Ok so…Rome crushes Athens but the Greeks have REALLY cleaned up the Parthenon and dinner at the XXX restaurant overlooking the site followed by a walk through the park is one of the most mesmerizing cultural experiences in the world. It’s a shame about the rest of Athens.
So now we get to Rome. Where can you start? This is the world’s finest outdoor museum with the walk from the Spanish steps over the Michelangelo plaza through the Forum and into the Coliseum just cementing Rome’s status as the single most important/exciting archaeological site on the planet with an insane intersection of history, politics and religion unfolding from 3-4 different Rome’s ranging from the underground Rome that Nero burnt down to the Renaissance Rome to modern Rome. I would not, however want to be born or live here because it is so overwhelming. If you were an artist or an architect…how could you get out of bed in the morning? It is as if everything had already been built, painted, designed or sculpted. The metro sums up all of Rome’s problems. They have tried to build 12 metro lines for 20 years and have only completed two short pieces because every few feet of digging uncovers some new mystery or treasure.

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