The Coliseum in Rome!! Seems like they could fix that, I don't know.
Sure, the Coliseum is iconic and beautiful and older than Joan Rivers, possibly. But standing there and seeing the layout, realizing where the animal cages and the gladiators came and left the arena, and how, we were also struck with a real sadness as to what an afternoon in that space must have been like 2000 years ago.
Speaking of sadness, their job every day is to pretend to be Trojans and pose for photos with tourists who probably ask them a lot of questions about USC, or condoms.
There are quite a few ancient ruins downtown. I don't know how they decide which ones are worth keeping but we saw some areas roped off with just one column left.
A shot of our hotel in Rome, the Excelsior, and the view from our room. Huge hotel. Tiny little elevators.
Here we are at the famous Trevi Fountain, as seen in the movies Roman Holiday and Three Coins In The Fountain.
And Donna at the equally famous Spanish Steps. Both are enormously popular with tourists round the clock. Day or night, each hosts a huge crowd. We went several times ourselves. When in Rome....
Imagine how happy legendary Italian film director Federico Fellini would be to be remembered so!
The restaurants that we visited in Rome were phenomenal. Donna wanted to live at this one and sends a shout-out to our waiter, Antonio. Check out these two desserts and try not to drool. Take the gun, leave the canoli.
There is some delicious food you can walk by on the streets of Rome, all overseen by the patron saint of fat, Marlon Brando.
Okay, I confess, we were dying for a veggieburger and ate one lunch at the Rome Hard Rock cafe.
Hey, here's a tip: If you have this much to say, perhaps grafitti shouldn't be your medium.
I don't know how many statues there are in Rome but it may be thousands. These are just a handful.
Okay, this was a strict "no photos allowed" attraction but I clicked one off when I thought I could get away with it. This is one wall of one room (of many) at the Monumental Cemetery of the Capuchin Brothers. The bones of more than 4000 people are used to create the art contained inside. I don't know if their contributions were voluntary or not. Not for the squeamish.
Of course, as in any city of 5,000,000 people, Rome has its share of homeless people, the very poor, and beggars. I didn't see one sadder than this old woman, lying prone and shaking while she begged. I did take her photo, but paid her for it.
