1. All the public buses, metro lines, and trams within the city seems to be accessible. This was a huge surprise for me. In metro stations where there are no elevators, there are stairlifts that help you up. The catch is that it is EXTREMELY SLOW and you cannot function the stairlifts on your own. It takes forever for an employee to come once you push the button calling to use the service. And the stairlift itself is already VERY slow.
2. The price of food and many other things are extremely reasonable here. A couple of times I was caught off guard by how cheap the food was and the low price of other goods. This is such a relief after coming from London where the price of everything is nearly oppressive.
3. The people that work in the tourism industry are not hospitable at all. They were often rude and annoyed acting, needless to mention their friendliness level. This was ironic considering the robustness of their tourism industry here.
4. My favorite place to visit was the ruins of the Palatine Hill. It is a humongous site and I wish I had the time and energy to have roam through the whole place. It was amazing!
5. The Italian people are not especially friendly, but they show their humanity and kindness through actions. For instance, despite the slow speed, I am stunned by how wheelchair accessible public transportation is in Rome. It is the best in Europe I have seen thus far.
6. With this said, the walking/wheeling surface of many attractions are very bumpy and rough. It takes a lot of physical effort and energy to see these sites thoroughly.
7. Italian is the main language spoken in the streets. Some people speak English, but I was surprise to find how few people were fluent in the English language.
8. Trains going to the outskirts of the city (i.e. airports) are 80% accessible. The reason I say this is because there is a huge gap between the train and platform, and I needed some assistance to get on the train. However, once you get on the train, there is a space allotted for wheelchair users.
9. Some useful Italian phrases Iearned: excusa --> excuse me, goodbye --> arrivederci, grazie--> thank you, you are welcome -->prego
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