​​“What have the Romans ever done for us...  I mean besides that...​”

​Rome - Sabaudia​

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​​​Perhaps everyone keeps a special place in their heart for wherever their first European experience was but I was very very happy to be back in Rome.  The smell of the food the vibe of the people and the excitement of something you saw in history books growing up being around each and every corner is endlessly exciting. I wanted to skip and twirl in circles in happiness, I may have even done so a little, despite the looks of admonishment I was receiving from my partner.  But Rome just has that magic to it that makes me want to giggle.

As I said we’ve both been to Rome before so we were just going to do a quick Tour de Hightlights  before heading to the coast for a few days of relaxation (being on holiday is more exhausting than you might think).  The night before we had a lovely evening in Transverse typical Italian dinner a bottle or so of wine, strolled along the river, mingled with locals, then took the metro back to our hotel only to be greeted by 5 or so hookers with their bottoms hanging out of their skirts looking to make some cash… Apparently we weren’t staying in a nicest part of town?  The next day the bench surrounding a patch of greenery was surrounded with… I’ll say, objects of ill repute… And all this directly outside of a nunnery, really girls really?!

We hit Rome hard and early with a walking plan laid out and a lot to take in. Our first hiccup was the metro to the Vatican being close, oh well we’d have reroute.  Then we were told the Vatican museums were closed so we wouldn’t be able to go inside and Jonathan wouldn’t be able to get a look at the Sistine Chapel, all right then.  Then we bothered to look around and realized once again we were in a major city that was nearly entirely empty.   No one, aside from a smattering of tourists was walking about, most shops were closed and the streets were bare.  As always this was both good and bad.  Surely we missed out of getting proper feel for the city but it meant we could get around easily and attractions weren’t packed.

We checked off a few easy things first.  Spanish steps: CHECK Gelato: CHECK Trevi Fountain: CHECK Coin thrown in to ensure our return: CHECK Piazza Navona: CHECK and onwards to Vatican City (thus we’ve been to 19 countries, well done us, we’re trying to find a way to make 20).

We arrived to no line again, I pulled on some trousers, we had a giggle at the Swiss Guards clown uniforms and entered one of the most “holy” places in the world.  It’s hard not to be impressed by Saint Peters, it is truly massive and dramatic.  Every inch is intricately adorned and fantastically decorated.  It’s awe inspiring. We had a look at a few dead popes and took some borderline blasphemous photos of Jonathan standing in a ray of light and CHECKed it off as well.

It also turns out Queen Christina from Sweden is buried in the grottos of Vatican City, apparently she got infinitely less interesting when she arrived in Rome, which is a shame as she was on her way to being one of my all-time favorite historical figures.
We did the rest of the sites, and ate some more slices of pizza and had espressos in piazzas and whined about how tired we were from walking and how unbearably hot it was. Then it was time to hit the road and finally get in the beach days I so badly wanted.