A visit to Rome - Part 1

The Colosseum
The last city in my series of posts on our trip to Italy last August is Rome. See also: Pisa, Siena, San Gimignano. We only spent a few days in Rome, but we saw a lot. I can't really recommend visiting in August... the one thing none of these pictures convey is just how hot it was from about 10:30am to 7:00pm! We mostly spent the afternoons in cool gardens or air-conditioned museums!


The Colosseum

Stepping inside the Colosseum was a bit mind-boggling... particularly to someone from Canada, who's used to things being considered "old" when they've been around for 150 years!


At Palatine Hill

Nearby the Colosseum are more Roman ruins at Palatine Hill, which then joins into the Roman Forum.


At the Roman Forum

Don't be fooled by the photo: while I may look all cool and breezy, I was roasting even in the shade.


The Roman Forum

The Roman Forum is enormous and there's not much in the way of interpretive signs to explain what you're looking at.


Tempio Antonino Faustino

It's impressive, nonetheless.


tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Even in more modern times, the Italians sure know how to build impressive monuments! The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was blindingly white in the sun and gave us both a headache, so we only looked at it briefly.


The Trevi Fountain

The Trevi Fountain is similarly impressive. The fountain sort of melts out of the back of a building into a tiny square. It's enormous, beautiful, loud with rushing water, and very awe-inspiring. I definitely recommend visiting early in the morning before there are massive crowds.


Piazza Navona

Everywhere you go in Rome there are beautiful fountains and ancient Egyptian obelisks and remarkably beautiful architecture.

One does start to get a bit jaded to the grandeur of it all. So in my next post, I'll share a few of the less ostentatious sights in Rome.

You can see all my pictures from Rome in my trip to Italy set.

Photographs and artwork by Allison Gryski. © All rights reserved.