Angel Tours Rome/Florence/Naples/Venice Christmas 2014-2015
When
you walk into an Irish pub in Ireland the atmosphere hits you in the face, Rome
is like this. The traffic zaps past you fast at what looks like mind
numbing madness. But Rome has it all. History at every step,
drinkable water from street fountains on each corner, so many churches they
might as well be next door to one another, and amazing fountains all with a
story to tell. Although Rome is jam packed with visitors it's still a
genuinely Roman and has a real sense of what we can consider
"typical" Italy. The Romans believe they invented just
about everything and it seems that they sit with that attitude, a story goes
that the old Roman told the Irish man, " ye know we Romans invented
sex", the Irish replied " ah yes but we invented it with a
woman".
Rome
has Trastevere the eating district where almost any restaurant is a gem, it has
its Jewish Ghetto for some fantastic Roman Jewish food, then a stroll from one
piazza to the next at night stopping to get an ice cream fits nicely into the
plan. Then you've got the Colosseum officially called an Amphi theatre
which speaks volumes about Ancient Rome that they would put the word
"theatre" into the name of a construction which was intended
for mass murder on an industrial scale.
Our
best question is " why did they build the colosseum in the middle of all
this traffic?
The
Vatican is on your bucket list but for me the master piece of the Vatican State
is The Pieta sculpted by an unknown at the time by the name of Michelangelo, it
tells a special tale. A unique place to be for midnight mass even if your
not a catholic is under the pagan dome of the Pantheon with a Christian choir
singing some old Christmas hymns. Under the city is Basilica San Clemente
run by the Irish College and steeped in ancient history as old as Rome itself.
Walking around Rome as the sun sets is pure magic, the light just hits
this part of our planet at the right angle making what is already a sight for
sore eyes more pleasing and soothing. Then smelling the coffee as it
wafts out the doors of the cafes in the late afternoon is like an orgasm of the
nose. There must be something very wise in calling a desert
"tiramisu" which literally means pick me up, this city does some
great styles of this. The Romans have cakes which they soak in limoncello
and the eat, that's got to be pure genius or maybe madness either way it's
enjoyable to say the least. Try to keep in mind that this is a city which
was home to some of the greatest artistic genius in sculpting, poetry, writing
and painting. Rome seems to offer all that any Italian city has, it's
used in major movies almost every year and certain little streets are so full
of character that you will want to just walk up and down them a few times on
your trip. I have seen time and time again how you can get attached to a
small coffee shop close to your hotel who make you local after your second
visit and in turn make you feel at home and when you return to Rome after a few
years you seek out that place and get a big welcome. That's got to be a
nice experience in your life and on your trips.
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