.......Sonia and Claudio with a clear view of the CASTEL SANT'ANGELO (a Roman castle I don't remember ever being inside but I believe Sonia took a guided tour of it on her 1995 trip). It's right in the Center of Rome, very close to St. Peter's. (And as always, whenever there is a tourist attraction present, you can be sure that the souvenir sellers are not far away!) The next photo is another view of the castle in the distance, from one of the many magnificent bridges over the Tiber River, which have stood for many centuries.



........We walked over 8 hours a day in Rome, nearly every day, so we were glad that the Castle was just maybe 6 blocks from St. Peters. No matter what, WALKING SURE BEATS DRIVING IN ROME, ANY DAY!!

.......NOW, ARE YOU READY FOR MY ROME TRAFFIC REPORT?? I can't leave THAT out, since Rome is infamous for it's crazy traffic. Again, there is no doubt that as crowded as the tiny sidewalks are on most streets, DRIVING in Rome is far, far worse than walking, and always has been. TAKING CITY BUSES (as over-crowded as they are too ----thus, the Metro subway system being the better choice) is also preferable over driving a car in Rome. It is SO bad now that driving in certain areas and streets of the city, believe it or not, is even AGAINST THE LAW NOW, (UNLESS you can prove you live in that area)!! The Italians complain bitterly about this, (including Marco & Antonio) and I don't blame them.

On THIS trip, we noticed even MORE cars, (if that's possible!) but oddly enough, many of the cars have definitely gotten BIGGER this year (while the streets are as narrow as ever!) This has made the problems worse. Many of the cars are now the same size Americans drive, though we also saw a lot of "miniature" cars, much smaller than our compact cars. Settimio's car in Italy when I lived there was a blue Fiat 500, and probably the smallest car in THOSE days. Even in that car I felt like I was in a tin can, with my knees pressed up against the dashboard. Thank God we never had an accident in that car!

MOTORCYCLES this year buzzed all over more than ever before, NOT SURPRISINGLY since they can squeeze in places that no car can go. I noticed also a huge increase in designated areas for parking them. Certain areas on regular streets looked like parking lots for motorcycle dealerships! Sonia was always taking pictures of this. These noisy motorcycles and scooters were bombarding us every time we tried to cross the streets, but somehow managed to stop on a dime before hitting us. ONLY because we DID cross on the designated white lines for avoiding getting run over. Italians still drive crazy to me, but who wouldn't, in that horrendous traffic?? Even the buses don't move during rush hour or whatever other "event" is being blamed for their slowness ---like the big political demonstrations one day we saw that delayed our arrival somewhere by 2 hours.

ON THE BRIGHT SIDE, something amazing and good seems to have happened too with the traffic. Where did all the car horn honking go?? It used to be SO bad, but this year we all noticed how much it had diminished. Can't figure out why! There is also a "good scoop" I can give you regarding the "Pooper Scooper" laws. IF they ever existed, THEY are finally being respected!! The only place we stepped in dog dung was in VENICE, NOT ROME during this trip! Dog poop left laying everywhere was a big pet peeve of mine (and my mother's!) on our 1980's trip and in the '70's, when the sidewalks were totally out of control. So it was a real pleasure to walk around this time and not have to worry about smelling bad all day. Thank God for small miracles, eh??