Three Days in Rome: The (Wondrous!) Eternal City, Rome, Italy

This is part of a continuing series of photographs from my 21-day, three country, five city winter vacation

After six nights in Berlin, we arrive at our next stop, Rome. Now, I’m going to carefully preface my thoughts on Rome by trying really hard not to sound pretentious. Now, I grew up in New York City. The Bronx. During the birth of hip hop. As a teenager, my friends and I would take the D train down to Times Square (the wonderfully seedy Times Square from the 80s) to watch movies (the PG and R rated ones, not the other ones).

I worked right in the heart of Manhattan at the New York Public Library on 42nd Street and 5th Avenue for more years than I’d care to say. I also worked at Tower Records in the West Village and spent many nights catching live shows at small venues like Tramps, the Bottom Line, Wetlands and The Bitter End.

I’ve been to Shea Stadium, Yankee Stadium, Radio City Music Hall and Madison Square Garden. In short, I grew up in a city that most people around the world want to one day visit. So when I visit a “bucket list” city, I don’t go there thinking I’m gonna be blown away – ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).