Rome is Magical, even for a Tourist!

It’s the height of tourist season in Italy. We knew that going into this journey. We would be two of the hundreds of thousands who swarm to a beautiful country in the hottest and most touristy time of the year.

Here is what we are experiencing:

· There is a reason why so many people flock here – it’s magical

· With some planning, we could skip the lines and visit the attractions when they were less crowded.

· Small group tours with skip-the-line access were well worth the <low> investment. Self-guided audio tours inside the attractions were informative yet allowed us to go at our own pace. Finally, finding out the opening times and going early was helpful advice others gave us.

· We are walking around Rome end-to-end. We only took one Metro, and we are walking over 20,000 steps per day. In addition to getting lost, we follow Google Maps when we have a destination (like getting back to our Airbnb out of exhaustion).

· We are eating well. We book some dinners but fall into more places than we reserve. If you don’t eat carbs, don’t come to Italy. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are filled with dough. Period. Croissants, pizza, sandwiches, pasta, and more. Yes, I have occasional fish and grilled vegetables, but that's not the norm. Oh, did I mention the gelato?

Here are some of our favorites so far:

The Pantheon

The Coliseum and The Forum

A 4-hour Walking Tour with a Private Guide – off the beaten path

The DaVinci Museum

Piazza Venezia

Villa Borghese, The Borghese Gallery, Zoo and Park

We love the variety of neighborhoods that make up Rome....such diversity. Trastevere, The Jewish Ghetto, La Dolce Vita, and more.

We only have three more days in Rome and will have completed 30 days in Italy.

What's next? Friday night, we will have Happy Hour in the Vatican Park and a relaxed tour through the Vatican at night. More to come!