Rome, Italy

Mum and I went to Rome, Italy, a few years ago. We can say that this was an active journey as we averaged at least 25,000 steps every single day for approx. 4 days. 

Here we visited the Spanish Steps, the Sistine Chapel, the Leonardo DA Vinci Museum, the Colosseum, fountains, shopping streets and much more. This was before the Spanish stairs got worn out and it was no longer allowed to sit on them. 

Here we stayed centrally, in a three-star hotel. It is not recommended. The room was perfectly fine, but very old, with old faucets, old light switches that you turn... It was simply a bit scary there, the ghost hotel we called it in the end. There was an old lift where you could go up to our room on the 4th floor, but we chose to go as we were afraid it would stop. It was as if we were in a horror film, but now we have a good imagination too. In addition, there was a lot of noise, especially at night when people came home from the city. Probably not a soundproof hotel. There was a restaurant right next to the hotel, with very good pizza, which we ate in our room.

We were also at the Colosseum, above here you can see the pictures.

The Colosseum is the world's largest amphitheatre, formerly it was called Amphitheatrum Flavium which means (the Flavian amphitheatre) after the imperial family that had it built. Presumably the Colosseum, which then became the name of the national theater from the 7th century, was named after the sun god who stood nearby (Østby, 2021). 

We stood in line for quite a while before we could buy tickets, we went outside the guided tours so we looked for ourselves.

When we were sightseeing in the shopping streets, we happened to come across the Leonardo DA Vinci museum. Here, among other things, pictures such as the Mona Lisa and several of his discoveries were on display. 

We were also in the Sistine Chapel, which was incredibly large! The feeling of never being finished.... There were wonderful carvings in glass, on walls and paintings. Lots of people, cramped and a little small seating, but otherwise very nice to walk around and look at everything that was there. 

We did a lot of shopping! We had two large suitcases with plenty of space, we thought... they were completely full when we were about to leave, and in addition we had to dress extra with clothes we couldn't fit in either the suitcase or hand luggage. 

In Rome it feels like there are always a lot of people. It's a good idea to wear good shoes, as there are cobblestones everywhere and a rucksack that you can have with drinks and the option to carry a little. We eventually learned to take the bus, because there was an awful lot of walking. 

Sources are my own experiences, as well as websites that explain the places we visited. 

- Østby, Erik, 2021, Colosseum 

– Great Norwegian encyclopedia (snl.no)