Oh yes. Rome. This is a VERY picture heavy post. I just wanted to put it all in one though.
Rome is, as you would expect, beautiful. Everywhere you look, there's something worth seeing. For that reason, I would highly recommend walking places, if you're able to. The metro is always there if you get tired, but you really might miss something. Also, your hotel will most likely give you a street map that has all the landmarks on it, and it's kind of like a treasure hunt when you're looking for places.
All of the above photographs were taken at Castel Sant'Angelo which was one of my favourite places from our trip. It was only about 5 minutes away from our hotel, so we walked past it quite a lot, and there are some great views from inside, not to mention all the history related bits.
Admittedly, I took way too many pictures of St. Peter's Basilica while we were there, but it was really hard not to. It's quite hard to describe, but it's so worth seeing in person. It's a beautiful piece of architecture. The photo directly above was taken from inside the Vatican grounds, and the top two were taken from the rooftop terrace of our hotel, which was right around the corner from St. Peter's.
I started to get to grips with taking photos at night properly for the first time. I'm not quite there yet, but relatively pleased at my progress.
We managed to see all of the must-see's. The only problem was the Trevi Fountain. We saw it, but it was undergoing restoration works and so was covered in scaffolding and there was no water in it. So no wishes for me.
The Colosseum is incredible. It's such a surreal feeling, standing inside when you know the history of the kinds of things that happened there (I've seen Gladiator). We had a guide who took us around which I would definitely recommend, it's really interesting.
The last photo is the only one with both me and Jack in it. I could have asked someone to take one of us but I just kept thinking about what happened to Mr. Bean and couldn't quite bring myself to do it!
Quick Tips:
- If you want to go inside St. Peter's, go early. Some afternoons the queue went right the way round the square and people waited hours. It's much less busy in the morning. Also, make sure your knees and shoulders are covered or they won't let you in.
- Don't keep buying bottled water. Buy one, and just keep refilling it; there's loads of fountains where you can re-fill your bottle for free, and it's cold.
- There are quite a lot of guys selling roses. They'll come up to you (especially if you're in a couple) give you one and say it's a gift, then try and make your boyfriend pay. Just give them a firm 'no' and keep walking.
- Watch out for bum-pinchers. I was actually warned about this but didn't actually think it would happen. It did, once, and it was gross. Be on the lookout for men who look like they're about to bump into you.
- Always save room for gelato. It's every bit as delicious as you've heard.
And this concludes me talking about Rome. Regularly scheduled content will resume...at some point. Arrivedeci!
