I've spent the last few days in Rome, on a short New Year's holiday. As usual, I had a fabulous time there -- it's one of my favourite cities to visit. There's so much to see and do. Just walking the streets around the centre is an adventure by itself, like taking a trip back through time. It had been a while since we'd last been there, so we re-visited some old faves -- the Vatican museums (the Sistine Chapel is still a mind-blower!), the Colosseum, the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain. And we ate in our favourite pizza house, Dar Poeta, a couple of times!

But we did a lot of new stuff too. We visited a Van Gogh exhibition at the Complesso del Vittoriano -- a very impressive collection, although the display space was rather cramped in places. We went inside Castel Sant' Angelo for the first time and admire the stunning view. We went to a Chagall exhibition in the lovely Ara Pacais, which made me re-evaluate my previously dubious view of him. I put my hand in the Mouth Of Truth for the first time, having walked past it before when it was closed -- of course, having seen "Roman Holiday" countless times over the years, I pretended to lose my hand and scream as Bas took my photo!!

But probably the most impressive of our new finds was the Cappuchin Crypt. It's an ossuary beneath the church, where the bones of the dead have been arranged in artistic poses -- in some cases, entire skeltons have been used. Some people might think it morbid and grotesque, but I thought it was a beautiful and eerie reflection on life and death and the bonds that bind us to those we have lost. I would HUGELY recommend it to anyone travelling to Rome.

One other memory that stands out is our trip to the Acquolina restaurant. We had planned to go to another restaurant that night, but there was a misunderstanding over the booking and they weren't able to seat us. I was fuming at first, but the maitre'd did his best to help us, and made a booking at an alternative restaurant which he recommended. It was out in the suburbs, somewhere we would never have otherwise gone, and the food was excellent. The staff were first-rate too. What looked like being a wreck of a night on the eating front turned into our most enjoyable of the tour! A nice New Year's reminder that it's almost always possible to wring victory from the jaws of defeat!!!

Ciao!