I thought I would have more photos around Roman Forum, so I'm honestly a little disappointed; I remember oohing and aahing every time I faced a new angle there, as opposed to standing in the Colosseum and looking around the big vast space, if that makes sense? Palpatine Hill was the smallest place of the bunch but I can't recall the area without having photos to jog my memory so I'm annoyed with myself about that too, I have to say!

On that note, this is why I wrote TWO whole posts on why taking photos on a vacation is SO important! If you're interested, here are the two posts:

• Wanderlusting & An Important Travel Tip
  
• InstaLiyana: Italy Trip 2017 & The Importance Of Taking Photos On Vacations
  

There are many many MANY photos of the Colosseum here though, from all sorts of angles (OK, some from the same angle, but it's the Colosseum); I simply couldn't choose which to omit. I hope you don't mind seeing the Colosseum more than needed and enjoy scrolling through these pics anyway!

LOL at me taking a pic with the bird

Clearly excited about the Colosseum, can you tell?

The inside is not like how it's depicted in the movie, which I gullibly found surprising

And that's them all, thank you for reading this post till the end! Hope you're having a wonderful and safe day, whichever part of the world you're in now ❤

PS: I did remember to share my outfit on this day though, check out How To Match Polka Dot With Plaid | A Reminder To Be Shamelessly Touristy. Ironically, I said in that post that future-me (as in now) would peruse through my 2018 Italy photos and "be filled with satisfaction". But evidently, I am not *crying face emoji*. Guess I'll just have to take more photos the next time I travel overseas!