Rome

Ahhh.... Rome... My husband said he thinks Lucca was his favorite part. I'm torn. I think Rome was my favorite part, although I really enjoyed the Cinque Terre, too. Ah heck, it was ALL good!

We had been told that Rome was noisy and dirty and filled with pickpockets and we would be anxious to get out. But when you're in Italy, you HAVE to do Rome. You just HAVE to!!!! All told, we had no problems. Our room was quiet, in a clean and safe area, and we never saw the gypsies or kids that hassle you in the major areas. We walked everywhere (boy did we walk!) so we never had to deal with pickpockets on public transportation, either. Yes Rome is a big city, but it didn't feel any worse than staying in say, Chicago.

The city definitely wore us out because there was so MUCH to see, and trying to see it all is impossible and exhausting. But I must admit here... It was a good thing that I visited in my mid 30's. Had I visited while doing my European escapades in and post-college, I think I may have been tempted to stay. I loved the Italian language and if I had reason for it, I would love to pursue it (but now that we're back, there really is no reason for it.) English tour guides seemed in demand... And overall I just loved the city. My husband said he was a little surprised that I liked it as much as I did, because in his words "Rome is chaos at its best." Every turn of a street corner was a new surprise. You either had massive ruins that were just left and built around, or a beautifull piazza and/or fountain, or a magnificent church. There was always something new to be discovered! And while the Vespa and car drivers appeared to have skipped out of defensive driving school, they always seemed to unexpectantly stop and give the pedestrians the right of way.



I think part of the reason we had such a good experience in Rome was the nice lodging we had. (Thank you Trip Advisor!!!!) We stayed in a Guest House that definitely didn't fit American hotel standards, but it was perfect for us. It was in a cute, safe and clean residential neighborhood three blocks from the Colosseum. (We had to walk by the Colosseum at least three to four times each day. Rough, eh?) The Guest House was actually a handful of tiny rooms that recently had a small bathroom added to each of the small rooms making them even smaller (but hey, we had our own bathroom!) The rooms were all owned by an Italian lady and a Russian man, which was just another odd roman chaotic twist, but they were so, so, so friendly to us. They just owned a handful of small rooms on the second floor. Their building was also strategically placed between two police stations. We made the mistake of sitting on the steps of one eating gelato late one night. Apparently that's a no-no!


Naturally, one of our favorite experiences in Rome was the Colosseum. (My husband's favorite movie of all time is "Gladiator"! We also had a guide walk us through the impressive ruins of the Forum. We later realized that we could have done the walks solo and saved a lot of money, but then we also found ourselves reciting little facts that we learned on that tour during our other travels around the city. Both the Colosseum and Forum were very impressive.

Naturally, we explored as much as we possibly could in the few days that we were there, but there was just too much to see. Frantically walking across town, we got lost and arrived at the Cuppachin crypts just as they were going on mid-day siesta. We never made it to Via Appia Antica to ride our bikes, or various other spots that we had hoped to see. Luckily I did throw my coins in the Trevi fountain which supposedly grants a wish that you someday return to Rome. I can't wait!