Remembering Rome

This Euro trip holds a lot of significance for me as it was my first non-work related solo trip. A few years back my 1st ever overseas trip though solo, was work related. I spent 7 months on the channel Islands courtesy of my employer. And that would be the time the travel bug really bit.

After coming back to my homeland I was itching to travel but I had a problem, for some reason I thought I have to do it with someone. So I spent 2 years in waiting - and I could not find anyone to go wit. And then last November - it hit me. I'll go gray waiting for a travel buddy and I'll never get to experience the world. So I went ahead an planned my first voluntary solo trip. Italy (Rome, Milan and Venice) and France (Paris) was on my agenda.

My first stop was Roma!!!

After a long flight including a stop over in Dubai, I was pleased to land at Rome's Fiumicino aka Leonardo Da Vinci airport. Going through customs was reasonably painless and I was officially in Rome. I had mixed emotions getting through the airport - a little scared and excited at the same time. Having booked the entire trip myself over the internet with no travel agent assistance I knew if anything went wrong it was all on me and I would have no one to call. So my mild stress was understandable. What if I try find a hotel and I'm led to a bogus location.

Getting to the city center was relatively easy. I took the bus from the Airport to Termini station, then from there was the metro to the Colosseum stop.

I stayed at a hotel pretty close to the Colosseum, so after a few minutes walking in the wrong direction out of the metro station - I was headed towards my beautiful hotel :). With a view of the Colosseum for breakfast - I couldn't have asked for a better spot. The 1st thing I did after settling into my room was to walk around the neighborhood to try find a grocery shop, get acquainted with my surroundings etc.

Colosseum early morning

The next morning I woke up early to see the Col while its still tourist free and take some pretty pictures. 

After a full breakfast at the hotel, I was on full tourist mode. On my agenda for that day was a full tour of the Colosseum, Forum, and the Vatican in the afternoon (oh, Vatican City is actually a country, in my view - ridiculous).

Ancient Rome

I spent a few hours at the Colosseum with the audio guide taking me through the place and pointing out areas of historic significance. The Forum audio guide is worth it. Either that or just get into a tour. There's so many things worth noting, you can't do it via history books and google alone.

Vatican City

After some nice salad and water at McDonald's (I know!), I made my way to a pre-arranged tour of the Vatican City. Because I had read the Dan Brown books and watched the movies so many times, I was more curious than ever to see the Vatican. I needed someone who knew it intimately to show me around. Needless to say, based on my research and as expected Brown's book - I'm sure the tour guide had had enough of my many questions by the time we made it to St Peters Square. I would do a tour of this place 10 times over and I still would not be able to capture everything about it.

Villa Borghese Gardens

 I spent a half of my last full day in Rome at the Villa Borghese Gardens, simple put - my most favourite place in all of Rome. It is soooo charming. Trust me! The Galleria Bhorgese, what can I say really? What an amazing collection. I won't pretend to be an art expect on my own blog - but I got it. Art has a life of its own and the collection as the gallery spoke to me. GO see it.

Walking through the gardens is an experience on its own, beautiful fountains, accordion players, lush and well manicured gardens. I can't rave enough about this place. Next time you go to Rome, make sure to go.

I saw and experienced a lot in Rome, this is just a snapshot of my favourite spots... I could write 30 or more blog entries and still would not capture into words how amazing it is and how much you need to see it!