I had some trouble pacing myself, so I rushed through all the main sights in two days, leaving me slightly bored for the last two days. At least I felt like I had properly explored the Eternal City, having spent the last two days just walking around, looking beyond the run of the mill touristy stuff.
Wanting to save some money after the insanely expensive hotel I stayed in in NYC, I had decided on staying in a cheap hotel in the center of Rome. What I didn't think about before ordering was that "cheap hotel in the center of Rome" translated to a backyard hotel, so I spent almost half an hour trying to find my hotel, until I finally found a doorbell with the hotel's name. I had to push the doorbell, say the magic password, knock three times, and then they would buzz me into the courtyard. OK, maybe not the password and the knocking, but you get the general idea.
These are some of the sights I visited:
Basilica San Pietro: The largest church in christianity (The dome is even bigger than Hagia Sophia, although smaller than Pantheon's), this is probably the main tourist attraction of Rome. It was also the only place where I had to wait in line to get in. I spent 45 minutes in line before I was inside, so it wasn't a long wait. That's one benefit of visiting out of season, I guess. While waiting in line, I saw some Nuns queue jumping. I bet they have to do a lot of hail Marys to make up for that. Inside, they have spent a lot of money on decorating the church, although in some places the donors have left calling cards to show who paid for the decorations. The bronze baldachin over the papal altar and Peter's tomb is decorated with bees, to show that the Barberinis paid for this. Sort of like a medieval sponsorship deal... I also walked up to the cupola which was less strenuous than a lot of other big churches. Up topside there is a great view of Rome and St. Peter's square.
Vatican museums: The private art stash of the popes, made available to the public. Mostly famous for the Raphael rooms and the Sixtine Chapel. The museum is so huge that it is hard to see it all in one visit. Also, I can imagine it is really crowded in the tourist season.
Fontana di Trevi: The biggest fountain in Rome. Lots of tourists at any hour of the day. According to tradition it is also a wishing fountain, so if you throw two coins over your shoulder into the fountain, the first is for your return to Rome some day, and you're supposed to make a wish upon throwing the second.
Scalinata di Spagna: A large staircase leading from a church to the Piazza de Spagna. My impression is that it is famous for being famous, so there's always a crowd of tourists on the steps.
Colosseum: Apart from the Vatican, this is probably the biggest tourist attraction of Rome. It's nice to have been there, but I got bored after half an hour or so. Basically, the site has been plundered and used as a quarry for palaces and churches elsewhere in the city, so there's not that much left to see. I was fooled by the audio-guide scam. You can rent audio-guides almost everywhere, costing 4-5 euros per two hours. I made the mistake of renting one at the Colosseum, and it had almost no content. What little content was there was exactly what you could find in any guide book. After my experience in Colosseum, I started noticing that they had audio-guides at a lot of smaller sites, like Terme di Caracalla and Castel Sant' Angelo. I wonder how many people fall for this.
Forum Romanum/Palatino: A big park of ruins from Roman times. This would probably have been more interesting for me if I had read up more. I was having trouble understanding what I was looking at. To me it was just a bunch of ruins, and one temple basement looked the same as the next one.
Museo Capitolini/Capitol: Nice museum with lots of famous works of arts like the she-wolf feeding the twins and the mounted statue of Marcus Aurelius (The oldest preserved mounted stature from antiquity). It was fun to see the actual Tarpeian Rock, which is just south of the museum. Also, the piazza outside the museum has a very cool pattern, designed by Michelangelo.
Terme di Caracalla: Ruins of Roman baths, able to service 1600 people at a time in its day. The site has been plundered and the artwork and decorations placed in palaces elsewhere in the city. Huge ruins, but not all that much to look at.
EUR: City part to the south built during Mussolini's reign, containing numerous examples of "fascist architecture" - huge white buildings with arches and columns housing museums and ministries.
Castel Sant' Angelo:
This is a very good vantage point. Too bad you have to pay 11 euros to use it. The rest of the building is really uninteresting except for the treasury room, where the popes kept their money. The bridge leading to the castle is lined with some fairly cool angel statues.
Trajan's Column: Huge column with decorations going in a spiral from the base to the top, celebrating the accomplishments of emperor Trajan. This design was so well received that it was also used for the column of Marcus Aurelius later on. It also inspired the columns of the Karlskirche in Vienna. I remember being very impressed by the Karlskirche, so it was nice to see the original column. To me this was the most interesting thing I saw in Rome.
Other places visited: Villa Borghese, Pantheon, Piazza Navona, Piazza del Popolo, San Giovanni in Laterano, Santa Maria in Cosmedin
On the last day, I walked along the river Tiber, visiting Isola Tiberina and Trastevere. I found it funny how different the city was once I got outside the touristy part.
In general I liked Rome, how there's fountains everywhere and cool details on the walls if you stop to look. Also, I had great fun going obelisk-hunting, chasing down the different Egyptian obelisks that have been erected all over the center. I also found the narrow, cobbled streets charming, but I suppose it's a different story in summer when there's tourists everywhere and everything's crowded.
Annoyances in Rome were the crazy people on scooters and the street salesmen, selling umbrellas, toys, watches, whatever. In some of the more touristy areas, like Fontana di Trevi and Campo de Fiori , they were almost outnumbering the tourists.
Pictures are here
