Hi all,
I’d like to think that you guys all look forward to hearing about our exploits as much as much as we enjoying doing them, so here goes.
This past weekend we traveled to Rome to celebrate both my 27th Birthday (thanks all that sent me wishes) as well as our 6 years together. We had both been looking forward to Rome almost more than anywhere else and it didn’t disappoint.
Rome is an amazing city that is so steeped in history that you can’t go anywhere without finding something new that makes you love the city even more. Around every corner there’s a new building, fountain or church that you weren’t expecting but on top of that you also have everything you were. We managed to fit in most of the main attractions but the ones of note were The Coliseum, Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon and Vatican City.
With the Coliseum there has always been a lot of anticipation to see this, and from the first glimpse it lived up to all of it. We had heard that it looks amazing from the outside, but you don’t need to go in, but that would be like going to Paris and not climbing the Eiffel Tower. We didn’t feel let down by going in; it really made you imagine what it would have been like to be in there with 50,000+ people all watching the gladiatorial combat. It would make a hell of a venue for the Boxing Day test, GO AUSSIES.
The Trevi fountain was really quite impressive and the Pantheon was more so. What was most amazing about the Pantheon was that from the outside, it is very worn down (albeit, still very impressive) but when you get in there it’s as beautiful as any other temple your likely to imagine.
Vatican City was simply stunning. St Peter’s square, the Basilica and most of all the Sistine chapel were all must see attractions. Despite feeling like cows being herded through the corridors of the Vatican Museums, walking into the Sistine Chapel was one of the highlights of our whole trip so far. If there weren’t so many other places to see, we would have sat there for hours looking up at the ceiling and listening to the guards continuously yelling “No Foto”.
There were so many other sites like the Roman Forum, Palatine Hill, the site of the Circus Maximus (which now lies vacant, but it’s easy to imagine what used to lay there) but I wouldn’t want to bore you.
Among the amazing sites we saw we also managed to stuff our faces full of pizza, pasta and gelati (it hovered around 6-7 degrees for the whole weekend but hey, “when in Rome”). We also were lucky to wander into a classic European Christmas market which was really colourful and interesting. All in all we had an amazing trip and it was one hell of a way to celebrate turning 27 and also start our seventh year together.
With Christmas just around the corner, our thoughts will surely be back home and how we won’t be there to celebrate with all our family and friends, but we hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We will be heading to the Lakes District where we have hired a cottage, and then back to Edinburgh for Hogmanay (a massive street party for New Years).
Till next time,
Glen and Robyn