But I lie. We have been making as much use as possible of our proximity to European cities and last week hopped over to Rome. I'm still pinching myself that you can be in so many fabulous places in a matter of hours. From Chicago, if we wanted to go somewhere that wasn't even colder in the winter (I'm looking at you, Canada), we had to fly at least three hours - and we were usually still in the USA. I long ago nixed a long flight if we weren't going to the destination for more than a week, and a time change of more than a few hours? Forgeddaboutit.
So Rome was perfect. On everyone's bucket list, two hour flight, one hour time change, never been. I have actually been to Italy quite a few times since my childhood, and have visited Venice, Florence, Milan, Rimini, Genoa and Portofino, - but never Rome. And my oh my, it's incredible. I'm used to old stuff. I grew up on the north east coast of England where there's an ancient castle every few miles, as well as that old Roman wall. I've lived in London where practically every street has something really old on it. I now live near Windsor Castle. Enough said.
But Rome?
Apart from the UN Building which is opposite the Circus Maximus, I didn't see a single modern building inside the city walls. None of that "mid-century" modern stuff for Romans. As one of our tour guides said "I live in a museum". And a very beautiful museum too.
I'd seen photos of the Trevi Fountain but I wasn't quite prepared for the size and the utter glory. According to the Ball & Chain, they've cleaned it up since he last saw it as well. I'm glad we didn't try to see it at Easter or in the summer as the marrow streets leading down to it were fairly crammed in late February.
We also did the Vatican tour (with Sistine Chapel), the Catacombs and the old Roman stuff. Here's my arty night shot of the Coliseum.