Another European Flashback - Rome!

I just love Rome - it is filled with ancient ruins, medieval streets and buildings, lively piazzas, and (at least during non-pandemic times) a population that loves to be out and about in their city. My sister Susan and I visited Rome last May, and stayed at a hotel just down the street from Campo de Fiori.  I took the photograph on the left of a man walking his two dogs in front of the entrance to the hotel.

The day after we arrived in Rome, we toured the Vatican, as well as the Vatican Museum.   I naively thought that May was the shoulder season and we would avoid the crowds, but soon found out that I was very wrong.  All the major sights in both France and Italy were packed to the rafters.  Rick Steves says that April and October are now the shoulders seasons, but I wonder if the crowds would be that much fewer even in those months. Perhaps it might be best to go to Europe twice each year - once in December to see the museums, and once in May to sit in the cafes. That, however, would involve winning the lottery.  In any case, the Vatican Museum was packed, and afterwards my sister said she really needed a drink.  We headed to the Trastevere neighborhood, where I took the photo on the right as we walked through narrow medieval streets to a cafe in Piazza di Santa Maria, where we took an outside table at what I later found out was one of the most expensive restaurants in town.  It figures.

The next day we took Rick Steves night time walk across Rome, which goes from Campo de Fiori to the Spanish Steps.  This was the third time I have taken this self-guided tour, and it never gets old.  In addition to tourists, this is a very popular walk for locals, and encompasses Rome's most popular piazzas. We wound up having dinner at a restaurant close to the Trevi Fountain, which was surrounded by a crowd about 12 deep.  I wonder if the fountain still runs in December?

Susan and I were staying at the Hotel Smeraldo, which I mentioned before was just half a block from the Campo de Fiori.  It was a comfortable place with modern rooms in what I assume were medieval buildings. We were staying in the annex across the street from the main hotel, and in the afternoons I would head up to the rooftop bar to have a look around and take a few photographs, where I took the photo on the right of the rooftops of Rome.  Is that not magical, or what? But what I really want to know is why there are still so many television antennas up there?  It must cost a fortune to live in this neighborhood.  Why don't they all have cable?  Imponderable questions for which we might never know the answer.

In any case, you can't go wrong visiting either Paris or Rome.  I know both cities, as well as all of Europe, are currently in the throes of the coronavirus, and all these streets are now empty.  Hopefully, that continent will be back to normal soon, and everyone in Rome will be back enjoying the Passeggiata, which is what they call their evening walk.  I wish I could be there then.