This year was the best vacation that we had. Our plan was to cover some part of Italy and some part of France. With 18 nights to spare, we planned our vacation in great detail – Where to go, what to see, where to eat, how to commute etc etc…..
From India to Italy via Qatar, we flew with Qatar Airways. It was a very comfortable flight all the way to Rome where we landed at about 2:30 pm local time. We reached our Hotel at about 5 pm. With still time at our hand, we quickly freshened up and walked out to see and experience the city…..
Rome – Rome O Rome…… This by far, I must say, is the best city that I have seen and experienced. I had heard a lot about Rome and the City was bang on my expectations. Full of life, this city has a lot to offer from site seeing to food. I am just in love with Rome and am really waiting to get back to this lively city.
That night we went walking to the Trevi Fountain, The Pantheon and Piazza Navona. Each of these places are spectacular and make you feel alive. With beautiful people enjoying the evening, musicians playing, singers singing and those sidewalk open air cafes offering mouthwatering food, it seemed like a perfect world. That night we ate at a restaurant in front of Pantheon. The food was really well made, tasted delicious and their Tiramisu was the best one that I have had in my entire life.
Most attractions in Rome are walking distance from the center of the City and are also walking distance from each other. So the next morning, after breakfast, we walked to our first 
destination…. The Colosseum….. This remarkable creation deserves to be in the Wonders of the World list. This might arena, considering the time it was built in, is a work of great minds. Just hearing the story I could understand the brilliance of the brains that worked behind creating this wonder. To appreciate the amphitheater, we hired a guide named Annarita. A true Italian, Annarita walked us through the history of Colosseum. It was really interesting to hear her talk that passionately about The Colosseum and all the mighty gladiator fights that this amphitheater was built for.
Next to the Colosseum is the Palatine Hill and Roman Forum. This was the headquarters of the ancient Rome. Dug up from earth, you see the ruins of all the giant structures that once stood to rule the Roman Empire. Our guide here was a very interesting Britisher named Luke. He was actually a Vatican Guide but was filling in for someone else that day to walk us 
through the two historic landmarks. A few kilometers away is The Pantheon where we visited next to take a look at the worlds biggest Dome from inside. This is a very impressive building. The dome does not have any covering on top so if it rains, it rains inside The Pantheon. The next to be visited was Saint Agnese at Piazza Navona. This is a really beautiful church interesting paintings on the roof and walls.We had lunch at a sidewalk cafe at Piazza Navona. Again… The food was excellent and the view even better.
In the afternoon, I realized that the battery of my camera was running low and I had forgotten to pack the battery charger. Inquiring a few camera shops, I found out the address of Canon Service station. This place was a bit far from where we were so I decided to visit this part of the city the next day. The rest of the day we spent, just walking around, visiting Spanish Steps and some shops. Around 9:30 we found ourselves next to Trevi Fountain where we had a good hearty meal.
Day 3 was reserved for the smallest country of the world – Vatican. Our “skip the line” ticket was not so much of a skip the line. Maybe it was skip the bigger line but it still took us about an hour to get into the Museum. Our guide, the interesting and funny British Luke explained the important sculptures, paintings and other works of art. They say, the Vatican Museum has so many exhibits that if one spends 1 minute looking at each of them, one would take 11 years to see all of them. Rapheal’s Rooms are in particular very interesting. Sistine Chapel is a real work of Art. One can spend hours just looking at the magnificent work by Michael Angelo. There is so much detail and life in his paintings. Each one of his paintings in the Sistine Chapel are worth absorbing. Another marvel in Vatican is Saint Peters Basilica. They say it is the second biggest dome in the world. Since Pantheon was built before Saint Peters Basilica, Michael Angelo made Saint Peters Basilica’s dome just a bit smaller to respect the architecture of Pantheon.
After lunch that day, I dropped my wife at the hotel and went looking for Canon service center in a more modern part of Rome. This seemed more like business center of Rome with newer buildings and offices of some logos that I could recognize. It was a very long walk and by the time I reached the hotel, I was tired. Nevertheless, the spirit was high so I freshened up quickly and we ventured out into the city again, walking through the various streets of Rome and landing at the Pantheon for Dinner.
Day 4 we just wandered around the city visiting the various churches and piazzas. At night we had dinner at Etabli, an excellent Restaurant near Piazza Navona. I would highly recommend Etabli. This was the last night in Rome so we walked along the streets till late night just absorbing all the beauty of the city. The next day was going to be interesting as we were to rent a car and drive into Tuscany………
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