"Rome - a blend of old and new" a Rome Travel Page by monica71

"You did not see the world until you've seen Rome". I heard this saying several times, but I always took it lightly until I went to Rome and spent 10 days there.

My experience of the city was mixed: there were things I liked a lot about Rome and there were things I was not too crazy about. You will find them all in the tips area of my Rome page. Would I go back to Rome? Yes, I would, but I would also not spend more than 2 days in Rome again since I have already seen almost all the things I wanted to see there. Plus, I would not need more than 2 days to visit the places I did not have a chance to visit on my first trip and also to go back to the places I really liked!

The weather was pretty bad during our stay and we did not have too many sunny days. Most of the days were cold, windy and rainy (we even experienced heavy hail for 2 days), therefore we got soaked to the bones during our walks. We also caught a nasty cold, but we ignored it and enjoyed the city as much as we could!

I always like to post a high level description of my itinerary when I go visit places, therefore here it is:

Day 1: arrived at 8am in the morning after a long flight from Chicago with Alitalia. I have to state, though, some good things about the flight: decent price for a non-stop flight from Chicago, the check in was fast and the flight left on time. Unfortunately, the seats were so small that you could hardly move your feet and the food was horrible - I packed some stuff before leaving, so we ate our food instead of the one they served.

Once we landed in Rome, we went to the apartment we rented (we had a prior arrangement for transportation with RomeCabs) right by the Pantheon, had breakfast at the Pantheon Cafe, checked in, took a shower and started to explore the area (visited the Pantheon, Piazza Navona, Campo de Fiori, Piazza Venezia, walked back to the Pantheon on Via del Corso, had dinner and went to bed exhausted!)

Day 2: Colosseum, Roman Forum (by far my favorite place in Rome!) and Palatine Hill during the day; Trevi Fountain at night

Day 3: Piaza Cavour, Santa Maria Maggiore, Church of Santa Pradese and the Capitolini Museum

Day 4: full day at Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel and St Peter's Square

Day 5: churches around Pantheon (Gesu Church, Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, San Ignazio, San Luigi), the ruins at Largo Argentina, Piazza di Pietra and Piazza Colona, and 2 guided walk tours around Pantheon area that I downloaded on my iPod before going to Rome

Day 6: I was getting a cold and running fever, therefore our schedule was light: Galeria Doria Pamphilij instead of the Borghese Gallery. Borghese Gallery is one of the places I would definitely go to on my next trip.

Day 7: took the 110 Open Bus and enjoyed the city on our first rain free day. We got off the bus at Piazza Bocca della Verita and visited the area (the Santa Maria in Cosmedin church, Bocca dela Verita, Circus Maximus, Isola Tiberina and Santa Maria in Trastevere church). We also walked from the Trastevere to the Pantheon, going through Piazza Venezia again. We also wanted to visit the piazza in a sunny day and this proved to be our chance to do it.

Day 8: we did 3 audio guided tours: the one of Aventino Hill, the one from Palatine Hill to Piazza Barberini, and the from Piazza Barberini to Trevi Fountain and Pantheon

Day 9: Piazza di Spagna, Piazza del Popolo and last minute shopping on Via Nazionale and Via dei Giubonari

Day 10: slept in late, packed our bags and left to the airport at 4pm to catch the late flight

I did a lot of reading and research before going to Rome and all the hard worked paid big time while visiting the city!

Some of the best things I've done (my husband trusts me on that and is happy to pass all this hard work to me):
1. purchased Rick Steve's Rome guidebook

2. contacted the Italian Government Travel Office to get their free package about Rome (free maps, museums information, Rome walks, etc); they can be reached at enitch@italiantourism.com

3. downloaded few Rome walks from Rick Steves web site and PocketVox http://www.pocketvox.com/en/node/14

4. visited as many VT pages on Rome as I could and took notes of both, good things and not so good things about Rome

Everybody has its own favorite place that always brings a smile when thinking about it or talking about it. My very favorite one in Rome was the view of the Roman Forum from the Capitol Hill. I stopped here several times during my visit in Rome at different times of the day and I still feel that I did not spend enough time here admiring the view. To me, this is the best view that Rome reveals under a tourist eye! If I would live here, I know that this would be the place where I would stop as often as I could to quiet down my mind and to recharge.