Rome, the eternal city

Both my parents and my grandparents visited Rome, many years ago. But my sister and I wanted to explore further horizons, so we kept Europe until we were older ourselves...

The last couple of years, we've begun our exploration. We visited France (for the first time, if you don't count a trip to Lourdes with my parents when I was a little kid), going to La Rochelle and Saint Raphael. Now we made a city trip to Rome.

We had exactly four days, and that's long enough to get an impression of this historic city. We stayed in the northern part of town, in Parioli. This was the real Italy for us. We were among people who commuted to work and went to dine in the local restaurant. The hotel, by the way (Hilton Garden Inn), was quite a good one and not very expensive.

What impressed me most were the remains of antiquity, like the Forum Romanum and the  Colosseum. (Pictures underneath.)

And of course we also visited the Vatican and St Peter's.  The Sistine Chapel was most impressive (and here's a pic, although you were not allowed to take them...)

We walked for miles or kilometers and this with temperatures of high in the thirties Celsius. But the heat was bearable, especially when you drank enough. We swallowed liters of water (and wine in the evening). By the way, everywhere in town you could find free drinkable water. You just had to fill your bottle or spray your face.

We're still living on southern pace. We eat later and stay up until well past midnight. Luckily the weather here is fine as well. That way it hasn't been much of a scare coming back!