Our ship docked at Civitavecchia outside Rome

We found our driver but the traffic was heavy due to the rail strike

We reached Rome late morning and dropped our bags at the AirBnB

We planned to conquer Rome on foot

Starting with the Spanish Steps

Unfortunately there were so many tourists it was hard to see any steps at all

Onward we marched towards the Trevi Fountain

Through a heaving sea of wall to wall tourists

We found the fountain under siege from selfie seeking tourists

There must have been ten thousand people around it

Our mission to conquer Rome was a total failure

We decided to return to the Air BnB, take a nap and then head out for a quiet dinner

Fortunately our dinner reservation was not in a touristy area

We had a fabulous meal to round off our our Italian adventure

The next morning we flew to London to spend time with our family

We reflected on the things we had learned during this memorable trip

The volume of tourists even in the shoulder season of October was astronomical

We are not sure if this is a post Covid phenomena or just the world population exploding

The second thing we reflected on was human conflict and wars

Its not a new thing as we learned the history of conflicts surrounding the ancient ruins we visited

Mankind has been waging war for thousands of years

Even with the lessons learned in history it still goes on today

Very sad

Other than that we had a truly fabulous vacation