I stood, walked, in the same places, on the same ground as Nero, Julius Ceaser, Constantine, Michelangelo, Raphael, Bernini just to name a small handful.
The Pantheon....Two freaking THOUSAND years it has been standing in that spot. Think of all the people you read about in history, famous or not, who have stood inside and outside of that building.
The Trevi Fountain, still working with water running from a Roman aqueduct built in 19BC, the aqueduct not the fountain. 19BC. Just think about that, that water is still drinkable to this day.
Water fountains are everywhere in Rome, all the water in Rome comes from 3 of the remaining aqueducts from the original 11 in the city.
I miss these water fountains which could be found all over the city to refill my water bottle.
They built the first highway in the world, the phrase all roads lead to Rome exists for a very good reason. And although the part I'm standing on under the first original city gate is not the original paving stones, move over about 3 feet to my left and the original stones are still there!
My first glimpse of the Colosseum was unexpected and in the distance, I wasn't actually looking for it.
I stopped dead and just smiled, I mean, there it was, history smacking me in the face. The tour I took a couple days later brought the Forum and the Colosseum to life. It took 8 years to build, only eight years, ok, they had a few thousand slaves working on it but that's still a short time for something so huge and ornate. Or at least what it was before the popes and everyone else recycled all the marble and statues for other things.
A lot of it was used in St Peter's Basilica, where you unknowingly get to walk amongst the ghost of the Colesseum....
Visiting Rome now, spoiled me forever! No crowds, no lines! I popped into the Pantheon every day, just because I could! I had my own guide for the Vatican museum and shared the Sistine Chapel with maybe 50 other people. No, I didn't take any sneaky pictures, that is a mind memory, sneaky pictures would have never done that ceiling and Michelangelo's work justice.
Michelangelo's Pieta is very photogenic (although this is the copy in the museum as I could get closer to it)
Rome was surprisingly walkable, the people were friendly, the food was delicious, oh my god, the pasta. I tried all three of the typical types of the area.
Cacio e pepe is with pecorino cheese and black pepper, Carbonara add an egg and bacon,
skip the egg and add spicy tomato sauce and pig cheeks for Amaratriciana. Yummy! Cacio e pepe was my favourite, then Amaratriciana.
I did a really cool scooter tour on my last evening in Rome and she took me to a place that had over 60 artisan gelato flavours that were ALL dairy free! What a treat 😋 I had a scoop of ricotta with grand marnier and orange peel and a scoop of strawberry cream, recommended combo by the gelato maker and turned out to be the perfect combo! Who knew.
I was sad to leave Rome, even now, almost two weeks later, I'm wondering how I can work it into my plan to go back, even for a day, before I head back towards Central Europe.
