There’s no place like Rome for; great pizzas, little family restaurants that date back to pre-war times, patisseries, crazy traffic that tries to run you over on pedestrian crossings, hawkers selling hats when the sun shines and umbrellas when it starts to rain, men dressed up as centurions, police standing around and blocking off roads, ambulances making a sound as if they are repeatedly leaning on their car horns, bus loads of tourists, ruins scattered throughout the city, sculptures on top of buildings and streets clogged with parked cars and vespas.

We walked the length and breadth of the city today. We also took in the immensity of the Forum and Colloseum. In all this, my favourite moments were coming across bright red poppies poking up among the ruins and a beautiful green-backed skink darting after small insects.