Confession: I rank Rome’s landmarks and monuments based on how much they look like cake.
That means that my favorite is the Colosseum at night, but Palazzo Vittorio Emmanuele comes in a solid second:
Having already scored major brownie points for looking like an over-the-top wedding cake, I found out that Palazzo Vittorio Emmanuele was more than just a fancy facade for visiting art exhibits. What I didn’t know for my first 3 months of walking by the building, was that you can get up close and personal with the Nike sculptures:
You can buy a ticket to go to the top of the monument for an incredible view of Rome:
The thing that never stops amazing me about Rome is how ancient and modern it is at the same time. You can look out over the rooftops, and if you take away all the satellite dishes, you’re staring at streets and buildings that haven’t changed in hundreds of years.
Thousands of years of history and a nice thick layer of 21st Century smog.
One of the reasons that I like living in Rome is that you are surrounded by history. Living a contemporary life in the shadow of ruins from an ancient civilization tends to put life’s daily annoyances in a nice perspective.
I mean, really, why bother hating the Italian postal system with the passion of 12 burning suns? What will it matter in the long run?
LOVE this post! You’re a freakin’ genius. And I loooooove that photo of the city where half of it is sky. Kind of reminds me of that LA photo you had hanging on your wall… you know, the one Chan had taken? Anyway, love!
XXo,
Neekoh
P.S. I think we have dates for the trip! I’ll email you once we narrow it down to less than a one-month gap (probably after this weekend). Excite! 😀
I love how you said “Living a contemporary life in the shadow of ruins from an ancient civilization tends to put life’s daily annoyances in a nice perspective.” I miss that aspect of living in Sicily a lot! San Diego is nice, but I miss Italy! 🙂
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Ciao all the best for 2011. I am back at last catching up on all the posts I missed while I was away from computing while on an extended trip to the UK. I really missed my blogging buddies while I was absent from the blogsphere. So I have enjoyed catching up with your posts this afternoon, especially the review of the year and the Fiat 500 postcard, which is oh so typically true!
Ciao! Welcome back 🙂 Hope you had a great trip in the UK.. looking forward to your posts!
Sweet photos. So is there a part of Rome that has a modern skyline, with skyscrapers and all that crap? Or does that flat out not exist in Rome anywhere?
I would say that the most modern part of the city is EUR, a suburb designed by Mussolini in the 40s. It’s an interesting community with some bizarre architecture. But there aren’t any parts of Rome that would remind you of another modern European capital city like London. St. Peter’s Basilica is still the highest point in the city.