More from Rome

Here's a view of the Victor Emmanuel Monument at night. Looks a bit less Fascist in this lighting.

On New Years Eve, instead of finding a restaurant which would take us at the last minute, we decided to cook dinner. We were all staying in a beautiful apartment right around the corner from the Pantheon which I would highly recommend, called Gloria. That morning we all went to the outdoor market in the Campo de'Fiori and picked up some pasta, the makings for sauce, cheese, some beautiful artichokes, and of course wine. That evening my Dad and I cooked a Roman feast (probably one of our best meals in Rome).

On my parents last day in Rome we decided to get out of the city and we went to the unearthed city of Ostia-Antica. The site was huge and took us a couple of cold and rainy hours to get through, but it was really amazing to see.

Overall, Rome was not the city I had remembered. Maybe it was the weather, or the fact that the euro was now equal to the pound, so everything was amazingly expensive (I've lived in New York and London and this place is now more expensive than both!). But Rome just felt like one big tourist trap, which I guess is exactly what it has been for centuries.
Well, happy inauguration day!