22 Ways to See Rome

At the risk of sounding like I'm setting up diminished expectations, I will not pretend that with a mere 60 hours in Rome (a good deal of that sleeping off jet lag), I could do much to portray this incredible city with much more than a superficial whiff of pixels. So, the following photos merely represent my first impressions of this place in Italy that I more or less saw. As for the tourist spots, yeah, I have pictures of them, but the only one that stuck with me was the Colosseum. After all, I remember seeing black and white and Kodachrome pictures of it as a kid and imagining just how ancient the place must be. It was one of the few things I saw growing up that stuck to me like a birthmark. It only took a few decades to finally get there, the soft Kodachrome shades of unreality turned into real stone (after years of refurbishing, the limestone was no doubt cleaner than in those old shots). Unlike some things, however, I didn't take it as a challenge to photograph the Colosseum unlike any of the millions before me. I was happy just to get a personal take on it, the best one being with my lovely wife, Gloria, leaning against a lamp post, our faces lit from a bus's headlights down the street.

As for the other pictures, most of them are impulse shots grabbed as we walked from one place to another. Perhaps the best kind. The kinds of scenes that just grab your eyeballs for a moment and whisper to be recorded. Some of them I first walked past and then turned around, knowing that if I didn't get a picture, I would wake up at 9 a.m. Los Angeles time feeling like I let myself down. That's how I know I must pause to get a photograph.

My wife, Gloria, and me on a rainy night at the Colosseum.

Pizzeria on via Cavour.

Padlocks on railing, Via San Francesca di Paolo.

Via San Francesca di Paolo.

Colosseum in the rain.

Dinner in bed. Actually, leftovers from lunch.

Vespa rentals parked at night in front of our hotel.

Woman in red.

Mask shop, Via delle Quattro Fontane

These three women fascinated me. Such a contrast between them. I stepped out into the street to get this shot after almost dismissing it as something I couldn't get before they saw me. I don't think they ever did.