For our Honeymoon, Minha Namorada and I we went to Italy, and our first stop was Rome.

Rome is a beautiful history with an amazing history – almost everyone studied the Roman Empire in school, and Rome was, of course, the epicenter of the empire. Walking down the street, you will see amazing sights that you can’t imagine in Canada. 500-year-old buildings are “new” there, with even the historic first churches being relatively modern compared to the surroundings. One of my favourite sites we happened upon by chance, we just walked a corner and noticed a cordoned off area, and it was actually the site where Julius Caesar was stabbed to death. We were surrounded by such history, it was amazing.

The Tour of the Coliseum was fascinating; at the same time, it felt both larger and smaller than I had imagined. The most crazy part was seeing the inner workings from underneath the floor of the coliseum. I’d heard that animals of all sorts were kept there, and entire teams of workers were kept to create large battles between men, or beasts, or even sometimes mimicking battles at sea, but I never thought of all the mechanisms that were needed underneath – in a time before the light bulb, there was an entire underground theater production, where people would toil for days without seeing the sun to put on the gladiator games. While gladiator battles were obviously controversial, it was fascinating to see the mechanisms and technology that existed even then.

I didn’t find most of the museums very interesting – it was far more fascinating to walk the same streets as St. Peter, Mark Antony, or Cleopatra would have walked. To see the stones worn from the steps of people millennia ago. These were things we simply don’t have in Canada. Museums move things from their original location, and don’t always display them as they once were. One more “modern” (by Roman standards) area where I did find things fascinating was the churches in Rome – and there are a lot. Generally, within a block, you would see two or three churches. And they actually had amazing artifacts in them. We saw pieces of the Jesus’ cradle, and the chains that St. Peter wore when he was arrested before being put to death, and numerous other artifacts with a rich storied history. Because the churches tended to only have one artifact, I found they had much better descriptions than the museums, which are more worried about keeping traffic flowing and being concise in their descriptions. Churches are more contemplative locations, and the history helps show the significance of the place. As well, because Rome used to be the center of the Papal States (which continue today as Vatican City), the previous Popes placed a strong emphasis on commissioning the very best artwork for the churches. The statues, paintings, and carvings in the churches were among the best that I saw – and churches are almost universally free to enter.

Some tips about travelling to Rome though:
1. Tipping is expected in your hotel room for the maid staff.
2. Tipping is not expected at restaurants, generally they won’t even give you an opportunity to do so.
3. Almost nothing is included when you go to restaurants, water is extra, as is table bread (which they may bring even if you don’t order it), and always make sure to check whether there is a “service” or “table charge” before going into a restaurant.
4. Uber is more expensive, by far, than Taxis.
5. Despite the reputation, the trains aren’t any more reliable than TTC/GO.
6. Rely heavily on your hotel concierge and TripAdvisor for restaurant recommendations, we chose not to and often found the food was no better than is available in Canada. We probably only had two really good Italian meals, and one of those has a franchise on Yonge Street in Toronto.
7. Prices are expensive, even Europeans we met visiting from outside of Italy complained to us about the prices throughout Italy.