On my way back from the Amalfi coast I had planned to stop over for one night in Rome. Due to my incredibly bad planning or rather the lack of any planning, this night turned out to be the best and at the same time the worst night of the year.
The basic plan was to arrive at 9pm at the main train station, Termini, check my luggage in, do a nightly photo walk through Rome, return and wait a few hours at the train station then take a bus shuttle to the Ciampino airport.
This turned out not to be as simple as it sounds. I ended up at the wrong train station, purchased a metro ticket and instead of getting my change back I simply got a voucher for my 9,10€ of change, went underground, found out I had just purchased a ticket from an old vending machine so I had to buy another one. Finally made it to Termini and was told that I can check in my luggage but the luggage department would close from 23 o’clock till 06 o’clock so I had to figure out when and where my bus to the airport was departing, the departure point had changed and the website wasn’t updated. The bus time table was in PDF format which I had to first download. No tourist information or internet access to be found at Termini at 22 o’clock so I had to enable data roaming on my phone and figure this out. After sorting all this out, checking my luggage in and having a coke I set out to explore Rome by night despite being awake for 15 hours already.
Since time was not an issue and the streets of Rome were full of tourists and locals alike I just strolled around, following my little map visiting every sight I could walk to. I walked from Termini towards the Colosseum, passing Santa Maria Maggiore and S. Pietro in Vincoli lingered around the Colosseum 
for a while since I was so impressed walking over the same stone slabs the Romans have been walking on thousands of years ago and finally bought a tiny tripod from a Pakistani street vendor to be able to at least take a few shots (sadly I had forgotten my tripod at home). This was around midnight and until 1am and the streets were full of people, a great and warm night.
I then turned towards Colonna Traiana passing a few forums, passed Piazza Venezia and turned towards Piazza Navona. From here I worked my way towards Fontana di Trevi passing the Pantheon and a few other impressive buildings.
I’m not going to list everything I visited as you can figure that out by checking out the map but I’d like to point out what impressed me the most: Fontana di Trevi and the Colosseum. The Colosseum was awe-inspiring by its size and age, having withstood the trials of time its still an impressive sight and I’d like to visit it from inside if this is possible on a future trip to Rome. 
The Fontana di Trevi is out of this world: about 26m high and 20m wide, although barely a few hundred years old it is very impressive! I had no clue what it looked like so when I rounded a corner and faced the fountain I was speechless. I was lucky to be able to shoot a few images of the fountain due to my newly bought tripod and the help of an Italian dustbin (these are everywhere in Rome, standing at a height of about 1.2m which is perfect as a base for a small 10cm tripod).
Even though I barely managed to have a small glimpse of Rome, I already fell in love with it and do understand why it is called the Eternal City. Idly strolling through the city you are surrounded by huge and very old buildings that still manage to give off an air of elegance. Turn a corner and you’ll see a huge church, turn another corner and you’ll face a temple, another corner and you’re in front of the Pantheon (a former temple now a church)! Add the ever present coffee shops and endless number of piazzas plus the crowds of people and you’ve got an accurate picture of Rome.
Luckily, Europe is quite small so I can always visit again, especially since I met and befriended Giuseppe a newly found friend of mine I met during the flight back from Rome who is also a photo enthusiast so it’ll be easy to come back to Rome for some serious photos not like the ones I have attached here.
