James Tucker in Cov

A couple of weeks ago Laura and I got the chance to go to Rome for a four day long weekend (cunningly planned right before the four-day Easter long weekend). The basic idea was to see the main sights of Rome and to get somewhere much warmer than England (the trip was planned in February).
We flew out of the city airport, London's answer to the Toronto Island Airport. It's about 2 miles from where I live, and not all that busy, so we were able to take the Underground right there and breeze onto our plane (we did have to walk across the runway to get to it though). There were about 20 people on the flight and the main thing was that we got a pretty good view of the Alps, though exactly where, I'm not entirely clear on. We flew into the main airport in Rome, which did at least have a good rail link to the city.

We went to see the Trevi fountain in a rainstorm, which made London look the better option, and then somehow found our way to the Spanish Steps (above left. John Keats died in the house to the right of the stairs), which are also at the edge of a large set of public gardens. From there it was a short walk to the Pantheon (top) and the old Ghetto, as well as a Roman temple complex rediscovered in the 1920's. There was also a small island in the Tiber, reached by a Roman bridge and guarded by a medieval tower-house (right). So, we were doing well, but despite being in the centre of old Rome, we could barely find a place to eat, let alone get a drink or dessert or whatever. The main squares, lined with cafes were few and far between; there were, however, about a million twisty old streets to explore endlessly. On one of these we finally found a place to eat- good, cheap pasta and wine. Just when we thought we had this whole Rome thing figured out though, we headed back to the Metro station. Closed at 10:30 on a Thursday.