Throwback Thursday #12: Buonna Notte in Roma!

"Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends.” ~Maya Angelou

One of my favorite parts of Rome was that you could just wonder around and never know what you were going to come across next. Literally, you could just be walking down the street, turn the corner and there you were at some ancient church, or in front of the Colliseum, or outside of Valentino.

It is a great city with so many different things to see and do! And yes, for those of you who were wondering, it was very safe. Cousin Whitney and I walked around by ourselves from about 7:00 pm until well after midnight and had no problems. Today, I'm going to share three of my favorite "modern" places in the city. Then next week I'll share some of the great parts of ancient Rome.

Piazza del Popolo

This was the closet piazza to our hotel, so we ended up walking through it a lot. But it was really pretty, huge, beautiful architecture, a fountain, and lots of people watching. There were tons of little restaurants and shops along the street leading to the piazza. It's what you think of Rome to be like when you see it on a movie. If I were going to compare it to a city in the US, it would be the most like San Francisco I think....open spaces, pretty, not too many people....

This picture is of a huge rally in the streets that ended up in Piazza del Popolo. These are fans of some soccer team (I'll admit my soccer knowledge is limited to liking to see David Beckham with no shirt on) and they were seriously having like a parade/riot. It was awesome. They were waving flags and chanting and had their faces painted....I have a video of this somewhere. I've got to learn how to upload those!

Trevi Fountain (Fontina de Trevi)

This would be a much more famous, more photographed area of Rome, but that also means way more crowded. Regardless, you have to go to the Trevi Fountain when you are in Rome. You throw a coin in and it ensures you will return to Rome again one day. The architecture and sculpting on the fountain are amazing. We even saw people taking their wedding pictures there! Oh yes, as for a US city comparison...I'd say Washington DC.

The Spanish Steps (and Piazza di Spagna)

Another very popular place in Rome is the Spanish Steps. US City equivlent....New York City. It was something I'm glad we went to see, but we pretty much snapped a few pictures and continued on. There were way too many people, and people trying to sell you junk. But it's a beautiful piazza and this is where all the expensive, high end stores are in the city. Not so much my scene, but glad we went and took pictures there nonetheless.

For everyone who is still waiting to see pictures of the ancient ruins and Colliseum, next week is your lucky week! I think we still have about three more Europe blogs to go. Hope you're not too sick of Throwback Thursday!