More Pictures from Rome

I've been struggling for awhile now to put into words all the things we saw in Rome. I felt I covered both Venice in Florence easily in one post each, but this is my third attempt to write about Rome and I can not seem to draw everyhting together. The ancient and the religious are two defining aspects of the city, but here are a few more pictures of the spectacular sites of Rome which don't fit into either of those categories:

Tiber Island, the world's smallest inhabited island. There is a hospital there as well as a few little shops and such. Obviously it is surrounded by the famous Tiber river and connected to Rome by a bridge crowded with street merchants hawking "designer" purses. I love that Rome is temperate enough that there were still leaves on the trees in December.

The Spanish Steps, another famous Roman landmark. There are known as a great place to people watch, although the only people there to see were other tourists. My friend was excited though, apparently the Spanish Steps made an appearance in the Hilary Duff Movie (so they must really be important). Near the top there was a pretty impressive nativity scene set up. Directly to the right of the stairs is the house where Keats died at age 25.

La Piazza Dei Popolo, my favorite of the many piazzas we saw (notice the christmas tree at the top of the hill). I liked this one because it was elegant, yet open, and, unlike the Spanish Steps it was full of Italian youths just hanging out. Growing up in DC I am used to living casually among the most iconic of monuments, but it is still hard to wrap my head around the thought of living a normal life among such beauty and history.

If you climb up that hill past the Christmas Tree you find yourself in the Villa Borghese, Rome's beautiful public park. We stumbled in here by accident, just hours before we needed to catch our flight back to London. The Villa was beautiful, lush, full of young Italian lovers, parents playing with their children and people walking their dogs. I find Rome so interesting because the entire city is a living museum, carefully preserved and revered, yet still so alive and exciting. It is a lot like London in that respect, yet even more sprawling and ancient. Although London is my first love, I think I could just as easily devote myself to Rome and all it's beauty.

Okay enough about Rome, it is back to London for just one night, and then, finally, my triumphant return to the United States!