Roma, non basta una vita...

Rome, a lifetime is not enough.
That's what they say, and it's pretty damn true. Although I've left Rome I'm still feeling a little overwhelmed by the plethora of sights there.

I crammed as much as I could into the three and a half days that I was there - I ran through the museum in the Vatican (oohed and aahed at the Laocoon and berated Johnny when he complained that he didn't 'get' classical sculpture), marvelled at the beauty of St Peter's Basillica, sweltered under the relentless Roman sun while I took at tour of the old Roman Forum, covered my shoulders while visiting countless churches, sat on the Spanish Steps which are no longer populated with beautiful people hoping to be picked as artists' models but rather surrounded by endless glitzy and over-airconditioned designer outlets, ate Italian food (which is not nearly as good as good ol' Papa Gino's on Lygon) and took a bus ride out along the Appian Way (not as glamourous as it sounds) to visit the old Christian catacombs (called the Callisto Catacombs if you're reading this Lil!) to see the history and old burial site of St Cecylia. It was pretty full on.

But my favourite, favourite part of Rome, which most people miss out on, is just wandering around the back roads around the Trastevere area which has the coolest little bric a brac stores and themed stores (one completely devoted to maps and time!) and cheap Italian restaurants. At night a bunch of stalls and neat bars come out along the Tiber river and you can spend ages enjoying the sight of the lights dancing on the fast moving water. The best part is when I was there, a big group of marimba players had lined themselves up one after the other equidistant along the water edge, each spotlighted and playing together a symphony of chimes and tinkles that was pure magic...