Coming home

We took the Leonardo Express back to the airport from the Termini station in Rome and it was 14 euros which I thought was fairly reasonable for an airport transfer!

The airport has a little vitruvian man in it.

All the shops in the airport were expensive designer shops like Gucci and Prada, I took a look in Gucci – nothing had a price tag on it! I can only assume this is so that prospective customers do not vomit with horror inside the shop?

We reserved the seats right next to the emergency exit door and enjoyed spacious leg room all flight, ahhhh luxury. I also enjoyed the free Independent paper I got, amused me all flight!

The view was a bit crap though.

Nom nom nom.

And then my chums our Roman holiday was over, but I was glad to get back home to my cat – he was pleased too, here’s the best photo I managed to get between cuddles.

To read more about my holiday click the August tab on the right hand side and see my posts or click the “Rome” tag below.

Spanish Steps & The Fountain Of The Four Rivers

I was really glad we took a trip to visit the Fountain of the Four Rivers, there are a lot of fountains in Rome because it’s how people got their water before good old indoor plumbing but this one I think was my favourite.

It represents four rivers – the Nile, the Ganges, The Danube and the River Plate in South America (clearly the Italians were unimpressed with our dirty Thames?).

Each side represents a different river.

And on top is an obelisk that was taken from Egypt by Emperor Caracella. Apparently in those days when Emperors went on holiday they too liked souvenirs.

We then took a trip to the Spanish Steps… that really was just steps, I know the clue’s in the name and I’m not sure what I was expecting but… hmm. It was surrounded by very interesting shops though and it was a pleasant part of Rome to be in.

To read more about my holiday click the August tab on the right hand side and see my posts or click the “Rome” tag below.

Palatine Hill, The Forum & Vittorio Emanuele II Monument

We took a trip to Palatine Hill and the Forum – mainly because it was free in the Colosseum ticket.

To be honest I’d be lying if I said I enjoyed it, it was a lot of walking in direct sunlight around ruins that you needed rather a good imagination to enjoy.

Some of the buildings were in a better condition but you couldn’t go in them…

So I was rather pleased to leave and enjoy the street outside that was full of tat.

We did notice that the Vittorio Emanuele  II Monument was right next door though so we took a little look round, it really was very impressive.

And they had a tomb of the unknown soldier which was guarded.

As nice as this all was there were other guards too that kept shouting at all the tourists for sitting down anywhere but on two benches, which I didn’t really understand. One lady tried to eat a peach on one of these benches, she got doubly shouted at.

At the top of the monument there was a good view out across Rome, you could take a lift to go higher but you had to pay and we didn’t really care that much.

And that’s the view over the Colosseum and Palatine Hill.

To read more about my holiday click the August tab on the right hand side and see my posts or click the “Rome” tag below.

Pantheon

I didn’t know what to expect with the Pantheon but it was actually one of my favourite sights we saw in Rome.

It was in really good condition.

Simple but grand.

And I thought the way the light filtered through the roof was very nice.

It was busy inside but quiet and you didn’t have to pay any entry etc.

To read more about my holiday click the August tab on the right hand side and see my posts or click the “Rome” tag below.

Zoo Marine

Rome in August is hot… very hot. In fact many Romans leave the city and take their holidays during August and we decided we’d join the Romans and take a break a little way out of the city at a water park called Zoo Marine – it only takes so long until you are sick to death of looking at ruins.

We clambered onto a free shuttle coach in Rome that Zoo Marine offered after we took the metro to the pick up point. It was rather stiflingly hot and full of Asians who’d had the same idea as us. It was also full of Romans, all of whom seemed to have great issues in queuing. So much so that one family shoved their little boy to the very front where he proceeded to save about 20 seats – we took great delight in sitting in these saved seats and pretending not to know what he was on about when he explained they were saved. The Asians genuinely didn’t know what he was on about and also sat in the saved seats. Mwahaha.

First we went to a high diving show, which was rather good.

Then a lovely dolphin show, the animals all seemed very well cared for and were very cuddly with the trainers.

Also there was a baby dolphin that followed its mum about during the show, I liked that they didn’t try to separate them. You can see him in the water on the photo below.

Then we took a much needed dip in the pool area which was large but as it was full of Romans the boyfriend and I could spot each other a mile off because we were so very white. Being pasty does have it’s advantages.

The pool session was briefly interrupted by a well greased muscley Italian in his 50s in tight speedos with hair like Rachel from Friends (which he shook round as he posed) standing on the island in the middle of the pool area and started to lead aqua aerobics. He was soon joined by three girls in Zoo Marine bikinis young enough to be his daughters and they lead the enthused pool people in a nice gym session. The boyfriend asked if I wanted to join in; I did not, I was getting enough exercise by laughing. Coincidentally around this time we decided to get out of the pool and go to the seal and sea lion show which was very pleasant.

We sat and had an iced coffee before it was back on the hot coach with the pushy Italians.

To read more about my holiday click the August tab on the right hand side and see my posts or click the “Rome” tag below.

Food

Italy is favourite for food but the food in Rome can be pretty hit or miss. Firstly you have to find somewhere that’s not so touristy that all your food is cooked in a microwave, secondly you have battles against somewhere too Italian where you can’t guess what the menu items are and you pay for thimbles full of coffee.

We found food, pretty much wherever you went, was very reasonably priced. Drinks however were not and you have to really pick where you went.

Water that you could buy in the supermarket for 30 cents was available for 4 euros… err… no? We walked out of one restaurant because they wanted something ridiculous like 6 euros for a can of coke. The trick is to find places to eat that are a little further away from the tourist spots.

I’ve never eaten so much tiramisu and gelato in my life!

To read more about my holiday click the August tab on the right hand side and see my posts or click the “Rome” tag below.

Trevi Fountain

There comes a time in the life of every tourist in Rome when you visit the Trevi Fountain, and it was just lovely.

The little square it was in was jam packed with tourists, police, traders and it’s surroundings weren’t as spacious as you’d expect. You turn down a few alleyways and BAM it suddenly appears.

It looked even better at night but just as packed with tourists and people trying to sell tat!

To read more about my holiday click the August tab on the right hand side and see my posts or click the “Rome” tag below.

The Colosseum

Well chums I was looking forward to the Colosseum and we set off to it full of promise, headed to the front of the queue with our online tickets.

We got inside and…. well I won’t lie, I was bored. We got an audio tour thinking a bit of bloody thirsty history about gladiators etc might liven things up but no… no.

The main arena floor was stripped back and you could see the all the parts where they stored animals and gladiators and stuff before they fought and controlled trap doors and all that jazz.

The Colosseum is named after a huge statue of Colossus, this looks small below but it was like the size of a sofa.

My highlight of our trip to the Colosseum was a skinny look alike of my cat, awww.

To read more about my holiday click the August tab on the right hand side and see my posts or click the “Rome” tag below.

Tat

All over Rome in the Tourist spots there are make shift stalls, I actually really enjoyed browsing them, especially with a gelato.

Some were pretty good.

The boyfriend was mystified by this one.

There were so many souvenir stands around with lovely pope memorabilia, hats, models, rosaries, umbrellas, masks, fans, weird squishy plastic alien things.

To read more about my holiday click the August tab on the right hand side and see my posts or click the “Rome” tag below.

Gelato

We had the most glorious gelato whilst in Rome, there were so many artisan gelato parlours (or artigianale as the Italians say).

The best flavours were fruity ones, they really tasted like the fruit.

This gelato parlour (above) was open and commandeered by American troops during the second world war to supply all their gelato needs.

This menu made ordering easier in Italian!

Yummmm

Some of them were so decorative too

To read more about my holiday click the August tab on the right hand side and see my posts or click the “Rome” tag below.