Rome

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Geo: 41.8955, 12.4823

How often would compare Rome with the country India? Probably never, and don't worry it's not, but when we landed in Rome and checked in to the hostel, we both assimilated it with India. Why you might ask, well, we picked a fairly cheap hostel, the rooms, the marble steps to the entrance, the smell from the toilets, at this point also the condition of the bathroom, and even the person who checked us in all reminded us of India. Strange.
Oh and FYI they now charge an extra 2 euro on top of the accommodation price, this is for any low budget accommodation.
Anyway I can say now that Rome is a great city. Long story short we spent 3 days which was a good amount of time to see most of it.
You probably already guessed it, but the first place we went to see was the Colosseum. We meandered our way down by foot seeing smaller and and probably less frequented places first. We eventually made it and I was glad to see that it wasn't crawling with tourists (A benefit of off peak travel).
We joined a two hour guided tour of the Colosseum and the Palatine Hill. So a few things I learnt about the Colosseum are that the Colosseum today is only 1/3rd of what it originally was built as; The Colosseum and surrounds were all marble; this marble was later stripped from the Colosseum to use in other buildings such as churches and the impressive Trevi fountain.
We then proceeded to the Palatine hill with more ruins. This was also used as the house for the Italian dictator during the war, Mossolini. Its gives you great views over the city and of the Colosseum and the ruins, so it holds quite a bit of history.
We kept walking through the streets where we crossed the river in to Trastevere, we were recommended to go check it out and we both liked it. Small streets that you can get lost in by admiring the shops and restaurants. We stopped for a hot chocolate, Italian style which really is just melted chocolate, no room for milk in these bad boys. Add some whipped cream and you are in heaven.
We popped out the other side as it was getting dark and we were pretty knackered, we walked back to where we saw some buses back to Termini, we weren't sure how to pay for the tickets, and I think you have to buy them before because you can't buy them on the bus, but we hopped on anyway, it was crowded and we got to Termini for free, so it was pretty handy.

The next morning we were up nice and early to take advantage of the amazing blue sky that we always seem to get. We took the graffiti bombed metro train to St. Peters Basilica, or the Vatican, as soon as you get out of the metro station and walk down the street you are asked about a dozen times if you are interested in taking a tour, we didn't want to this time. Nice and early with no crowds as we went through security, when we came back out the line had already formed.
St. Peters Basilica is so amazing inside, the detail and colours are amazing. Apparently you can go to the top for views over the city, but we didn't. Afterwards we headed to the Musei Vaticano, this is where the painting of Michelangelo is in the Sistine Chapel. A guide on the previous day said that if you were to stand and look at every piece in the museum for one minute each then it would take you 12 years to see all of it, Unfortunately we did not have that amount of time, so we breezed through and saw Michelangelo's Sistine chapel which is very phenomenal but also includes many more paintings of equal amazement.
Afterwards we walked through the City Center of Rome stopping by Piazza Navona, The Pantheon, Some ruins which also houses cats and the amazing Trevi Fountain; Stopping off for some gelato and Nutella Crepes along the way.

Our last day in Rome saw us taking the train to Villa Borghese; A big park area in the north of the center. It was very nice to see with some beautiful views of the city, nice areas to sit on the grass and relax, which I am sure would be popular in Summer. At the Bottom of the Park is the Piazza Di Spagna, or Spanish Steps. They were nice, and you get some views, but the views from Villa Borghese were much better. Around the Piazza Di Spagna is where you will find all of the expensive shopping with the well known Italian Brands.
We made our way down through small streets, stopping for pizza and before we knew it the day was gone. We caught another free bus back to the hostel. Later that night we went across the road to a more popular hostel called Yellow Hostel, this has a bar adjoined to it, so we went for a few drinks which ended up being a big night as we were given free shots because of two Turkish guys ordering shot after shot of Tequila, literally like 15 each in the space of 2 hours; The bartenders gave us some of theirs as they thought they were having too much.


So what have I noticed about the Italian culture, Small cars and motorcycles are a must, if you have anything bigger than a smart car then good luck getting a park; and lots of these cars, especially in Naples, but that's another story, have scratches or dints all over. I love to see the thought that goes into the parking in Italy, any spot can be considered a park, even double parking; and lets not forget the brilliance of parking a smart car in between two other cars vertically rather than horizontally.
Italian food is great, pizza and pasta, always delicious, but not every night! I gather the Italians are not fans of chicken, I never saw a pizza that involved chicken, but it's compensated by ham. Their kebabs involved hot chips which I thought was a innovative.
Fashion seems to play a big part in this country, the trend at the moment seems to be big shiny puffy winter jackets, of many colours, and not age restricted either, from kids to the oldies. I also find myself laughing at the inappropriateness of some of the clothes worn in public places by the locals, most of which involve high heels on cobbled and stoned paths.
I didn't fall "In Love" with Italy but I did like it and definitely a country to visit, the culture and history is enough to lure you there for weeks at a time.

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