Parent visit - Rome

My mom and step dad came to visit me for two weeks, which was certainly a lot of fun. We planned a three city tour, Rome, Florence and Palermo, as well as several guided tours. First stop: Rome.

Goodbye Sicily, I will miss you.

Hello, Rome! It actually looked really small from the air, I thought I'd taken the wrong flight.

Due to my parents missing their flight, I was in Rome by myself for the day. I walked around, visiting a few churches and sights nearby to our b and b. We stayed near the station, for its accessibility to the metro and trains, at a renovated older building, run by a really great pair of brothers.

The next day, early, my family arrived, and we revisited many sights that I had seen the day previous.

Tuesday we went to Vatican city for a guided tour. We splurged and got the "skip-the-line" as well, so we didn't have to wait outside for three hours. I learned a lot about the history of the Vatican, as well as all the art. Our tour guide was a young Irish woman taking time off from her Phd in archaeology, with a fun and energetic style.
Highlights included, well, a lot of things. In particular, Raphael's School of Athens, the Sistine chapel, Michelangelo's La Pietà, and St Peter's. I liked the stories associated with each place - how Michelangelo was known to throw things at people who bothered him, how they made St Peter's seem less big from the inside by using scale, how painters would being themselves and other artists into their work.

Our tourguide.

The hall of maps.

School of Athens.

La Pietà. Mary is shown as young and rediculously tall.

After lunch we saw some more of the sights including, but not limited to: Castel Sant' Angelo, the Spanish steps, a DaVinci exhibit, and Piazza del Popolo.

The Da Vinci exhibit had a 360° mirror...

Spanish steps.

Wednesday we went to the colosseum and Roman forums, again with a guided tour. The site was possibly busier than the Vatican so I was very happy to skip the line here.

Outside the Collesseum.

The colosseum has seen some better days, it lost a lot of its stone to other buildings, and the pollution of Rome hasn't helped for its colouring. I wouldn't have minded seeing below, but it's open only during the summer.

Cleaned, vs uncleaned.

The Roman forums were interesting, but very difficult to visualise. They had been covered by dirt after a flood, and they are still excavating, and, like the collesseum, many pieces are missing. I was trying to picture the average roman standing where I was, as the forums were the centre of daily life during ancient Roman times.

Arch of Constantine

After lunch we went to the Trevi Fountain, the pantheon, Piazza Navona, stopping to buy strawberries at the Campo dei Fiori, and seeing Michelangelo's Moses at San Pietro in Vincoli.

My mom and I throwing our coins into the fountain.

Apparently Michelangelo threw his hammer at the statue when he had finished, yelling, "But why don't you speak?"

For our last full day in Rome, we saw more of the sights, ending up far above the city, enjoying the lovely day.

Circo Massimo

Food Highlights from Rome:

Classic roman dishes include Pasta Carbonara, and Carciofi (artichokes) alla Romana, both of which I was sure to enjoy. Pasta carbonara is pasta tossed with a mix of egg, pancetta (bacon), and cheese, usually Pecorino Romano.  The key is freshly ground pepper.