Rome is dumpy and dirty? Been there half a dozen times and stayed in a lot of different parts of the city and that is not my takeaway. And three days does not do it justice at all. There is a ton to see and it is pretty spread out. It would be easy to fill a week in Rome and the surroundings. I remember when you couldn't drink the water. Now you can fill up your water bottle at public fountains! Love Rome!
Of the 10+ cities we visited in Europe this past summer, Venice & Rome were the dirtiest. By "dumpiest" I mean being accosted every other minute by an immigrant with a selfie stick, umbrella, this sticky ball thing, a flower, etc. Rome also had the highest number of beggars by far. Smokers stood under "No smoking" signs in the train station puffing away. While we reviewed our train platform, time, we were approached no less than 4 times in 5 minutes by someone trying to "help" us get to our train and merit a tip. Public busing was pitiful and confusing. Luckily I'd read a comment that you need to purchase a ticket at one of those stands that sell newspaper/tobacco. There is no clear signage at the stops that you need to do this, or even where the closest one to do this is. Our tickets to the Vatican were for a set time. We arrived 20 minutes before the bus was supposed to come, but it never came. Thankfully Google Maps helped us make a quick decision to hop on a different bus last second and we got there in time.
Our Vatican experience was also not all it's purported to be. You are thrust through the Sistine Chapel galleries like cattle, unable to slow-down and bask at any one piece.
One more thing- asian tourists. They have no sense of personal space or western custom. At the Vatican, we got in line behind a single asian man. Well apparently he was a tour guide. He proceeded to stop, and as the line moved up ahead of us, he let 30+ people from his tour in front of us. Get to the back of the line buddy! We eventually just got out of line and walked to the front of his group. Laughably, the people at the front seemed to respect that, but it didn't stop them from trying to inch in front of us if we didn't move up the very second the line moved.
