The morning we first woke up in the middle of Rome we wondered why it was so quiet outside on what was a normal working weekday. There didn’t seem to be the normal buzz of city traffic and people on the way to work. It sort of built up gradually over a few hours until by late morning things were as we would normally expect them to be. We found a nice little place and had a breakfast of breads, cheeses and coffee. It was a really nice brunch but not the sort of thing (in a health sense) that I could afford to eat every morning for three months. I might have to buy a second seat on the return flight.

A cool fine drizzle pervaded the afternoon and evening which sounds like it might have spoiled our plans for a self-guided walking tour of the city, but it didn’t. On the contrary, we poked around lots of interesting little streets, took the odd photograph and consumed espressos a-plenty. The Italians we have met so far are a very friendly bunch on the whole. Regardless of their age or station, everybody has a Buongiorno as you pass them by.

As people emerge from their homes you get a momentary glimpse of what life is like for the average Roman family. The front door opens to a pretty dingy central courtyard where the odd car and a myriad of scooters are parked. Fairly pokey inward facing windows are often glazed with opaque glass to provide a modicum of privacy. The concept of a front fence, grass and driveway would be as foreign to them as living in a 400 year old building build beside a twelfth century square would be to us. I guess it just depends on where you got born.

During the day, a heavily tattooed centurion near the Colosseum badly wanted to have a photo with us so we obliged, us wanting to be seen as friendly foreigners and all. We saw half of the Pantheon due to a heavy covering of external scaffolding - the dome and the ocular were truly magnificent.

 

Dark, wet, cobble stoned streets glistened in the lights from shop windows as we strolled from the crowded Trevi Fountain to Il Chianti, a restaurant that has special memories for Jen and Ek. The food was typically Roman (as you would expect) – fresh, simple and delicious. The decor was dark and rustic with entire walls devoted to bottles of wine from all over Italy. A truly wonderful Pizza Romano (anchovies) later we took a wide circuit on foot back to our digs via the Colossus for a few night shots in the rain.

 

Very tired but happy that our severely truncated stay in Rome was as full as it was, we fell into bed, slept soundly and woke again to a quieter than expected local streetscape.