Rome is a city of churches, monuments, obelisks, and fountains. Another fun fact – Rome hosts an estimated 30 million tourists a year, which means it is also a city of tremendous crowds and unbelievable queues.
My first attempt to visit Trevi Fountain was waylaid by the aforementioned 29,999,999 other people packed into the square. Okay, maybe they didn’t all show up on Saturday, but it sure felt like it. We decided it wasn’t worth our lives to try and push closer, and carried on to the Parthenon instead.
The Parthenon was where we encountered the queues, which basically went down the block and around the corner, and maybe the next one after that.
All of this to say: so sorry, no inside shots. Of anything. If you want the inside scoop on any of the sites of Rome, I highly recommend Rick Steves.
But let’s slip back to Sunday… Day One of Rose’s Rome Adventure. I bought the multi-day pass on the hop-on hop-off bus, so my first act was to ride the bus for one full circuit, no hopping. You get the drive-by experience of all the elements that make Rome, Rome. Of course, if you want to take more than blurry action shots featuring other people’s phones, you need to actually get off the bus.
And where better to get off the bus than…
But you can only circle the Colusseum so many times, so one last view while moving on…
I spent a great deal of time in the Archeological district, and my final act was to climb the stairs in this bad boy.
This is the victory monument to Victor Emmanuel II, the first king of a unified Italy. It is 266 feet tall and the energetic among us can take the stairs to the balcony level where there is a lovely, blessed cafeteria that sells water for 2 Euros for a 500ml bottle. I bought 2.
And for the curious among us, yes they do pay as much attention to detail on the back side of the statue as they do on the front.
A long day under a hot sun, and Rome managed to do to me what Spain never did – sunburn.
But there was minimal sun on the Rome at Night tour, so I put my bus-riding shoes back on and went for another loop.
What can I say? The fountains look amazing at night. No pictures of Trevi at night, all the streets that run by the fountain are pedestrian only.
Day Two of Rose’s Roman Holiday began with breakfast at the American embassy.
I wandered through a few more sites of the ancient ruin kind…
… and then made my way to the Vatican. And people, let me tell you, you have not seen queues until you’ve seen the faithful lining up to get an inside view of the Basilica of St. Peter.
I am not that faithful and have access to Rick Steves videos, so here are your outside shots.
I made my way back to Stop One on the hop-on hop-off, which is the home of Rome’s train terminal, and has one of the best food courts I’ve ever come across. Anywhere.
I have a good night’s work ahead of me, casting off my shawl so that I can make it lie flat in the suitcase and then sitting on the suitcase to make it zip shut. So I will close this post with a few random shots, and I look forward to seeing you all very soon.
A pile of cobblestones to sprain the ankles of the next 30 million tourists.
The non-functional fountain in front of the Parthenon. Guess we all need a little work done from time to time.
This guy was particularly concerned that I would bring back something beautiful for my mother. I wonder what he had in mind?
Tomorrow, I fly. See you soon!