Sheila’s Roman Vacation

Try to select a hotel near the Spanish Steps. that way you will be central to many things and it also acts as a great pin point in case you get lost.
 
Be advised that many hotels do not have rooms with bathrooms. Check first if you don't want to share with the person down the hall. Also be prepared to pay a lot in return for few luxuries. My hotel was in a great location, but for US$265 a night (ouch) I had a tiny room which smelt like it had a major toilet plumbing problem, a bed harder than a 10 year old 1" futon, pillows the weight and density of wet sand, a thin blanket and even thinner bed spread which must have been from the early seventies and I can only imagine when they were last washed. I was so cold at night I had to rug up in jackets and socks. I could have turned the heat up a little, but I was afraid that it would only intensify the sewage smell. The nightly rate did include what I was told was breakfast. The juice was okay, the coffee like mud and the croissants cold.

If you are on your own, tours are a great way to meet people. Sometimes this can be a good thing, other times not so good. Either way, it is a way to get more of the historical data on a place which you may other wise miss out on. You could also try the Lonely Planet books which give you a great guide to the things to see and a history on the place you are visiting. Take some long walks, look around and see everything you can whilst reading up on what it is that you are looking at. Always remember to look up, when traveling. Some of the best things to see are high up on buildings. In Rome, there seemed to be two major tour companies offering various city tours of historical sites. Alpian Tours and Green line tours can show you the highlights. Alpian Tours offered guides who spoke English (as well as many other languages,) very well. Green line tours however offered buses with much more leg room and were slightly lower in price. Their guides also spoke English, just with a heavier accent than that of Alpian Tours. Overall, Green Line tours seemed to win my vote.

Make sure you have great walking shoes and energy. If you really want to see all there is to see, you will need them both. Even when taking bus tours, you will have a fair bit of walking and stair climbing to do. Sometimes you may even find that when you are told that the bus will pick you up from your hotel, that actually means that a representative from the tour company will come to your hotel and will lead you to the bus which can be a couple of blocks away.

If you suffer from Claustrophobia, stay out of the Sistine Chapel and many of the other Vatican Museums. If you can handle crowds of people, take the afternoon, or even the whole day to see the wealth of art, sculptures, tapestries and more which the Vatican Museums have to offer. There are some amazing sights to behold.
The driving skills of the locals in Rome are worth experiencing if you enjoy roller coaster rides. Just hang on and pray. I thought I was going to throw up on my taxi rides to and from the airport. There are only two types of pedestrians in Rome. The quick and the dead. Take a look both ways. Glare at the drivers of on coming cars and venture out on to the road quickly and very carefully. Try to cross with a group of other people to better your chances of getting across the street.

The catacombs are another fascinating site to see. You walk around underground areas which intertwine for miles and house the dead from the centuries ago. Boo.
I hear there are some great restaurants, unfortunately I didn't find them. Don't be surprised if you have to pay extra for the butter and the 3 day old bread. If paying for the butter is just too much to deal with, ask for some olive oil for dipping instead.

On a good food note; the cappuccinos are excellent and the Bacio Gelato is the most incredible ice-cream I've tasted. Needless to say, you can guess what I lived on for three days. Yum!

As for shopping; if you have money to burn, you can shop till you drop. Most of the best name labels can be found here. I found that the best deals are on shoes. You can save quite a bit on those and there are great selections everywhere.

This is a great city with a wealth of history which is well worth experiencing and exploring. Allow three days and get ready for a surreal adventure.

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