rome.city.of.fountains

on the day of your arrival and immediately after dinner, you say to him, “let me show you the romantic side of rome at night”.  assuming that these places will not be packed with tourist after 10pm.  you were completely wrong, tourists are everywhere in rome, day or night and even at wee hours. 

there is not a crowd in at fontana di triton at the barbelini square, may be this is an exception as it is not super famous plus the rival fontana di trevi is just some 800m from here. 

but when you got to the cobble path that leading to fontana di trevi, the crowds forming, restaurants are still busy, there are enough people walking around selling things and the fountain is flooded with nothing but people, camera flashes, it is just people everywhere!! the three coins in the fountain is possibly just a legend but many people come to throw coins into the fountain...

where is the serenity of fountain di trevi that you often see in the movie? it doesn't exist.  You say to him, “may be piazza di spagna aka spanish steps will be quieter, less crowded, let’s go there”.  you remembered  spanish steps was quite enchanting in the late dawn when you were here with your sister in march 2008,

but when you reached there, they are still crowds sitting at the steps but the area has not much light…

the famous half sunken boat, which i think is the work of bernini...

on the next day, after the excess intake of ancient rome, you wanted something sweet to spice up your mood, even though you didn’t want to visit piazza navona as you suspect it will be as crowded as fontana di trevi, but still you ended up here because the guide book recommends a good patisserie just round the corner.

after maxii, you stop briefly at piazza del popolo which is the square with three branch roads leading to piazza di spagna

one afternoon at villa borghese, you thought it has some monuments to showcase but it appears to be a local weekend playground. the area is like central park in new york where it is almost impossible to cover all the sites.  nonetheless, you find this lake cum fountain very charming.  the afternoon sunlight enhances the color of the water...

fountains and water sources are every where in rome, even right here in vatican city...

you say to yourself "rome is definately a city with many fountains". these fountains should have accentuate your romance experience in rome like in many movies but somehow, rome is also overly crowded with tourists (like us) but nonetheless the trip itself is a rememberance of a romance that once started ten years ago...