Earlier this year my oldest son asked if we’d want to go with him, his wife, and her parents to Rome. We decided that this kind of opportunity- to travel with my kids again (my youngest son is coming too), isn’t going to happen often, so we are going. The tickets are for the end of November. When I started looking up the things to do in Rome, there is SO much to see, especially for someone who likes history.  

I have a list of 21 things to see which I’m considering my must-see list, though a few  of the things could be dropped if necessary, or combined since some of them are ‘neighborhoods’ that we will be in. I don’t know that I need to see the catacombs, and the ancient Appian way is basically a road, so I could probably drop that one too. But there are so many monuments and ancient constructions in the area of the Colosseum that I could add another bunch of sites to see just in that area. 

My son, his wife and her parents are arriving in Europe earlier and traveling to Croatia first. I wouldn’t have minded going to Croatia, but my wife just started a new job about 6 months ago and she doesn’t have the level of PTO saved up that it would take to travel all over. And my youngest can’t be away for that long either since he has pets and will need to board them. So, our trip will be more abbreviated than my oldest son’s.  

But still, I’m really looking forward to seeing Rome. I’ve been there twice before, but only as a stopping point to switch trains. And all the Italians I’ve met say you HAVE to see Rome for the historic value. I’ve sent my list to an Italian girl that worked with us at the law firm, and who moved back recently to see if she would suggest anything else as “must see”. It was kind of funny, but I actually used ChatGPT, the AI program, to compile the list. When I asked it what the 10 most important sites to visit in Rome were, it actually came back and said something like: “It’s really hard to narrow it down to only 10 places, but try these.” So I returned: “Alright, add another 10 sites to the list.” Which is how I arrived at the 20 places. But then I added the Circus Maximus and the Ponte Fabricio- the oldest bridge over the Tiber, constructed in the 2nd century… BC…let that date sink in. And around the Colosseum there are monuments and arches built by a few of the Roman Emperors that didn’t make the list. But that I would love to see. 

Over the next few weeks and months, I want to do some more research and see what kind of timing I might need for each of the attractions and see if I can plan them out so we can maximize what we’re able to see.  

Then my oldest is planning on visiting Milano too, where we have family. I sent them a message and mentioned that my son would be coming to Milan, and they were like: you and shelly aren’t coming??? 

I said no, we don’t have the time this trip to make multiple stops, which they understood. But I am kind of bummed, because there are some new nephews and nieces that we haven’t met yet, but, that’s the way it goes. We’ll have to go back again another time.