Rome: Further Observations

Rome is small - I had expected Rome to be comparable in size to London, Paris, and New York - probably because those cities are often mentioned together - but it's not.  It's quite a bit smaller.  Or, at least it feels quite a bit smaller.  Without much effort at all I saw the Colosseum, The Forum, Trevi Fountain, and Spanish Steps within just a few minutes of each other and just by wandering aimlessly.

Tourists and Beggars are everywhere - Everywhere.

Trains are cheap - Want to go to the beach?  €1 on the metro, Lido line.  Want to head to the hills?  €2.30 on Tren Italia.  If you're tired of the tourists and the beggars, you can escape the city for just pennies (though you'll still encounter both at the beach).

The last sunset of 2011

The beach is close - Did you know Rome is basically on the Mediterranean?  In less than an hour you can be in Ostia, enjoying a beautiful beach.

Lunch is €12 - I've enjoyed pizza with wine and panini with beer and it always equals €12 for the two of us.  Dinner has varied from €20-35 but the a la carte lunch seems to always equal €12 for us.

Loud - Rome is a very noisy city.  Horn honking occurs at all hours, street cleaning, window rattling, merriment; it took a good week before we were able to sleep through the night.  Now, we could probably sleep through a train crashing through our bedroom door.