Now to do this properly I should have written it at the time, or maybe just afterwards. Not a year and a bit late. But someone suggested it, and I thought why not try.
I class my trip to Rome as arguably my first real holiday. It was the first time I went away with money I earned from working. I went away by myself, did what I wanted to do, when I wanted to do it, ate where I wanted and I had an absolute blast.
The reason I wanted to go was the history. I love the old style Roman and Grecian architecture, the columns, the lines, the symmetry of it. Without knowing anything at all about it, I enjoy looking at pretty buildings. I loved it in Oxford, a great advantage to living there! I wanted to see the Colosseum, the roman forum, the Vatican, everything! Another reason was the cuisine. It's something I eat a lot of anyway, and to have it there was pretty special.
I was there for about 5 days, when you adjust for travel time. Hindsight, I think I got that about right. Maybe a touch long; by the end the art galleries I was looking at weren't hitting home the same way they were at the start. I think I just had too many in a short time, and some were incredible. I think I did all the major sights, and got a couple of extra ones in. I think the more uncommon one was the Stadio Olympico. I want to try and collect Olympic stadia, having been to see the London games. This was my second.
There are two things that summed up the city for me. The water fountains. Everywhere and such a great thing to have. And narrow streets that open out onto something amazing.
While the city was really cool, and the food was amazing, what made the trip for me was the people. I stayed in a place called "Yellow Hostel". Everyone I met was really friendly, really cool and great fun. I got a ton of recommendations, shared quite a few beers and made some good friends. Even met people from my home town that know people I went to primary school with! Very small world. So Kyle, Emma, Mike, M, Renee - huge shout out to you guys!
I'll leave you with one memory, and its arguably my favourite from the trip. First evening, I went for a walk around the city. Didn't look at a map, I just took the turning that looked the most interesting. And it led me everywhere. The PMs house, the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, the Dajan Column, the Colosseum, the parliament building, the Fountain of the Four Winds. Best way to see a city.
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