It has been a while since I have posted but that is mostly because I just didn't have anything interesting to go on about. But now, after a trip to Rome, I once again I have something to share.
I love Rome! And I am so glad I went when I did. After seeing Paris in the off season and how free it was from throngs of people I decided that I should do Rome in the off season as well as to avoid the millions of people who visit there during the summer. It was a completely different experience. For one thing I was alone which for four days was okay, although by the end of it I was desperate to talk to someone and I had just about enough of quiet nights in my hotel room alone. It did allow me however to wake up early each morning and set off sight seeing at a reasonable hour. As cliche as it may sound I think the coliseum was my favorite thing. I love how it is in the middle of this extremely busy intersection and just sits there as a testament to ancient Rome. The history of it is fascinating and it serves as a wonderful gateway to the rest of ancient Rome. It was the first thing I went to see when I arrived in Rome and I would try to walk by it as much as I could. I simply never tired of seeing it. I also found the Forum quite impressive and spent a whole afternoon wandering around, picturing what it must have been like. Nearby Palatine Hill helped make this possible as the grounds are huge and had the weather been better I would have taken a nap on the lawns.
Of course I went to St Peters and the Vatican and outside St Peters I found a group of people on a free tour guide of the basilica. Sounds good to me. The woman who ran the tour was great and very informative and also was hosting a tour of the Vatican afterwards (which you had to pay for) so I did that as well. She complained a lot about the Italian government which I thought was funny but apparently the political situation there is pretty horrendous. Who knew. Anyway, St Peters is just magnificent and so peaceful.
I actually really enjoyed all the churches I went to see. Most of the time I would just be walking around (read that lost) and would wander into some random church and see some beautiful piece of art. I appreciated the art so much more seeing it where it was intended to be seen. I felt no need to go to a museum because art was around you all the time. I loved it. I also loved the pizza. I loved it so much that I would eat it when I wasn't even hungry, just because I knew it would be a long long time before I tasted anything that good again. I think it is the tomatoes that make the difference. The Italians were all very nice and all spoke English and I had to problems at all really except for the strange married cafe owner at dinner one night who I am pretty sure was trying to get me drunk. The free limonato(sp?) was nice though. All in all a wonderful trip. Only sad thing was I only got two pictures of me while there. And none of my food.
There was a lunar eclipse on Saturday. I didn't get to take a picture but I did look. It reminded of me when there was one in So Cal and my mom and I went to the tallest hill to look at it. Was very pretty and apparently the next one is in August. I will try to take a picture of that one. In the meanwhile here is a nice photo of the Trevi Fountain, Ciao!
