I spent two weeks in Rome from October 12-26 for business. We rented two apartments, one for work and one for play.

Our driver picked me up in a Dodge Charger and went 160 kph on the freeway, which was my first time going 100 mph in a car. He seemed to know what he was doing in his thick Italian accent, so my lips were sealed, though I was nervous.

The airport is about 30 km southwest of Rome, and we stayed right next to Vatican City on Julius Caesar road, an appropriate name!

Here are some photos of our two apartments, which are 5 minutes walking distance from each other.

The Relax/Play Apartment

The Work Apartment

First Impressions

We lived five minutes away from Vatican City, in between two Metro Stations Ottaviano and Lepanto.

Rome is old, and the views were an accurate representation of The Italian Job. Black cobblestone roads, homes with the double wooden windowsills, and many small alleyways. Even the cars were mini-sized, just like in the Netherlands.

When looking at the buildings and architecture, I couldn’t help but think, “Could Ezio scale this building?” Not a fan of Assassin’s Creed, but it sure left a mark on me.

Ezio must be real though. Most of these buildings looked parkour-able. Accurate video game is accurate. It was cloudy on a few days, which helped support the Assassin’s Creed ambience.

I’ve always been a huge gamer and grew up playing Age of Empires II, Empire Earth, Caesar, Rome, and Medieval Total War.

Seeing Rome brought many good memories from those games. Couldn’t help but smile and absorb seeing the history I learned from computer games in person. Some buildings were hundreds of years old, even thousands!

To think that the books have kept a history of this place for two thousand years. So much history compared to the United States, it’s incredible.

In subsequent posts I will talk about:

• Old Rome
• Various tourist spots
• Food
• Day tour outside of Rome
• Thoughts on day-to-day life