Rome, as the saying goes, was not built in a day; The same goes for the final blog in our Grand Tour but this in no way reflects our feeling on the place that was our final tourist destination.
Because in our collective opinion, Rome rocks!
The food, whether it’s a gelato in Vatican City (so many flavours including viagra…not quite sure what to make of that), or a sit down, wine soaked, pizza and pasta fest in one of the countless cafes, is unbelievable. If we’d spent any more than three days there, they would have had to roll us onto the plane.
The history and subsequent sightseeing is mindblowing.
But it was the hospitality that sold it for us. Everywhere we went, people were happy to see us. After a week of being a large-group-nuisance we were suddenly being celebrated.
“Ahhh, family! Welcome, family!”
The people were so fast to laugh and share a joke. When we arrived at our hotel (incidentally incredibly affordable and about 2 minutes walk from The Colosseum) bug-eyed with exhaustion after our marathon train day, we couldn’t get the lift doors to open. A couple of us dragged ourselves up the very narrow flight of stairs to the reception desk on the first floor and the very nice gentleman rushed out and rattled the buttons frantically on that floor. Bellowed voices in our very un-lyrical accent signalled the downstairs door had opened and The Goat Herd, not one to miss an opportunity, leapt with all the suitcases. She then spent the next ten minutes yo-yoing between the ground and first floor while we all pressed buttons, scrabbled at lift doors, and (I should be ashamed to admit) laughed hysterically, the lovely gentleman included (although he had the grace to utter reassuring comments to the trapped Homesteader through his giggles – and the unbudging lift doors).
Of course, there are always flies in the ointment but I felt these had nothing to do with Rome or the Romans. The English-speaking tour touts, predominantly American travellers (yes, I got bolshy and asked), tended to wish us “fun waiting all day in the lines” in a tone which belied their words, when we turned down their personal tours; a couple of them added “Aussie” so the joke was on them – HA! Actually, all lines save the Vatican tour one moved incredibly swiftly for the number of people waiting and we felt totally justified in spending the money saved on skip the line tickets and personal tours on just-one-more-pizza/gelato/cannelloni portion.
The Goat Herd’s birthday was bittersweet: tomorrow we Homesteaders were heading home to the goats, the chickens, the cats, and adventures anew – but not before we said goodbye to The Princess who was heading over to meet her Mum for a fortnight in Ireland.
Rome, we love you.
Union Homestead 
Glad Rome was so welcoming and that you had such a good time in your final destination. Thanks for the photographs.
It was the perfect way to end our adventure😊
Nice to be welcomed and so much to see in this historic city whose history goes so far back.
If the holiday had to end, Rome ensured it ended on a high😊
What a good end to a very adventurous holiday.
It was wonderful
What a Grand Tour you all had. I’m glad it ended on such a positive note. We loved Rome too, though I admit we splurged on skip the line tickets for the Vatican (one of our number had a broken toe). I loved that they cut pieces of pizza off the huge sheet pan pizzas with scissors. Never had canneloni first nor last, but our youngest discovered carbonara and had it everywhere. I’m impressed that you got Farm girl without 1000 other tourists in that shot by the fountain – it was a sea of people when we went. We stayed in a very cheap but comfortable hotel the other side of the Termini from the Colosseum, so it was a bit of a hike to get there. But your/our friend the hop on/hop off worked just fine.I feel almost sad that your tour is over, even though it must seem like an eon ago to you with all that has happened for you since then.
We ended up foregoing the Vatican – those lines were long and The Goat Herd had a great many other things to tick off her birthday list.
Farm Girl is a carbonara fan but sadly had been spoilt by tasting the real deal so nothing here really measures up anymore.
The Farmer got very adept at manipulating the camera and Farm Girl, with her intensity and absolute excitement at where she was seemed to part the crowds around the fountain…those pennies were getting chucked!!
It was an awesome holiday; plans are already in place for the next one but first…well, there’s the fencing, another barn, a greywater system…😊
A fantastic end to your marathon holiday. We have been to Italy twice (but never to Rome) and have found nothing but kindness from all the people we met while there.
I think the people shone even brighter for us as they were so happy to welcome us as a group
We once stayed in a hotel in the Austrian Tirol where a very large Italian family were staying. Mums and Dads, aunts and uncles , grandparents and so many children. They were given rooms overlooking a garden in the centre of the hotel and it was lovely hearing them calling out to one-another at bed time. There are an extremely family-orientated people and I am sure were genuinely pleased to see you. I wish all people and countries were as accommodating.
Us too😊
🙂
Hi, I am not a big fan of queues so I am pretty sure I would be happy to forgo the Vatican in favour of gelato or wood fired pizza. I am glad Rome embraced you all with such enthusiasm. Perhaps if you make a return journey, you will revisit those places where people know how to celebrate life rather than those places where you felt unwelcome.
Rome would definitely be on the list!