Buongiorno eager readers! Ready to blog again after two very relaxing days in sorrento, but this blog is about Rome. Aaah Roma, Roma. The incredibly congested subway with its many many stairs and sometime working escalators. And eager pickpockets. An adventure, especially with luggage. Delicious gelato every 50 meters on every street. Peak hour at the vatican with all the Priests streaming in off the subway to The Job. Fake gladiators hustling at the colosseum and squabbling with each other like seagulls. The raucous, noisy and very naughty demonstrators setting fires (I know it was cold but really...using a burning police car to keep warm?). The hotel we stayed at: close to Vatican (tick); walking distance to central Rome (tick-especially when riots close public transport down); good cafes and priest-frequented restaurants nearby (tick); on a major thoroughfare used by screaming ambulances, big trucks, racing mopeds, and streetsweepers (TICK!). On the plus side our bathroom had a really cool feature: a big bay window you could swing open so you could sit on the toilet (or bidet) in full view of the apartments across the street, and the street itself: "buongiorno señora, how are you today?" "I'm fine, señor Jim, are you doing ones or twos today?"
And of course, the wonderful Colosseum, the Pantheon, Trevi fountain, the Sistine chapel, st peters basilica and the Vatican museums with collections from everywhere. the huge grounds of the Forum with it's buried secrets including ancient predecessors to the Romans and even Iron Age remains. The Appia Antica (the ancient roman highway we trudged down for kilometers; the ruins everywhere bearing witness to the roman civilization that started over 2500 years ago. The weather was cold but sunny so we were able to pull long days getting to everything but tired at days end, almost tired enough to sleep through the traffic noise. We bought the Roma Pass for 25 euros each and it paid for itself - three days unlimited public transport (when the rioters weren't shutting stations down), discounted museum entries and the first two museums free. We took online advice and used the two freebies on the colosseum and the forum. Climbed out of the subway to the colosseum on Sunday and the queues were huge stretching around the colosseum. The Roma pass shot us straight in through a separate gate. Woohoo! Happy queuing peasants!
The Italians love their dogs. Not the same way other cultures like their dogs eg baked or stewed - they love them as companions. Pampered pooches everywhere, out of their cramped apartments looking for a patch of grass to roll in, a butt to inhale, or a piece of pavement to artistically decorate.
Rome was definitely worth seeing. Once. We scuffled at the Trevi Fountain- Jeannie wouldn't let me throw a coin in, in case the legend came true about returning to Rome.