This spring break trip to Italy with my daughter originally included a second destination in addition to Rome. A change by the airline that was not communicated to me until the last minute caused me to drop the second destination from the itinerary. While irritating, in hindsight this allowed us to explore Rome and its surroundings at a more leisurely pace.

I was concerned about whether this trip would be successful, as it occurred in the middle of a partial government shutdown when TSA agents were working without pay or not working at all, resulting in security lines that stretched for hours. For us, we flew out of a small regional airport, and were through security in minutes. By the time we returned, a funding mechanism to pay TSA agents had been put in place and the trip went off without a problem.

Our first day of exploration took us by Trevi Fountain. Crowds get worse here throughout the day, but at the time we passed by in the morning, they weren’t bad.

We also passed by the Pantheon, but did not go in until several days later. The Pantheon is an ancient Roman building that has been converted into a modern Catholic church.

Our ultimate destination was the Borghese Museum where we were led on a tour by an outstanding and knowledgeable guide who gave us history and insights on the major works in the Museum.

I liked the busts of Roman emperors such as this one, though there were other more impressive and historically significant works in the museum.

For me, the Sistine Chapel and other sights in the Vatican were a must see, even though the Vatican is actually a different country. I think for both of us the Vatican was the highlight of the trip.

St. Peter’s Square

We took a guided tour that led us through a number of exhibits of the Vatican museums that included statues, paintings, and other works of art and historical artifacts. Photography is not allowed in the Sistine Chapel.

Our next day’s exploration took us to the Colosseum and Roman Forum.

I think I understood the guide saying that Italy does not allow most renovations or repairs to the Colosseum and Roman Forum to maintain its authenticity. So, a bit of imagination is required to fully appreciate it.

The arena floor is missing, and what is shown is chambers that were underneath the floor where the spectacles occurred.

Parts of the Roman Forum, or maybe this is Palatine Hill.

The next day we strolled through Rome and saw the Spanish Steps. I was surprised to see people sitting and eating all over them with police standing nearby, as I had heard stories of people being arrested or fined for this. Maybe they only arrest you if you are being a real jerk about it.

That afternoon we went to Castel Sant’Angelo that overlooks the city and was originally built as Emperor Hadrian’s oversized tomb. At the time of our visit there was a good exhibit about ancient Cypriot culture, but otherwise the insides of the castle are not extremely interesting. It does offer some nice views of the city.

The next day took us to Tivoli, a short ride outside Rome. We saw Hadrian’s Villa and Villa d’Este. Hadrian’s Villa dates from the time of Emperor Hadrian, somewhere around 2000 years ago. Villa d’Este is just a couple hundred years ago. My daugher loved Hadrian’s Villa, and was a little underwhelmed by Villa d’Este, I guess because it lacked the same historical weight. I liked them both, though the experience was different.

Hadrian’s favorite spot for meditation.

If I remember what the guide told us correctly, Hadrian had this built as a monument to his boy lover.

Villa d’Este

Our final excursion outside Rome was to Pompeii. This was something of a long day trip (over twelve hours, because Pompeii is near Naples), but my daughter was very excited about the idea of Pompeii.

I frequently use scheduled day tours from various sights that package these activities for ease and convenience. Sometimes it is nice to have someone work out the logistics and just take you where you want to go. The downside is that sometimes the packaged tours include things you aren’t really interested in. Pompeii was a great experience for the history. The tour also included a stop at a Limoncello distillery, and in Sorrento, both of which I could have done without. I am not really interested in alcohol, though we did get some nice candies. There was nothing wrong with Sorrento, but is was basically a small, quaint, touristy town with a lot of shops to buy expensive goods in. I have been to a lot of those, and would have preferred to just go back to Rome a couple hours early. But, whatever.

Our final day in Rome, we went inside the Pantheon, and mostly took it easy before our flight the next morning. I do not have the equipment or skill to do justice to the beauty of the inside of the Pantheon in a photograph, but it was one of my favorite parts of the trip.

Our focus on seeing historical sights and the location of our first hotel in an area that lacked good restaurants within an easy walk kept us from fully experiencing Italian food. The pasta restaurants we went to were just okay, but I think they were also touristy places. After we changed hotels to a more central area the food options improved. My favorite Italian foods were the suppli and arancini. Both are basically fried rice balls with spices and other ingredients. I think the arancini are technically Sicilian.

We liked these so much we ate them a couple times. We also had several good pizzas. The pizzas we had in Rome did not have a tomato based sauce. I already understood Italian pizza is very different from American pizza but I was a little surprised that the differences went all the way to this basic characteristic. It didn’t hurt my enjoyment at all. The pizza we had in the Naples area was more similar to what I was used to, but both were good.

I really enjoyed Rome. The tour guides we used were the most passionate and engaging I have ever met. Their excitement for their history and culture really showed through and I think they really added something to every experience. I don’t know of another European country with so much to offer in the area of ancient history, except maybe Greece. For the near future, I think my travels will be to other locations, but I will try to work out a return to Italy before too long to see some of the rest of the country.