Roman Holiday

8-13 September 2014 (looking back - its taken this long to find the photos!)

Rome is epic!

With only three whole days in Rome my husband and I covered the main tourist attractions but it was exhausting. We wished we could have had one or two more days as there is so much to see.  There is history on every corner. At the end of the each busy day we were very grateful for our comfortable hotel room (at the 4* Hotel Oxford in Via Boncompagni)

Coliseum & Forum & Mouth of truth 

As you approach the Coliseum on foot you are struck by its beauty and magnifisence- the fact that it was a bloody and death-filled arena in the past is sobering and I did grieve for the many men and animals which were killed there. The structure has suffered an earth quake and plundering of building materials over its 2000 year history. We skipped the very long queues by buying our combined ticket at the Forum (5 minutes walk up the road). If you want to access the very top level (via lift) you have to buy an additional ticket.
The Forum and the Palatine Hill are the remains/ruins of various,, temples to Roman gods, and Triumphal arches.  To get the most out of your visit take a guide book or join a tour.  We just used our guide book and were able to take as much time as we liked.  

The arch of Constantine - which I studied as part of my Ancient History and Egyptology degree

Its a piece of propaganda, however the sculpture of the roundals and friezes are worth closer inspection and show real skill.

We didn't get to the mouth of truth in time - its somewhat out of the way - so taxi or bus is the best way to get there.  Make sure you do your homework.  Queues are long and they won't let you in if you get there too late.

The Sistine Chapel

Ilegal pictures taken inside the Chapel.

When the guard was distracted we took these

The Sistine Chapel was amazing and we sat for half an hour to take it all in.  Lots of frescoes to study and we just wanted to breathe in the awe of it all.  We also got a guide book (but bought the Italian version by mistake as the different translations have the same covers.  so we returned the next day and luckily a kind guard let us in.  We looked up some words in Italian to convey that we wanted to exchange the book for an English one. Obviously he understood!)

Trajan's Column

We stumbled upon this by chance - again I had studied it at Uni.  It is notable because it documents the military success of Trajan against the Dacians.  I was particularly interested in this fact as Romanians are descended from Dacian tribes. We were too late to visit the dedicated museum but its worth a visit because it shows you all the reliefs which are impossible to see from the ground.

Victor Emmanuel II Monument (Il Vittoriano)

Most of our visit involved stumbling upon things - keep on walking and you'll find something monumental and or archaeological.  We found the following building - it is imposing and ostentatious but well worth a look

The following link will tell you all about it - but needless to say it is wall to wall marble with many sculptures including this fantastic winged lion below

Il Vittoriano

The Egyptian Influence in Rome

Almost everywhere you turn there is an Egyptian Obelisk including one at the Vatican.  Some of them are real from Egypt and some are reproductions. Unfortunately I have lost all my pictures of them (faulty SD card). However Wikipedia lists them all.

I particularly liked this lion at the Vatican museum.  But didn't really like the Roman reproduction Egyptian statues.  Somehow they didn't look right to me.

Not sure about this!

St Peters

The Pieta

A wonderful building but in particular I was in awe of the Michelangelo sculpture La Pieta.  There was something so peaceful and moving about this sculpture and you really felt the loss of a mother for her son - heartbreaking.  Read more on this website

Dairy free eating

I had done a little bit of research before we went and knew how to ask for something without something; "e senza formaggio?" (is it without cheese?). Other key words are 'pomodoro' and  'latte' (tomato and milk).  In the end the waiters all spoke a bit of English and I had cheese-less pizza (with tomato and funghi) and pasta arrabiatta. A word of warning- some places will add on a service charge (we paid 4Euros extra on two occasions).  They will also try to get you to pay for bread and perhaps a seemingly complimentary glass of Prosecco (refuse these politely).  It's quite normal and both Italians and tourists may be subject to this. 

Soya gelato (ice cream) at Il Gelatone, Via De Serpenti 28, 00184 Rome

    Is ice cream heaven!  Apart from the many flavours of dairy ice cream they have a few soya options (vanilla/chocolate/pistachio/hazlenut).  The hazlenut flavour was delicious but I couldn't taste the pistachio.

Super-scrimping in Rome

There were a few ways that we were able to save some money in true super-scrimping style;

• A free A3 sized street map showing the main tourist attractions. - these are available in the ticket/tourist office in the train station where you buy your tickets for the Leonardo Express (fast train to Termini) or in the bigger hotels.  
• Free drinking water fountains - at many of the major tourist attractions.  (Including the Vatican). Otherwise the price of bottled water varied between 2&2.5Euros for 0.5L.  There are drink vending machines in many Metro stations and the water cost 1.50Euro. Alternatively buy a two litre bottle from a newsagent each morning before you head out. Which is heavy but will save you money.
• Free lunch - our hotel booking included a full breakfast and I made cheese/ham rolls every day and took some fruit

There is much more I could write - so I may update this blog.

Rome is certainly full on - but so wonderfull