Wandering the Streets of Rome

Earlier this summer I took a trip to Rome to join a few friends for a girls weekend and birthday celebration. While this was not my first trip to the city, it was certainly my first visit with such rainy weather. Fortunately for us, it stopped raining on our second day and we were welcomed with enough sunshine to enjoy dining al Fresco.

We toured Rome on foot as our hotel, Casa dei Coronari, was located a few steps from the Piazza Navona, with all the major landmarks just a short stroll away. On our first day in the city we booked a three-hour guided tour of the Vatican. While the lines seemed never-ending, it was nice to have a guide touring us around and telling us all about the anecdotes and secret stories that happened behind those closed walls.

On our second day we crossed the river and walked to one of the oldest areas of Rome, the Trastavère. This was a lovely area with lots of restaurants and cafés, and washing lines hanging outside, I had this idea of the Trastavère being the true Rome, and from the number of tourists we saw during our afternoon in the area, plenty of others thought the same.

I have always loved Rome and find myself with the same romantic feelings about it as I feel when walking the cobblestone streets of Paris. I love the derelict buildings, the quaint streets and shops, and the picturesque scenes like those straight from a movie.