Rome in April

So we went to Rome, a first trip to Italy, between Easter and the double-canonization of the popes. Papa Francisco was in town, the weather was lovely and the tourist season had begun. It was a ladies and Matt trip.

Matt taking a photo of his lady travelling companions.

We ate lots of tasty foods, including an amazing amount of gelato and some wonderful pizza and pasta. One particularly nice pizza was in our Travestere neighbourhood (yay staying in apartments and not hotels- airbnb to the rescue).

Ai Marmi, with a great giant outdoor patio on the sidewalk and very efficient service. The diner of pizza joints.

We hit the major tourist sites, including the Spanish steps (we got there by accident), Colosseum, St. Peter's square the Vatican museum and many a church. All I can say about the Vatican museum is that I have heard it is always very crowded but it seemed to have reached a new level while we were there. I have never seen so many people rush by Matisse and Dali (and many other incredible artists) to get to the end of the tour, or had security guards yell at me for trying to stop and look at art in a museum "keep moving" was the chorus from the museum guards. We entered the Colosseum from a quiet entrance with no line and felt like telling everyone in the long lineup at the major entrance "There's a better way!" Basically, Rome is a smallish city with the "tourist" locations being insanely busy but with it being a pretty chill city once you get two blocks away.

Pretty view of Rome from a random park

Another view of Rome

Trevi fountain surrounding by insane numbers of tourists!

Trying to take an inconspicuous photo of funny cop hats.

St. Peter's square with my mom (did not wait in the insanely long line to get into the Basilica- get there early in the morning for a visit)

The Forum

The Colosseum

A selfie

Deep conversations at the Colosseum

Inside one of the million churches in Rome- all with amazing ceilings.

Trastevere neighbourhood

Trastevere neighbourhood

Random cheese shop- we bought some cheese (but not that much) which stank up our entire luggage when we got home. But it was worth it. FYI to other cheese lovers, you can bring hard cheeses across borders-little known fact.

Bir and Fud- a hipster joint full of delicious microbrews

For some less touristy/busyness we went to another neighbourhood, Testaccio and discovered a very cool collective of coops, restaurants etc. combined with a modern art gallery offshoot of MACRO, all housed in the grounds of an old slaughterhouse. Of note, the gallery is only open 4pm-midnight.

We also took the train one day to Bracciano, a town on a large lake with an impressive castle.

Odescalchi castle. Fun facts: Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes were married here. Funner fact: in the 16th century, Princess Isabella had lovers in her room, then opened a secret door and pushed them into the hidden well with sharp blades and lime at the bottom to a grisly death with no remaining evidence.

Even in the small town of Bracciano, the Euro way is all apartments all the time.

Good times were had by all.