Italy Part 1 - Rome

Whilst I had expected Rome to be the highlight of my touristic ventures it actually fell second fiddle to southern Italy which I visited after Rome. The City of Rome has magnificence in quantities unimaginable. But it doesn't seem to care. As around every corner there is another Roman or baroque piece of brilliance that, it seems, Italians are apathetic to the true scale of their historic treasures.

industry seems to be founded on idividual operators who flog their wares at street side stalls or in the multitude of overpriced gift shops. The budget, I am told, for restoration/preservation of their heritage is 2 million Euro. That's about the amount spent on one manor house in the UK. It made me rather angry to see these marvels of engineering that I'd been looking forward to Rome itself is a dirty, litter filled city. The inhabiting italians are often rude and the tourism seeing for so long neglected so. Most of the ruins were surrounded in rubbish and some even had graffetti on them.

Anyway, now that I've vented my annoyance, here're pictures of the more attractive parts.The ForumThe Arch of ConstantineThe Coloseum with The Arch of Titus in the foreground.The Colloseum

The Colloseum

Peter, Jordan, Chrissy and Danielle whom I met at the hostel.The Trevi FountainThe Palatine with the remains of Circus Maximus in the foregroundThe Pantheon