When in Rome...
And for those of you who have visited you know how beautiful and fascinating this country is. We flew into Rome and spent a fantastic few days learning about this significant city, which is simply stuffed full to the gills of ancient sites. Rome is known for its history but I think sometimes only by visiting and actually seeing the sites in person does it really bring home the longevity and enormity of what is stuffed into the city. There is layer upon layer of Roman and ancient ruins – according to Brett from Baltimore, our Forum & Colosseum guide. They say underneath every building is another layer of ancient ruins and artifacts. Brett from Baltimore was extremely knowledgeable, in fact as was Francesca from Rome at the Vatican. I always find I become a tad nerdy when site-seeing and love looking up all the rest of the facts about the site I’ve visited.
The Italian women have the same je ne sais quoi as the French ladies and you can see who is Italian and who isn’t even though I tried my hardest not to look like a tourist. There is something just very put together about Italian women. However I do have somewhat of a puzzle, I couldn’t seem to find any that were between the age of 50 and 70 years of age, they just don’t exist. There are the stylish, elegant 30 to 45 year olds in muted colours and heels and the teenage to 29 year olds that look beautiful in simple shorts and no make up. Then there are the 70+ who tend to wear black dresses. Other than that I couldn’t find any 60 year olds or 50 year olds? Have I missed them, do they all actually look like 45 year olds, or do they not go out much, do they live somewhere else in Italy ie not Rome, Florence or Sienna? Search me, didn’t see one!
One thing that also struck me in my wanderings seeing the gorgeous, intricate and fascinating sites of Italy were the tourists, particularly in Rome and Florence. Bar one or two culprits the majority of tourists looked very well turned out. The ladies were in dresses and skirts, the chaps in chino shorts and smart tee-shirts and polos – it wasn’t that "spot a tourist a mile off" uniform of old. Given that a lot of the tourists were Brits and Americans I felt redeemed and a little proud that we hadn’t disgraced ourselves.
There was some fashion nastiness going on with white trainers and white socks, as well as the black mid-calf socks with sandals on a few men. And there was some age inappropriate styles on a few women, but by and large all us tourists were remarkably well dressed!
>So I think perhaps that the phrase “when in Rome” has finally hit home to most travelers and I can attest to the yumminess of gelato as a serious study across the region was a necessity.
So Arrivedeci from Italia and if anyone knows about the missing 50-70 year old ladies do let me know?
Look Gorgeous, Feel Fabulous – Ciao Sophie