Rome

Rome has always had a high reputation and is often always mentioned in history classes. It was once known as Caput Mundi (capital of the world) but a lot of people know it as the capital city of Italy. It's been a favourite city for honeymoons, weekend getaways, and food. It's one of the most visited cities in the world. Some of the signature locations include: The Colosseum, Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's Basilica, Spanish Steps, Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II, Piazza Della Repubblica, Trevi Fountain, Castel Sant'Angelo and The Vatican.

I've visited the city three times, first in 2007, and another time in February 2008, and the last time was in three years ago. The travel from the airport to the city was quite peaceful and the customer service was decent. We went there because my mum's partner had a school friend who moved with a school friend and had set up a sweet shop over there. What I love about Italy is the variety of things it offers in its culture. It features a lot of things that can appeal to all kinds of audiences such as art lovers, historians, artists, and romantic lovers.

One thing I enjoyed about Italy was visiting The Vatican. As a lot of people know. it's the residence of the Pope and they mentioned it a lot in the Catholic School I attended. The policies were quite strict and some of them reminded me of the school uniform rules, such as no skimpy clothes and short skirts, but I'm not sure why you would want to wear them unless it was a very hot day. On both occasions I visited Italy, it was somewhat cold. I always expected the place to be really grand and I was right. I liked the use of gold and the interior designs because it represents how grand Rome is. There are so many paintings, but so little time to view them all carefully.

Another thing I enjoyed was the Trevi Fountain. On the first day, we reached Rome in 2008, we managed to see it at night. I thought it was a fabulous site to see because they put on the bright lights to make the fountains stand out and look even more spectacular. In 2007 we got to see it in daylight and one of the things we wanted to see when we returned was the Trevi Fountain at night.

It's been estimated that around 3000 Euros (around £2000) a day are thrown into the fountain and there have been regular attempts to steal them. When I was there, nobody tried to steal them but there were some men trying to sell some roses quite aggressively, then were legged off when a policeman was passing by. It's a common legend that if one throws a coin in the fountain they are to return to Rome again. I believe in that legend because I threw a coin in 2007 and threw another one in 2008. In 2006 it was announced there would be a supermarket that would use the collected coins to support the needy.

There's plenty of tour buses available. I saw a lot of them passing by and they always seemed to be full on the roof and almost empty at the bottom. I've been on them around two times and found them quite useful. The tour buses I was on often lasted about an hour to three hours and really went deep into Rome. We drove past some rural areas and some castles, which I thought was a really nice surprise. Oddly, the thing that stood out most for me was a shiny black bin next to an orange tree. The bin had a smiley face on it. Each trip to the tour bus, the driver always showed us Piazza Della Repubblica. In 2007 we never got to see it by foot, but we did see it on foot on the night we saw Trevi Fountain.

Italy is well regarded for its food. Mostly known for its pizza, pasta, and high-quality ice creams and gelato. I can't remember exactly what restaurants we went to, but the food was quite enjoyable. There was one restaurant which I remember the waiter trying to sell us lobster in 2007. We went there again next year and the waiter quickly recognised me and the group I went with. The quality of the meals improved as well, so I would definitely have a look at that restaurant if I remember the name of it. We've had some bad times eating out as well. There was one place we went to, we all ordered different dishes from the menu but we all had to have water, cold potatoes and chicken because they ran out of the food we wanted. It was one of the weakest customer services I've seen and very poor compared to other places we've been to. Italian restaurants had truly changed the way I thought about food because it was there where I was introduced to prawns and since then it made me go for much more adventurous meals.

One of the disappointments in 2007 was when we walked a long way to get to the Sistine Chapel only to find that it was closed. Fortunately in 2008, as we were much more familiar to Rome, we managed to get there quicker and the Chapel was open. I really enjoyed it and loved the paintings and the ceiling. There were many people quick to take photos and the staff had to politely tell everyone that photography was not allowed. I was quite glad to actually see it because we wanted to see it the year before.

A lot of the traveling we did was by foot. We also got to see a lot of ruins walking around. I liked how they still remained because it really gives the city a nostalgic Roman touch and makes some parts of Rome look really authentic. One of the best-known ruins are the remains of the Colosseum. The queues are very massive and there are some people who con you so that you can skip the long wait. I thought the wait was worth it because I thought it was interesting how everything was and how long it still remains.

There's plenty of magic and lovely things to see in Rome. I think it's a really magnificent city, but there are also some things I saw that were quite sad and things around as well. There were some fantastic views that are well worth the money but I thought it was quite sad to see a lot of homeless people sleeping in unhygienic corners and smelly clothes.

One of the funniest moments in Rome was when we were sitting on a bench and some Asian chaps were trying to sell us some blankets. We politely said no, but they were quite ruthless and were determined to grab some of our cash until they saw a police car, they quickly ran up the hill and tripped.

Another thing I liked was walking up the Spanish Steps, the stairs were a bit too much for some people in my group but it was nice to reach the top. It was quite crowded when we went there and there were a lot of artists drawing at the time. We didn't spend much time there, unfortunately.

Some problems you may face as well as a starving purse is that it's crowded. As it's quite a popular place, at some point you may have to wait for a while to get where you want because of queues. Public transport has always been crowded when we went on the buses and trains and they're are often crowded and rarely is there a seat available.

Other than that I really enjoyed Rome and would recommend it to anyone. I would really like to go there again and visit some of the other places in Rome, I would like to explore the Spanish Steps more, and it also encouraged me to visit other places in Italy such as Venice.