Rome is an Emotion

Vacationing in Rome is one of the best decisions we've made as a married couple. I will try to explain our experience of Rome, because it is beyond words but words will have to do. It was not full of touristy food, tours, hotels, or trinkets of souveniers. It was just the opposite. On our first day of arriving in Rome we hit the archeological wonders, also known as the overly saturated touristy zones where guides are selling overpriced tours and vendors are selling magnets with naked statues on them. It was great to see the brain power (and strength) it took ancient Romans to build structures like the Colosseum and the Forums. The rest of our time, however, was spent living in a neighborhood outside of the city, in a little apartment in a neighboring town that allowed us to "live like a local" as much as we possibly could. With daily morning trips to the bakery downstairs where we could purchase breakfast, lunch, and snacks for the both of us way under budget we lived a very gluttonous week devouring every item we could in their case. We do not know Italian and the bakers did not know English, so lots of pointing and thumbs up with smiles were the most common forms of communication. On occasion, my 3 years of Spanish was beneficial, but that was rare. In fact, one morning we unknowingly bought a bag of raw gnocchi that was covered in flour thinking it was a sweet donut covered in powdered sugar. Fresh, raw pasta is actually pretty good, at least in Italy. Needless to say, our entire food experience in Rome consisted of similar situations where we communicated what little we could and ended up with a dreamy, delicious dish. The culture, the communities, the laid back-ness (takes 30 minutes to receive your check after you're done eating), the people, the colors, the architecture, the paintings, the sculptures, the scooters, the warm sun, the crazy birds, and the experiences that make Italy, Italy. It's all an emotion.  As I look back through photos and wonder where they all went, I am happy to say that we were having too much fun, good food, and laughs to be bothered with taking photos during our experiences. But here are a few photos that made it onto the camera, let's take a trip to Rome, shall we?

(Taken on our Canon Rebel T3i & iPhone 4)