Mrs TBF's Roma...

TBF may have written his last post on Rome, but I must add my own thoughts on our trip.

25 years ago, almost to the day, I was in Rome with my classmates from Woodlands Academy of the Sacred Heart in Lake Forest, IL. I was 17 years old and it was my first time in Europe. We were all giggly girls with equally immature chapperones who were supposed to be keeping us out of trouble. The chapperones were moms and teachers from the school. The trip was one week long starting in Milan and then moving to Venice, Pisa, Rome and ending up in Florence. We saw all the major sites back then, but on a very tight budget. It was fun, and I'll cherish the memories (and there are some that the chapperones don't know about), but what a difference 25 years makes!! I looked forward to this trip for months since TBF and I started planning it back in September of last year, thinking it would be a good way to get out of Basel for Fasnacht. Little did we know that mom (Jo-Mima), Perry and Renee would actually join us as we started discussing together back in October on our trip to Chicago. Well...the trip lived up tp my expectations. More than anything, I wanted to be just as awed by Rome as I was 25 years ago, and I really wanted TBF to love it too.

The day we left didn't start well for me - I was hit by a strange and swift flu bug, and let's just say the bidet positioned next to the toilet was used unexpectedly at 7:30AM by yours truly after a tossing and turning early AM feeling nauseated. TBF walked into the bathroom to find me sitting on the throne, an ugly mess in the bidet and me looking a bit pale/green...but relieved. I bucked up, packed my bag and with strong determination made it to the airport without another incident (fast forward 2 days and Perry was hit with the bug...but not as badly as I was).

Anticipation...our EasyJet flight from Basel was delayed by one hour...excrutiatingly for me - I hate waiting and especially for something I've been looking forward to for so long.

Arrival...pretty painless, driver waiting for us after baggage claim and off we go to...

Hotel Majestic...very nice, meeting all my hotel diva needs. We were all upgraded to nicer rooms than we reserved and the staff was wonderful. Granted it's not a large hotel, but I find it so charming when they remember your room number at reception automatically every time you pick up your key. I highly recommend the hotel and the location which is a 10 minute walk to the top of the Spanish Steps, 15-20 minutes walk from the Trevi fountain or Pantheon.

Restaurants...there's tons of them, and the ones we chose ahead of time were ok, not great. One was very good and a repeater. But, with so many to choose from I think we need to make better choices next time.

The sites...WOW! 25 years later and I appreciate this city so much more. It's an amazing combination of contemporary, modern, medieval and ancient - all in one place. TBF has given you his highlights, but I have a much more difficult time discriminating what I enjoyed best because there were so many wonderful things. Somehow we managed to get to what I would consider the majors in the 4 days we were there, and if I had to choose the most special events for me, I would have to say it was visting St. Peters and the Vatican museums and visiting the colosseum and it's ancient surrounding area.

Arrivaderci Roma...for now...but I don't plan to stay away for 25 years again. TBF and I are thinking it might be a nice place for us to spend our Christmas holiday this year and I am busy researching it already.
Ciao!

PS: I gave TBF our guide's telephone number. And, I do have to admit he had nice hair, and a charming Italian accent.