CC Travel Blog

Nov, 2006

While Elizabeth Gilbert enjoyed every bit of her stay in Rome [Eat Pray Love], I became Rome-sick during our last three days of the journey.

Don’t get me wrong, this is just a personal impression and private preference. I am sure most people find Rome sexy, pretty, exciting, romantic, historical… (eliminating the next 5000 words). Probably because of our intensive museum visits, to me, Rome became too stoney, too ancient and too unhuman (compared to the nice Florenians and Tuscanians). To diminish the problem, one should either spread out their interest in the entire Rome and nearby area or spread out their museum visits (unless you’re a crazy museum fan or have an intense interest in Roman period history).

So for 3 days, we visited the Colosseo and the Roman Forum (that’s at least a half day’s trip); Vatican (another half day at least), Pantheon, Santa Maria Del Popolo Church, Trevi Fountain (throw a coin and make a wish), Spanish Steps (beautiful stairs and fountain, shopping is so-so as it tends to get over crowded and the assistants were less nice than in Florence), Galleria Borghese and a ton of other national museums.

Overall, Rome is probably the most populated and hence most dynamic and hassle city we visited; especially in the Termini area, be very careful. Even the metro can scare you a bit.