What have the Romans ever done for us?
But apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh-water system, and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?
Reg, Life of Brian [1979]
Finally, I’ve been to Rome. It’s been firmly at the top of places I wanted to visit for many years now. Almost everybody I know has been (yet another popular European city on the Easyjet or Ryanair runs) and they all say the same thing about how you can turn every corner and there is something to see.
Our trip was not for sightseeing or even just to experience the great city’s bars; we (me, Stu & my dad) went for this season’s Champions League Final hoping to enjoy the same success as in Moscow last year. Without going into any detail whatsoever, we lost.
We still had a couple of nights in Rome to enjoy the city. We arrived on Tuesday afternoon and pretty much had 24 hours to explore the city before the football took over. There are literally thousands of things to see and do in Rome but due to the time constraints we had to be selective.
We decided to first head to Vatican City, a country in it’s own right. Everybody knows the Vatican and it’s a perfect example of how the Catholic Church was the first massive corporate entity that existed. The opulence of St Peter’s Basilica is astonishing:
Our next stop was the Trevi Fountain, one of the most fascinating sites in Rome, originally fuelled by water 10 miles from the city (in another show of Roman power) it has become an iconic symbol of Rome. As with many of Rome’s attractions, it has been restored but the original fountain is older than America:
Two down, one to go. Our final stop was the Colosseum. If the Trevi Fountain is older than America then it’s safe to say that the Colosseum is older then pretty much everything. it is just 71 years short of it’s 2000th birthday and although it’s nearly all restored there are still loads of examples of its original features. Being a huge fan of Gladiator I assumed I knew just about everything about it but to be in a building nearly 2000 years old was pretty inspirational.
Here is the link to my full set of pictures from Rome.
Aside from the sights, we didn’t get too much of a chance to explore the nightlife of Rome, we had one night and during that time the booze ban was introduced for the football; we did, however, find a bar that was willing to serve white wine in teapots! Genius! It was like when Moe had to serve beer in bowling balls in the Simpsons!
I’ve missed stuff out, for example the Spanish Steps are just, well, steps but Rome is certainly a city I’ll be revisiting. In reality we only had 24 hours to see the place and you could easily spend a week there. I’d love to go back and get into the meat of the place – I’m not a history buff but there’s something about Rome that intrigues me. Also, because of the alcohol ban there’s not much I can advise about the drinking in Rome.
Finally, about the football and to finish with another Life of Brian line, Always look on the bright side of life…
The pictures are awesome!Hope to visit it someday.Thanks for sharing an account of your trip.
Thanks, it’s a phemomenal place.