Wandering Around Rome

 

This post is dedicated to my favorite thing to do while traveling (other than eating, of course): just walkin' around and exploring a city. We at times have a destination to get to, but often times, we just like to wander around aimlessly and come across unplanned sights. 

Rome was surprisingly such a great walking city. I had read that it wasn't, and I really have no clue as to how people came across that notion. Maybe the heat during the summer? Nevertheless, with staying in the city center, nothing was more than a 30 minute walk away. However, it usually took us much longer than that, because we were so busy detouring to view churches, shops, and taking millions of photographs! Pair gorgeous sights with heavenly weather, and you can understand why we enjoyed wandering around Rome!

Rome is definitely a sight to be seen at night. Especially on a Thursday night in February, when the streets aren't as crowded as they would be in, say, July. 

 

The Pantheon was behind our flat (and again, I really suggest staying in this area if you are to visit Rome), so we enjoyed sitting by it at night, whilst listening to a man playing the cello and another playing the guitar. Romantic, indeed!  

We were also very close to Piazza Navona. The area was very touristy during the day, but around 8, it wasn't too bad!  

I absolutely love the narrow, cobbled streets of central Rome. I really was shocked that cars would drive down these streets- the streets looked more like sidewalks! And people would just walk in the middle of the streets, cars tailing them at a snail's pace. I couldn't deal with that if I was driving in Rome!  

These were sights on our way to The Vatican. Closer to the the Vatican, it was just sooooo congested with people trying to sell rubbish. That, along with the hundreds of gypsies, was our least favorite thing about Rome. We pretended that we didn't speak English so that they would stop harassing us. 

 Checking out the Spanish Steps wasn't on our itinerary, but it ended up happening, anyway! 

 

The views from the top made it absolutely worth it!

Just a cute group of buildings on a cozy little street

 

While walking towards Ancient Rome, we passed the Tomb to the Unknown Soldier. Totally didn't even know this existed, but holy cow was it impressive. It puts all other memorials of the same sort to shame. 

View from the top of the memorial

But the greatest lesson to learn from wandering around Rome is to go into every single church you pass. Every.Single. One. It was more ornate than any English palace I have ever been in, and they are FREE! 

Only in Rome will you find an archway made of chandeliers in a church 

I have one more post on Rome for you then it's back to life in dreary London. Seriously, the taste of sunshine that we had in Rome is making London seem that much colder and more depressing.