Roma, the eternal city

DISCLAIMER: There are 2 pics here of me; one on the Spanish steps and one in the Forum. I LOOK LIKE A TOURIST!! I have my camera, my portable listening device and my passport holder around my neck. Note to self: try to travel a little lighter next time! I love my Canon Rebel, but it is cumbersome. A few days into the trip I was envying those who had pocket size cameras.

Rome was: hot, terribly congested with traffic, expensive, trash strewn in a lot of places and the natives were oh-so-not-friendly on the whole. A lot like New York, and I ==heart== New York. Crossing the street, even on the little green walking man sign, was like signing your death warrant. Scooters do not pay attention to people or cars or trucks. They weave in and out of traffic, play chicken with big buses and generally drive how they like. There are a lot of scooters in Italy. Gas is astronomically expensive, more than here in the states.

It was nice to see all the sights, the Coliseum and the Forum, St. Peters and the Vatican Museum. I had done all that when I was in Rome in 1968, when I travelled with my school in my senior year. My DH had never been, so he saw everything for the first time. We probably won't go back, for all the above reasons.

I have a few more pictures to share, but I'm only posting about 9 or 10 a day, (I want you to come back!). It was virtually impossible to get a picture of anything without a lot of people in the shot, Rome was also very crowded while we were there. If I get lucky enough to go back to Italy, I'll wait until November or so, I hear it's less crowded. In lots of cases, I bought postcards of the major sites, so I would have an unobstructed picture of the place. I couldn't even sit down on the Spanish steps.

On a side note, yesterday I went to M's and bought more paper that I don't need. It's on sale 4/$1. I also got a cute stamp set for Christmas, which I am itching to use, but I just don't have any time.

Ciao, bellas.