Random Pics and Reflections from Rome

Time is ticking, I have seen so much of Rome, and still more to see... So just a quick post with some random pics and reflections...

Me at Trevi fountain:
I did not have the chicken, but perhaps if I did I would have felt eternally peaceful...

How this shoeboxed sized kiosk has an internet cafe and laundry service beats me...

Insanely brave tourists!

Amore everywhere....

Cats amid the ruins...

My friend Zoey at the cat sanctuary...

Kitty trinkets for sale at the cat sanctuary...

Early doodle upon my arrival in Roma:

Gladiator on his coffee break....

Random reflections:

• I had the most bizarre trip to the doctor in my life. Diagnosis for my lingering cough: "Is OK". At that point the visit was over.
• If it's raining hard and there are huge taxi lineups, go for a Limoncella and get your palm read instead
• Limoncella really is wonderful and gives a cold a good quick kick in the ass
• The cafe downstairs knows my order by now and I get a huge greeting when I arrive - and I get to pick a different cornetta every day (Italian name for crissant)
• If you impulsively order a bowl of soup after seeing it served at the adjacent table, you might pay more for it than your meal: pesto spaghetti 8E, mushroom soup 10E - but it was really good
• At Trevi fountain, there are guys with modern Polaroid-type cameras who will take your pic for a fee (skip it, more fun to take your own self-portrait and swap cameras with other tourists; other wandering sales guys: tripods and roses
• If it rains, entrepreneuring guys selling umbrellas magically appear everywhere - spent 10E for a lime green folding umbrella that I'll leave behind for my flatmate here (note to self: actually carry small lightweight folding umbrella lugged from Canada in purse when rain is forecast!)
• Pizza by the slice places here sell by weight; you point to the pizza you want and gesture how much you want cut off (with scissors!); if you take it to go, they fold it in half and wrap it so you can eat it as you walk
• My travel budget is thankful that the darling deep jade green suede/leather boots that caught my eye did not come in my size
• Proven gelatto combination: limone, fragola, stracitella
• Buffallo mozzerella is to die for
• Rome streets really are madness!

Recent experiences have included:

• National Museum of Rome
• Vatican Museums night tour

Will write soon on some of these, and other earlier experiences....

Off to Florence on Friday for 4 nights, then onto Venice for 2 nights, then I fly from then to Berlin on October 1st...

For now, it's a beautiful day (after many rainy ones), so I am heading out to explore...