Vacations - Rome 2000

This was a business trip for Jen, so for at least half of the trip I was wandering the streets of Rome alone. Lest this sound lonely, it was really great to be able to walk around, taking in the city without really having an agenda. For example, I got to spend a very long time in the Roman Forum, talking the self-guided audio tour and really soaking up the atmosphere of the ruins. I had been to Rome once before on a highschool trip with my Latin class, and the only time we had at the Forum for that trip was a mad dash from one end to the other.

We ate at cheap little restaurants, had authentic Italian pizza, hung out at places which were populated only by Italians (hint: to blend in, smoke constantly and have a cell phone), rode the local bus, avoided pickpockets, met a really nice man who sold us fantastic pastries, got fat (ok, fatter) on gelato, and lots of other great stuff. Over a period of about seven days, we really got a chance to explore the city.

Lots of stuff didn't make it on the website. I only have so much room for pictures and some things couldn't be photographed (like the Catacombs, an underground burial site to which the Christians fled, which was simply too dark) or wouldn't translate well (like the Nuns outside the Vatican laying on the car horn with such gusto you'd think they were taxi drivers from the Bronx). All told, it was a really great trip and we can't wait to go back!