Rome

Monday (13th) we decided to take the early and direct train from Trento to Rome, and were lucky enough to be greeted with fantastic 28 degree and sunny weather! After checking into our hostel, we still had better part of a fantastic Autumn day at our disposal, so decided to take a look at one of the quintessential sites of Rome; the Colosseum. Needless to say it is a very impressive site, and of course very crowded - however we resisted the temptation to take a tour being offered out the front which would guarantee skipping the supposedly 40min lines which in reality only took 20ish. After a good look at where Russell Maximus fought it out those many years ago, we wandered around the main centre of Rome and saw the Trevi Fountain and the Pantheon. Needing a bit of a rest we took a walk up the hill to the park surrounding Villa Borghese and we sat around on the grass reading & taking in the view of Rome. Not a bad way to spend an afternoon!

The Colosseum

Piazza del Popolo

Trevi Fountain

Tuesday (14th) with our Colosseum tickets still valid and enabling entry to the other historic sites, it seemed rude not to go to the Roman ruins of Palatine Hill & the Roman Forum a bit of a look also. Although we are not well versed in the specifics of Roman history, we found the ruins to be a great way to spend the morning. We found them more impressive perhaps than the Colosseum itself - maybe it was because there were less people and more of an opportunity to imagine wandering around in the same spot 2000 years earlier?

After our busy morning we wandered around some more before our first visit to what is regarded by many as the best coffee in Rome (if not the world if you ask an Italian!), cafe Sant' Eustachio. We just had a quick espresso at the bar, but must have seen 30 coffees go out in the 5 minutes we were there! The place is busy all the time, and for good reason!

The ruins

Palazzo Doria Pamphilj

Cafe Sant' Eustachio

Piazza Navona

The cliched Vespa shot

Wednesday (15th) the Vatican! Of course a visit to Rome isn't complete without taking a trip to see the city state that is the Vatican, which of course also means taking a gander at what the Vatican Museum has to offer, including the Sistine chapel. Needless to say it was all very impressive. That Michalangelo was pretty handy with a brush, it is hard to imagine painting it all when even looking up at the ceiling for 10 - 15 minutes started to strain our necks! After the museum we headed to St Peter's, which proudly displays the spoils of the richest organisation in the world. Very impressive! We also decided that a climb to the cupola (dome) was in order, and got a fantastic view across Rome.

After a few rather low key dinners, we headed out to Maccheroni on Emma's recommendation. It was fantastic and, unsurprisingly, we got carried away and ordered far too much food.

The map room, we thought the best room of the Vatican museum

The view from the top of St Peter's

Inside St Peter's

Paul with proper Roman style spaghetti carbonara - the only ingredients are eggs, bacon and cheese.

Thursday (16th). After a few days of sightseeing we decided to take have an easy day of shopping, wandering, and hanging about followed by some aperitifs and a nice pasta dinner at Tritore, another recommendation.