Hello friends. Guess where I am? Home. It's a very strange thing to be back, but I'm slowly adjusting.
I realized that I have one last trip to blog about! In my last 3 and a bit weeks in the UK/Europe, I went to Rome and Rhodes for just over a week. It was an amazing trip, filled with just the right amount of hectic sightseeing and blissful seaside relaxation. On this post I'll talk about Rome, and I'll do a separate one later for Rhodes.
I'm really glad I got to see Rome, as mom and I skipped it on our earlier trip. It's really just unreal - ancient ruins appear as if out of nowhere, half buried (but WHY are they buried? I'm still a little confused about that..). Finding affordable accomodation was a little bit of a challenge, but we ended up staying in a really nice B&B (called Roman&Italian) with high ceilings and looking out over a little courtyard. It wasn't in the best location, but it wasn't awful - an easy 15 minute walk to the colosseum and another 15 to get to the centre of town. It was pretty much half the price of most other things I could find, so I was really pleased when it turned out to be so nice.
We crammed a lot into our 4 days in Rome, so here is a sampling of pictures.
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| St. Peter's Square, Vatican City |
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| St. Peter's |
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| Roman Forum |
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| Roman Forum |
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| Palatine Hill |
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| View of Roman Forum from Palatine Hill |
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| Pantheon |
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| At the Pantheon |
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| Pantheon |
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| Mosaic detail on St. Peter's dome ceiling |
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| View from St. Peter's dome |
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| Another stunning view - the two statues visible top left are seen from most places in the city and are a real landmark. |
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| St. Peter's visible over the Tiber |
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| Trevi Fountain - we tossed our coins in backwards over our shoulders to ensure we would come back. |
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| Colosseum |
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| Colosseum - our first afternoon was spent here, in gorgeous fading sunshine. It was blissful and surreal. |
I would say the highlights of the trip for me were the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, the many pasta dishes, and the Sistine Chapel (still stunning even though it was overrun with people taking pictures are guards yelling NO PICTURES). I definitely suggest going to tuscany or some other parts of Italy in addition to Rome, though, as there is a lot more to the country than only this city, wonderful though it is.
