Centro Storico

This is our last stop on our 10 week trip. It's been amazing and ending in Rome makes a great bookend with Stockholm as our start. The first thing we noticed were the crowds. Lots and lots of other people want to see this magical city. It's by far the most crowded city we've been to on this trip.

We bought a 3 day transportation pass and headed to St. Peter's Basilica after checking in to our hotel room near the train station. In the late afternoon, the lines were a half mile long, and it officially holds up to 60,000 people. They certainly don't let that many in, but we decided to visit at 7 am the next morning to beat the rush. And we also found out that even though the website says all tickets are sold for the Vatican Museums this week, we checked the counter there and they told us they sell tickets at the gate up until 4 and close at 6. So we decided to do that a few days later after most of the people left and there were no lines. In the morning, lines for this can easily be a mile long and a several hour wait, even with "skip the line tickets." Everyone has to go through security, so there's no such thing as skip the line anymore.

On Friday afternoon at 3:30, we walked right in. Inside, there were still a ton of people and tours, so there was no elbow room at all and you kind of had to go with the herd. We did get a good 20 minutes or more in the Sistine Chapel though. We use Rick Steves audio tours, which are free on his app. We pretty much hate guided tours because they make everyone so clueless. Seriously, few things make people lose common courtesy or common sense than being led around a city by someone with a flag. His app lets you stop or start when you want and provides good details. You can easily pay hundreds of dollars for similar info from a guide.

Over the next 4 days, we did a lot of walking to soak up the sites: The Trevi Fountain at night and during the day, the Spanish Steps at night, St. Peter's Square at night and during the day, the Vatican Museums, etc. Exploring the neighborhoods was fun. Our favorite was theTrastevere, which means "across the Tiber." It was less crowded, had no tour groups, and had more locals. The food was good, as expected. There are gluten-free options in many restaurants now, so I had my fill of delicious pizza and pasta dishes. Meals with wine are still cheap for an American, even in a tourist-filled capital city in Europe. Many times we had a hard time paying $50 for a great meal with wine for 2.

One shocker to me was that you can't sit or party on the Spanish Steps. 22 years ago, that was THE thing to do. From pre-teens to the elderly, you could just open a bottle of wine and chill out for as long as you want. So we brought a bottle of wine and a new liqueur for me, Liqueur Strega, and settled in. An American busker our age sat behind us and started playing the soundtrack of our lives. It was pretty great, and some of the best music we've heard on the trip. And then the cops walked around telling everyone to get up and leave. What the hell?! Granted, it was a little sketchy last time I was here, but sketchy in Rome is like DisneyLand in America.

On our last day, we had seen all the "must see" sights and were pretty much burned out on being a tourist. No more museums! No more crowds! No more tour groups! So we walked to non-touristy neighborhoods and strolled through the pleasant cemetery for non-Catholics (their term, not mine.) It was a peaceful oasis and we saw the tombs of Percy Shelley, John Keats, and Goethe. I haven't read any of them, but this might motivate me to. Later, I did the math with my pedometer app. We averaged 7.7 miles a day over the 10 weeks. Not bad, considering many days were spent on a train.

Our Eurail pass was the best investment we made. I can't believe what a great deal it is if you travel more than a few weeks and visit a few sites. The stats on our app tells the tale:
- 7 countries visited by train (we hit 8 with Helsinki, but didn't take a train there).
- 8,900 Km of rail
- 43 cities stopped or started by rail
- 4 days and 14 hours of rail time

For about $16/day per person, we did all of that. The pass paid for itself within 2 1/2 weeks. We didn't miss a train, even though we did run through stations quite a few times. Every now and then I'd check a rail site to see what a ticket would cost if we bought it the day of the train. In Italy, one half of our route on one day would have cost over $200!

I'm in Rome's Fiumicino Airport as I write this, waiting for our plane home. And all I can say is, I need a vacation.

More photos and videos are here.

St. Peter's Basilica https://photos.app.goo.gl/n3WCBXypraMhqaSs8

Rome https://photos.app.goo.gl/fdxApU6Q9KYipDXM6Read more