Entrenched in ancient history dating back centuries upon centuries; Rome is a city endless in its vast historical beauty. Each day we were there in the midst of the winter sun and chilly temps, we set for a historical journey back in time as we learned new stories and re-learned what we forgot from history classes. The Colosseum, Pantheon, Vatican, Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's Basilica, Spanish Steps, Fontana di Trevi, and San Clemente are just some of the spectacular sights we saw-each breathtaking in its own way.
Our pictures do not do Rome any justice-each photo captures a moment of our own awe as we clicked away about 600 photos.
We loved the culture--the food, wine, coffee, having an espresso in the morning, the accents, the pizza...Italians are very friendly, helpful, and ever grateful for any attempt we made at speaking bits and pieces of Italian. Being familiar with Spanish was very helpful in understanding a few words here and there.
The streets were lined with Smart cars and scooters; as with any big city, traffic and parking is a problem in Rome. In Rome, one needs a permit to drive/park in the City Centre and on certain days only certain license plates can drive in the city.
We enjoyed the pizza, coffee, and gelato (specifically Nutella gelato) almost daily-it was definitely a trip of indulging in guilty pleasures. Throughout the city, people were selling roasted chestnuts-another first for us. We were surprised by the taste-it's a lot like potatoes!
We learned that paying for a tour for the big sights is well worth the money and time-we were able to avoid long lines by being with a tour group.
One surprise that we were not expecting to see was grafitti--grafitti covered many of the city's walls and from what I hear, other parts of Italy is like that as well.
New Year's was fun--the fireworks were not spectacular, but being there was. We joined hundreds of other people, mostly locals, by the Colosseum for fireworks, company, people-watching, and a big champagne spray-fest at midnight.
It was an amazing trip...our pictures can be seen here:
1 comment:
Wow.... what a great trip. And yes, I think I need to come see my favorite singer right in Ireland... Ahhhh....
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