European Vacation - ROME

Mac and I were in Rome from when we landed in the early AM of Sunday, June 6, until we headed out via train to Venice on Thursday, June 10.

I wasn't terribly impressed on Sunday, but I think that was a combination of not being able to get our bearings - I literally could not find where we were on a map at any point of that day and I really do pride myself on my map-reading and -following abilities - and just being really, really tired. The flight from Atlanta is about 9 hours, but it leaves late in the afternoon. So by the time our bodies were ready to sleep (partly due to having a lot of great movies to watch on the plane right at our fingertips), we were close to landing in Rome.

Monday was a different story. We got ourselves tickets to a double-decker hop-on, hop-off bus that were good for 48 hours and I can assure you we used the bus service to its fullest potential. We almost could have given the tour, we'd listened to it so much. Rome was VERY hot (so much for that cool weather forecast that I fretted about before going), so we took the bus around to get close to where we wanted to be in order to avoid as much walking as possible. (As a side note, one day a man with a monocle sat in front of us on the bus. How often do you see those??)

Rome proved to be a delight around every single corner.

Yes, the traffic is awful, but after you live in Sao Paulo, no traffic is ever as awful as that. Yes, there were lots of Vespa scooters scooting in and out. But again, after Sao Paulo, these Vespa drivers were so tame in Rome. Let's be honest, a lady in a business suit with a Louis Vuitton bag slung over her torso riding her red Vespa to work is a little more cautious than the kamikaze motoboys in Sao Paulo. So the traffic really proved to be a nonissue.

Which leads me to all the things that are issues in Rome.

1. The food
Pasta and pizza are two of Mac's and my favorite things. Really if you added french fries to that, you'd have our food triumvirate right there in a nutshell. We were in heaven from the beginning. We ate pizza everyday for lunch and a pasta dish every night. Mac supplemented his meals with at least two gelatos a day. His favorites: chocolate, mint and cream. I really was so hot in Rome that the thought of gelato didn't appeal to me. I know that sounds counterintuitive, but the thought of swallowing all that dairy made my throat feel like it would close up. So I sampled Mac's when he'd allow me and had one gelato on my own during our entire time in Italy. That is a travesty and I can assure you I will rectify that on my next visit. I won't bore you with more food photos. You get the idea from the ones I posted the other day. We ate very well in Rome.

2. The beauty of EVERYTHING
The buildings, the people, the architecture, the unexpected flower boxes on buildings, the detail on buildings, the monuments, the fountains, the squares, etc. are all amazing. It's a stunning city that defied all expectation for me. Seeing a grainy picture of the Colosseum in the Wall Street Journal the week before our trip does not do justice to the breathtaking beauty of it when you turn the corner and see it for the first time.
Mac in front of a fountain at Piazza del Popolo, one of his favorite squares The Spanish StepsMac in front of the Forum ruins with the white Palazzo Venezia (my favorite building in the city) in background
Trevi Fountain, into which Mac threw at least 8 coins with the hope that throwing coins in really does guarantee return trips to Romedifferent views of the Colosseum





3. The fruit and vegetable market, Fiori dei Campi



4. All the lovely squares


Piazza Navona - my very most favorite

5. The "water fountains" all over Rome that are fed from aqueducts and from which Mac filled up his water bottle at every opportunity
in square in front of Pantheonthe Vatican with guide Giulio (more about Giulio below in #7)
6. Villa Borghese
Did I mention Rome was really stinking hot? Sort of like SC right now but I'm not out sightseeing in SC everyday. We had no choice but to brave the elements in Rome. Villa Borghese provided a wonderful couple hours of shady respite. Our highlight? Renting this electric bike - the motor kicks in after you pedal a few times. It's a miracle I didn't flip us over! As we drove off, the man who rented it to us screamed "slow down, slow down, too fast." The bike really had a mind of its own, but we lived to tell the tale.
(As a side note, Mac and I sweated like crazy on this entire trip. Not perspired as my mother-in-law says, but just full-out, drowned-rat sweated. Why did every Italian I saw looked like they'd just stepped out of a magazine photo shoot with nary of bead of sweat on them???)

7. Our tour of the Vatican
A couple weeks before we left, I was reading the latest edition of Oprah Magazine, and there was an article about the private tour guide Oprah uses when she visits Rome. This gentleman is also used by other famous people and apparently knows everybody in Rome and can get you into places that no other guide can. He sounded perfect for us.

Except that famous people have lots of money to pay for such a tour guide and alas, we do not.

But I googled him anyway, just to see. And guess what I found out? His sons have started a company that does small group tours of less than 8 people as opposed to other companies that do groups of 20 people. Their prices were relatively comparable to the companies that do group tours of 20 people, so I booked them for a Vatican tour. Our guide Giulio met us at the appointed hour and it turned out we were the only people on the tour.

Almost like Oprah getting her private tour.

Giulio was fantastic and was able to keep a 7 year-old entertained for nearly 3 hours while answering his mother's irrelevant questions like does the Pope's brother get to come in and visit him whenever he wants. To see the Sistine Chapel took my breath away. Walking in St. Peter's Basilica was awe-inspiring. I can't say enough about this part of our Rome vacation. It was a perfect ending to our time in that great city.
Inside St. Peter's Basilica St. Peter's Square
a Swiss Guard

I didn't throw coins in the Trevi Fountain to guarantee my return to the city because I don't need superstition to ensure my return. My love affair with Rome has begun and that alone will bring me back.