Going To See It All: 2016-10-23

Many amazing sites in Rome. My friend and I stayed in a nice apartment (Airbnb) pretty close to the main sites. We were about four blocks to the metro and were able to get around fine. The drivers in Rome are worse than you have seen in movies, heard about or imagined and seem to literally want to run you down. Pedestrians do not have the right of way and you better figure that out quick or you will be dead.
We only had four days there which was not close to my normal way of traveling, but Julian had limited time. So he planned the sightseeing and I must say we didn't miss anything for the time we had. I think a more proper view of Rome would take several more days and be a little more relaxed. I got pretty exhausted on our daily outings, but we had to see as much as we could.

Besides the antiquities I did not care for Rome which surprised me. I'd heard from several people that it was a favorite so I guess we all have different things we look for in a city. I found rude and unsmiling (seemingly unhappy) people, riding the metro was the worst of any city I have ever visited, just OK food, hustle and bustle and tons and I mean tons of graffiti. All of Europe has graffiti, but Rome takes the grand prize. So glad I went, but I don't care to go back. It could be that it is just a huge city and maybe the smaller places in Italy are nice????

I'll share pictures of the sites that were amazing. Quite a rich history that affected the entire world in profound ways.

Our neighborhood symbol. Our metro was Piramide which

was across the street from this ancient pyramid

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramid_of_Cestius

Of course our neighborhood was an uphill walk.

Ancient wall on left.

Our neighborhood, some nice rooftops.

My bright sunny room.

Such a cute, clean place.

Bless his heart, Julian cooked all the food.

I got to hang clothes out a window!!! Seemed so

Italian. I was worried I'd drop them and it was 3 flights down.

Had to have pizza in Italy. This was my own pizza and

I ate it all. We were by an open window and I was cold and

had to put my napkin over my shoulder to keep warm.

... and a big bowl of pasta for Julian - who did

not spill one drop on his pasta bib.

The Colisuem

Lots of renovation work going on everywhere

along with wild flowers - perfect timing.

This was a first for me.

Entering The Roman Forum

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Forum

Unreal when you are at the top looking out over The Forum.

I just can't get over how magnificent the views were.

Worst part of my entire trip. Had to go to the bathroom

for about 3 hours, could not find a bathroom and no signs.

Finally found it and -- as usual -- the line was so long.

The Forum had mind boggling views.

This looks like a movie set to me.

This view could make me cry it is
so overwhelming.

Cute little guy among the ruins. Pretty coloring.

Cool sign

Coffee every afternoon for much needed energy. Lovely

pastry shop with great cannoli. We went here twice.

Nice mozzarella cheese with beautiful tomatoes

that smelled and tasted like tomatoes.

A special type of cured meat wrapped with cheese that
Julian wanted me to taste. His cooking was great and healthy.

Economy size Nutella. Europeans seems to be crazy for this

stuff and I've never seen one this big. Not a favorite of mine, but

it is catching on in the U.S. I first saw it in Germany in 1980

and back then had never even heard of it.

Julian likes movies so we took a trip out to Cinecitta' (Cinema City) for a tour of the sets and museums. It was interesting and well done. Cinecittà is the largest film studio in Europe, spreading over an area of 100 acres with 22 stages, 2 permanent tents, 300 dressing rooms and offices, 21 makeup areas and an outdoor tank of 112,000 square feet. It was fun to visit and see behind the scenes and learn about movie making. Ben Hur was filmed here, along with many other famous movies and spaghetti westerns. It was refreshing to do something different.

Their largest and most famous studio for filming.

One of their sets and it looks so real.

Part of "Gangs of New York" set that was filmed here.

From the movie "Casanova" in 1976. I had to check it out

and this prop was in the first five minutes of the movie.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRdxZxZGJqI

Walking around Rome.

On a manhole cover. Very interesting, check it out.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SPQR

Tiber River

The second largest in Italy.

Several soccer balls churning in the river along with trapped

trash, bottles, plastic. Wished I had a long pole with a net on it.

Lovely street beside the river.

Afternoon gelato and espresso break. I was so
thankful for caffeine and sitting down awhile.

Loved the look of this restaurant's al fresco dining.

Wondering the streets we happened onto this church.
One of the most beautiful ones I saw on my entire trip.
Not massive, but magnificent.

There are some tiny and adorable cars in Rome

So cute.

Right at this square, I "hit the wall" and had to just sit and rest.

This was my 27th day on the go, go and walking, walking and walking. I just had to sit down for about an hour and rest from

total exhaustion. After my rest, and then some dinner, I was

restored. This had been a very long day.

I enjoyed watching the kids and families here.

Free appetizer -- We didn't know what we were eating and it had a totally weird and unfamiliar texture. I asked the lady and she pointed down to the back of her ankle - beef tendons. Well

that ended that part of the meal and Julian and I just cracked up.