A Week in Rome: Wrap-up-the-Last

We had, at our little hotel, the most lovely bathroom.

I mean, really. How can you not feel like a princesa sitting on the can with floors like that. Fantastic. Our hotel was the Royal Court, near Termini Station but a couple of blocks away from the noise. It was actually very convenient. Travel guides tell you to avoid the area, and though I generally agree, this hotel was nice, and the convenience to the underused Metro system as well as all trains you could ever need can't be underestimated.

A lot of tourists never use the Metro. It's very crowded, and covered in graffitti, so I imagine that turns some people off. But it is extremely cheap (16 Euros for a one week unlimited pass), goes to the general vicinity of almost everything, and runs every couple of minutes making it incredibly convenient. If we had used cabs for all the things we used the Metro for in that week we would have spent a minimum of a hundred Euros. We didn't use a cab once. If you are able bodied, the Metro is the way to go. Make sure you get your Metro Pass from one of the many news vendors up top before you go down, and get it validated in one of the machines on the back of a public bus (works on all the bus and tram lines too--and they're very clean and convenient) or by a Metro employee at one of the entrances.

Don't worry if the train is too crowded for you to get on--just wait for the next one, which comes along in less than 3 minutes. And there are worse things than cramming yourself in a subway car full of handsome Italian men. Trust me.

Rick Steves, who wrote the excellent guide to Rome we followed throughout our trip, doesn't recommend the Metro as much as I do, and I think that's an error on his part.

One last thing on the Metro: I don't have any pictures. Why? Because it's a lousy idea to whip out an expensive camera on the Rome metro. Keep your belongings close. We had no problems, but hey, why take a chance.

Aaah, let's hop back to the Vatican for a moment, eh? Let's try the Pope's private chapel, otherwise known as the Sistine Chapel.

No pictures are allowed in the Sistine Chapel, but if you keep the flash off, there's really no harm, and the minders can't possibly keep track of you in the inevitable crowd, can they?

Besides, I asked God if he objected, and he didn't say anything, so that means it was ok.

I've gotta take another look at that Vatican Museum ceiling:

Back in St. Peter's, anotherlook at the alter, with the shining white dove stained glass peeking through from the back:

Oh, and the rest of our hotel room:

It's amazing how fast I can make a hotel room look like my apartment.

Over at the Collosseum (get off the Metro at Collosseo station, step onto the street, gawk) they had a nice exhibit of various disembodied heads:

Evenings in Campo di Fiori were lovely.

Emperor Nero's palace, known as Domus Aurea (near the Collosseum), is extraordinarily preserved underground with ceiling frescos largly intact:

The winding streets of Rome are often bordered by 2000 year old walls.

And so there it is. A week in Rome. Cost of the trip was less than $1200 per person, all told, including a day trip to Florence on the high speed train. Oh yeah, let's remember Florence, briefly, and our fist peek at that sunset from Il Duomo...

The city exceeded our expectations by a mile. We expected crowded, dirty, maybe even a little poor. We got (with the exception of the Metro) uncrowded (go in November! Trust me!), spotlessly clean in the tourist areas, and visibly prosperous, especially when compared to most American cities. We found the people abundantly friendly, experienced no anti-Americanism, and never ran out of things to do. In fact, we would need another entire week to catch up on everything we missed. Italy is the world's greatest tourist destination, and deservedly so. The food at cheap, family-owned restaurants was so good we could afford to eat out, exchange rate or no. We didn't buy many souveniers, but there were plenty to be had if we had wanted. The shopping is fantastic. What an amazing place. I will be back. Absolutely. Goodbye Rome, I miss you.