Rome was really great. It was a lot of work during the week at the office but I was really happy to meet my whole team in person. We're 3 in Denmark, 3 in Italy, 2 in Greece and one in Spain on our team. Quite the group!

So it was the weekend that I did all things touristy Rome. Friday I left the office at 4ish and basically just set down my things at the hotel and hit the streets for what turned out to be some serious walking.
I romed (hehe) all over the city for five hours before it got too dark for me to really be wandering around a foreign city at night by myself. I even ate dinner at a restaurant by myself for the first time in my life. Brought a book and in no time there was so much food I didn't even care.
With no real objective or map I got to see tons of stuff. I saw several famous piazza's including Piazza Napoli (featured above as well) for a glass of wine and Campo de Fiori for another glass of wine.


I saw the Fontana di Trevi and threw in 1 euro - so my return to Rome is set.


Also saw the Pantheon...



I saw National Monument like 8 times, it was close to my hotel so I just always looked for it to find my way around.




Palazzo Venezia...

By the time dusk hit I was walking along the Tiber and saw this island thing (erhm probably a church or something seeing as it is Rome) and Teatro Marcello. I finally took a map when I got home to make an official walking plan for Saturday.


Saturday I wandered even more, but this time on a path. You'll start to notice pictures with my hand in front - this was to show my ring and pretend Christian was with me. You start to get weird when you travel alone!
I first went to Santa Maria Maggiore, then over to Piazza della Republica.


Then I walked down to San Carlo Quattro Fontane and took Via Sistina down to the top of the Spanish Steps.

The Spanish steps along with every other place in Rome were hugely crowed with tourists, of course myself included.


Wasting no time I headed over to Piazza del Pappolo.

A shourt walk down to the river again and walked down to Piazza del Tribunali.

Next few blocks over was Castel Sant Angelo which is the home to the National Museum. I would like to go in there next time, I think!

And finally arrived at Vatican city. I was tired so I stopped for water and fruit and met a nice Italian waiter who called me Bella.
I walked to St. Peters, stood in line for 40 mins, only to be told I was not dressed appropriately enough to get into the actual church. I was pissed. I had a thick strapped dress on but apparently that's too slutty for the Vatican. I'm sorry but I found the woman in front of me who didn't quite fit in her pants to be more offensive than my bare shoulders but hey...


So I walked over to the Vatican Museum because I've been told it's highly recommendable. Another 40 minute wait and they tried to deny me again. This time I was able to negotiate by pointing out another woman they let in with similar shoulder barrings (?) as mine.
There were so many people in there I immediately had anxiety. I also felt like all the guards all over the place were staring at my shoulders, then I was pretty sure several paintings of Jesus were staring at my shoulders. All in all I felt dirty so I saw the Sistine Chapel by Michaelangelo (no pics allowed) and got the flip out of there.



I stopped back in my little spot to wait out a rain shower with my Italian waiter friend. He told me I breaka his heartaaa when I told him I was married. :)
Back to the hotel and then quickly turned around to meet my colleague Thomas (who also stayed the weekend in Rome) for gellato, dinner and drinks, all of which were delicious.
The next morning I took a leisurely breakfast at the hotel and set out for the Colosseum, finally. I could see it from my hotel block but saved it for the last day. It was hot sunny weather and I didn't quite feel I had the time to dedicate to buying the tickets into the Colesseum and Forum to really enjoy it so I snapped a few shots and vowed to take the proper entrance next time.




Many of the major roads are closed to vehicle traffic on Sundays and to our delight we got to witness some kind of battle of the bands in the streets. It was all Italian military dressed men (and some women) in funny hats in mini marching bands. They sang and played brass instruments. I got a kick out of it!


Took some more walking with Thomas and got a bite to eat and then headed for the Airport. All in all a good trip! I'm still recovering from all the walking and lack of proper sleeping but it was worth it in the good food alone! :)
I highly recommend Rome but never when it's hot and at the height of tourist season, I couldn't imagine. I was overwhelmed in mid September! But I want to go back and explore more bits closely and actually go into some other museums and such.
My souvenirs included proper olive oil and pesto. So good. And an Italian lottery ticket for Christian (pot is at 130m Euros) upon his request, haha.
Just in case you go, and your guide book doesn't mention it, if you go the vatican COVER UP... haha.
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