Grumpy Granny goes to Rome.

First day, Monday, was horrendous.

• Plane late.


• Rome airport loos queued full and dirty.


• Baggage an hour late, and on wrong carousel.

Bad start.

Bus journey into city past rubbly graffiti daubed hovels to more intense traffic jams. Find bullying receptionist who wants my signature on a blank form, and then shows us to the tiniest room, above the roar and fumes of traffic at the roundabout below.


Have headache. It rains. Go to St Peter's square to find more queues and an ice cream. Fall asleep. Walk. Have coffee. Fall asleep again.


Conclusion : bad first 12 hours.

Recommendations :

1. Don't come to Rome


2. Try another hotel.


3. Avoid planes


4. Allow more time for breakfast at airport.

Tuesday was almost as exhausting as we visited:
Bookshop, Florence paper shop, Trevi fountain, Vittoriana for coffee, Piazza Colonna, Via Corso, Forum, the Piazza Navona, theatre for a guitar concert (Amadeus duo) and the Pantheon - a big circle with a roof with a hole in it.

Photos below:

Roman ruins. There were lots of ruins.	Roman graffiti was everywhere.
They use an old sewer pipe as a passage way.	There were too many people around to get near enough to throw coins into the Trevi Fountain, so I guess I'll not be coming back.
You needed the fan in our hotel room. It was too hot to close the window against the noise and pollution of the traffic three floors below.	See the scooters in the traffic jam one evening outside the hotel.
Took this photo when we had already got half way through the queue for the Vatican museum.	This was a copy of the Laocoon sculpture.
The queue to see the Sistine Chapel was long and slow, but you could sit in there for as long as you liked, and just look, and listen to your audio lecture. The blue of the frescos was beautiful. The Last Judgement was impressive, and the matching pictures of Jesus life opposite scenes from Moses life were fascinating.	Queue again, this time for old Roman graves, aka the catacombs.
Stop sight seeing and taste the local produce.	The weather was warm. The transport was frequent. The food was delicious especially at the Taverna Romana, and we found two guitar concerts to go to, including one with John Williams!