Blogs from Rome, Lazio, Italy, Europe - page 2

We only had 2 partial days in Rome so had to make the most of them. Today we had a tour of the Colosseum, Palatine Hill and the Forum. This was supposed to include the underground but, apparently no one could go underground today so the tour started in the arena area. The arena is where the contests took place, man vs. animals in the morning and the gladiator against gladiator in the afternoon. Apparently, it was a convenient way to hold executions. Hungry lions that had not eaten for a day face a person. Sounds like a real equal matchup! Boys were really interested in the lifts that lifted animals and people to the arena and the guide was great with explaining where they were located. From the Colosseum we went up to Palatine Hill. ... read more

Since I was unable to meet my sister in Stockholm in April due to work, we decided a long school weekend in May would make up for it. So, we decided to meet in Rome, which my sister and the kids had not been to before. My BIL had and I had been 10 years ago, and I thought it would be interesting to see how it stacked up now that I was a more experienced traveler. I love the history of Rome and how they basically just built within and around the ruins in place for thousands of years. However, I did not enjoy the scams, pickpockets, dirtiness and general chaos; I absolutely love the smaller areas of Italy - friendly people, delicious food, interesting villages.... but Rome was not high on my list. I ... read more

Le 24 novembre 2022, Première journée à Rome, enfin. C'est spécial d'être dans une ville si mythique et chargée d'histoire. On prend d'abord un petit-déjeuner agréable dans la cour intérieure de notre hôtel. Carl pratique son italien avec le serveur (avec l'aide de google translate, naturellement) puis c'est l'estomac bien calé que l'on part à la découverte de la ville. La matinée est parfaitement ensoleillée et dès nos premiers pas à l'extérieur, on ne sait plus où donner de la tête. Il faut dire que l'on ne pourrait être mieux situé: la fontaine de Trévi, les Spanish Steps et même le Panthéon sont tous à moins de 7-8 minutes de marche. Tout est magnifique avec des obélisques, bâtiments historiques, églises, fontaines, places publiques, etc. Il y a même quelques touches de nature avec des perroquets verts ... read more

Greetings from Rome! Monday (Oct 3) was a pretty chill last day in Lecce. We had a leisurely morning, with a breakfast of scrambled eggs and mushrooms, cheese and tomatoes, and toast, made by Susan. Delicious! I found another tailor on google, in the continuing quest to get my pantsuit hemmed, and success! The little tailor shop was just a short walk away, and we were helped along the way by really nice locals, one of whom took us right to the shop. While I was in getting my pants pinned, Susan and Beth were chatting with her (I believe there was a recommendation of various restaurant for dinner). I tried out my new purse today and I was really happy with it. We popped into several other shops (Susan got a purse and I got ... read more

I’ve tried to blog since July but have gotten further and further behind. The muse just hasn’t been there. I’ll maybe get back to our grandkids trip and house hunting after we are back from this trip. But for now, we are in Italy, running amok! This trip started when we decided to attend the opera for Dale’s birthday. I then found operas for the day before and the day after his birthday that were going to be wonderful, so there the trip goes. I also wanted photos from Palatine Hill, something I didn’t get to last year, so added in Rome, but it is a good place to fly in and out of anyway. We started out, like most trips, with airplane flights. We decided to travel lighter this trip, with our 2 international size, ... read more