Rome - tourist tips

[Artanis]

I'll be visiting Rome for a few days in October - YAY!
I was wondering if anyone has been there recently and could provide a tip or two on where to stay and where to go ... other than what you get from the tourist brochures.

Any Italians in here, btw?

[Radagast The Brown]

I was in Italy las t year for 2 weeks. I was in Rome, though, only 3 days - Not nearly enough; but I think I was in most good places.
I'm not sure I can add much to what the tourist books say. I do know that in August the weather in Rome is unbearable, especially when there are no air conditioners. Also, if you want something from people who walk near tourist atractions - like the Coloseum - you can try to lower the price. My grandmother wanted a scarf near Fontana di Trevi (IIRC the name), that was suggested in the beginning in the price of 20 Euros, and got to 3 in the end.

(And - the pizzas and ice-cream there is amazing. the best I've ever had.)

[brownjenkins]

never been, but i'd love to go

have a great time!!

[sun-star]

Don't get on public transport without paying first. Apparently you'll get huge fines (maybe it's the same in Norway? I know several British people who have been caught out).

Have fun

[Artanis]

Originally Posted by Radagast The Brown

My grandmother wanted a scarf near Fontana di Trevi (IIRC the name), that was suggested in the beginning in the price of 20 Euros, and got to 3 in the end.

Hehehe - yeah I'm sure prizes will mysteriously increase tenfold as soon as they hear that I don't speak Italian.

Originally Posted by Radagast The Brown

(And - the pizzas and ice-cream there is amazing. the best I've ever had.)

Italian ice-cream! Mmmmm ....

Thank you bj, I'll do my best.

sun-star, yes it's the same in Norway. I'll remember. Thanks.

[The Gaffer]

I was there 2 years ago; it's a totally fantastic place, you'll have a brilliant time.

Advice from my experience: the Forum was a bit dull, Coliseum was tremendous. Vatican Museum also tremendous, but very, very long. Everyone is rushing through to see the Sistine ceiling, so take your time and appreciate all the amazing stuff on the way. Last Judgment (the wall) was better than the ceiling, IMO.

Wander round late at night. Don't sit at a cafe table right on a touristy square; you'll be pestered continuously: go down a side street, right inside a cafe and enjoy the world's best, and least pretentious, food. Have a go at Italian; they're very forgiving.

I loved all the popery: all those shops around the Vatican that sell dinner plates with nuns gazing lovingly at jesus, etc. Must be my presbyterian upbringing; it seemed like Disneyland.

The most amazing thing I saw there was outside one of those shops: a massive contact sheet with miniature photos of hundreds and hundreds of people meeting the Pope. I guess it's a bit like when you go on a rollercoaster, you can buy a picture of yourself puking your hamburger all over your neighbour when you get off. Anyhoo, all those people with profound disabilities, etc, who had probably made massive sacrifices for this once-in-a-lifetime trip to Rome, all arrayed on a huge sheet of photographic paper. It was mind-blowing.

[Artanis]

Originally Posted by The Gaffer

Advice from my experience: the Forum was a bit dull, Coliseum was tremendous. Vatican Museum also tremendous, but very, very long. Everyone is rushing through to see the Sistine ceiling, so take your time and appreciate all the amazing stuff on the way. Last Judgment (the wall) was better than the ceiling, IMO.

The Vatican Museum is a must-see. I admit that I do look most forward to the Sistine ceiling, and the Stanze of Raphael, but I'll heed your advice and not hurry. I hope there won't be so many people there in October as in the summer months.

Rad, Gaffer - did you cast a coin in the Trevi Fountain? I've heard that there used to be a fellow who collected all the coins each day and made quite a good income of it, stealing from the charity organizations that were supposed to get the money.

[The Gaffer]

No, but related advice would be to keep an eye on your purse, particularly in the underground. My sister caught hands in her backpack twice in one day this summer, and my mate was pickpocketed when we were there.

[Jonathan]

If you're going to send any postcards, make sure you send them from the Vatican and use Vatican stamps.
Cover your shoulders and knees when going to St Peter's.
Eat lots of ice-cream and take lots of pictures

[Radagast The Brown]

Originally Posted by Artanis

The Vatican Museum is a must-see. I admit that I do look most forward to the Sistine ceiling, and the Stanze of Raphael, but I'll heed your advice and not hurry. I hope there won't be so many people there in October as in the summer months.

Yes, I agree with the Gaffer - there are signs from the entrance to the Sistine ceiling, but it's quite a long walk from there, and you miss many things in the beginnig.

Rad, Gaffer - did you cast a coin in the Trevi Fountain? I've heard that there used to be a fellow who collected all the coins each day and made quite a good income of it, stealing from the charity organizations that were supposed to get the money.

I did.. I hope they were caught? Fontana di Trevi is beautiful, I think it's even better at night.

As he Gaffer said, be careful with thiefs; a guy tried to open my mom's bag in the station. I'm not sure how it's called... I think it begins with a 'v'. Venuto or something like that.
(you can buy there your ticket. If you buy only one drive, you can use it an hour or so afterwards, no matter how many buses you take. But I think it should be in tourist books)

[Falagar]

I was there a few years ago (2, I believe) but we only had a day and didn't have time for much. Visited the main attractions though, like the Colloseum, the Victory ?Gate, the Vatican and the St. Peter Church. (In which I and my father weren't allowed because of wearing shorts, so we had to wait outside while my mother and sisters visited the place.)

But I do remember that they had some pretty good icecream just outside the Vatican.

[Rían]

Even tho I'm not an ice cream fan in general (I'm a pastry girl!) I also have good memories of the ice cream in Italy. Seems like a general consensus here!

The lovely Pieta by Michangelo inside St. Peters is awesome ... there's a plexiglas shield in front of it, because that's the one some nut threw something at and broke a bit off, but it's still just awesome.

I had a v. odd experience with the Colosseum that I think I mentioned in another thread sometime - there was an international airshow somewhere nearby, and as my friend and I walked to the Col, we were just in time to see the US space shuttle fly over (piggybacked on the special 747 it uses for earthbound flights)! Pretty wild to compare the two!

Are you going with your husband? I went with a girlfriend, and remember feeling a bit nervous at night ...

[Artanis]

Originally Posted by Jonathan

Cover your shoulders and knees when going to St Peter's.

Jon And Fal, THAT'S good advice! I will not risk being denied admittance. Besides, I have been picked on for non-appropriate clothing before, in another Mediterranian country. Not fun.

Thieves - I'll watch out for them. A side story: In Copenhagen this summer I lost my wallet from my purse, and believed it stolen. There I was, with 3 children, 2 days left of the trip and 20 NOK (about 3 Euro) in my pocket. Thanks to my insurance company I got some money transferred via Western Union almost at once, and then the next day I got a message that my wallet was found, complete with money and credit cards. That was an uplifting experience. There are still honest people in the world.

Originally Posted by RÃ*an

Are you going with your husband? I went with a girlfriend, and remember feeling a bit nervous at night ...

Yeah I'm going with hubby. Just the two of us for 3 days! But I would not have been nervous even if I were to go alone.

[Rían]

There are places where it's appropriate to be nervous, tho!

That's sure nice about your wallet! When I was in Paris, a lady stopped me and said "excuse me, but your purse is open!" Apparently someone had opened my purse to get my wallet but failed, and this nice lady stopped me to inform me my purse was open Me, an American, even! (altho I think I don't fit the American tourist stereotype)

Gaffer - was the Forum the place where you just wander among all the ruins? (it's been 20 years - I don't remember! ) Because I really liked it (tho I guess you found it dull). I enjoyed just wandering around, looking at the various columns and imagining some guy in the middle of making them, thousands of years ago, and stopping for a nice lunch break in the middle of carving them, or perhaps taking a long lunch and running over to the Colosseum to watch a few Christians being eaten by lions ... It was a beautiful, quiet day, and not crowded, and it was just fun wandering around and supplying pictures to fill in the scenery ... also, it was fun seeing the letters carved into the buildings. There have been so many cartoons making funny names in fake Latin, with the U's looking like V's, and darn if those U's really DO look like V's! (It's hard to carve curves in stone, I guess!)

[Fat middle]

Originally Posted by Artanis

Italian ice-cream! Mmmmm ....

Best gelatti I know can be found very near Piazza Nabona. Not in the piazza itself, but in a little street that part from that square (about the middle of it). Woderful!

[The Gaffer]

Originally Posted by RÃ*an

Gaffer - was the Forum the place where you just wander among all the ruins?

Yes, that's the place. Very groovy on any objective scale, but I suppose it felt slightly empty to me because so many of the Roman buildings are just right there in the middle of the city and people still use them! (Like the Pantheon, Hadrian's arch and the Castello di Whatchamacallit)

My perception was probably coloured by the fact that we ran through it on the way to finding a dingy cafe to watch the World Cup final in. Now that's getting your priorities right

[Rían]

I'm glad you have your head on straight!

I kinda liked the emptiness; as Anne of Green Gables says, it gives one "scope for the imagination" ...

But I can see your point! ("Stupid ruins! When will we be out of here? Now where's that cafe?")