Paul Jacobson

When in Rome …

One of the perks of working for Automattic is having the opportunity to travel for team and company meetups. I arrived in Rome earlier today for a week-long team meetup.

Because we’re a distributed company, we don’t often have a chance to meet our teams in person. Meetups are fantastic opportunities to get to know the people we work with so much better.

I started capturing my experiences when I arrived at the train station in Modiin on my way to the airport, partly so I could share my journey with my family through a shared Google Photos album.

Here are a couple of photos that I took of the area around our hotel, about a stone’s throw from the Vatican City:

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7 responses to “When in Rome …”

  1. TheTechieGuy avatar
    TheTechieGuy

    watch your wallet and bag on the subway. I was pick-pocketed…

    Reply
    1. Paul avatar
      Paul

      I’ve actually been thinking about that. We’re going on a walking tour of the city later in the week so I’ll plan accordingly.

      Reply
  2. Nathan Jeffery avatar
    Nathan Jeffery

    Hope you have an awesome time in Rome!

    Reply
  3. TheTechieGuy avatar
    TheTechieGuy

    This Article was mentioned on brid-gy.appspot.com

    Reply
  4. Walking through the narrow streets of Rome - Paul Jacobson avatar
    Walking through the narrow streets of Rome – Paul Jacobson

    Even though I was in Rome for a team meetup, we had a free day on the Friday. I took a train to the central station in Rome with one of my colleagues, with the intention to go visit some of the attractions we’d read about on foot.
    We were happy to see the various sites from the outside. We didn’t want to spend our day waiting in lines. Our first stop was the Colosseum.
    [googlemaps https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!1m18!1m12!1m3!1d2970.1230738089844!2d12.49004221588646!3d41.890210179221235!2m3!1f0!2f0!3f0!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!3m3!1m2!1s0x132f61b6532013ad%3A0x28f1c82e908503c4!2sColosseum!5e0!3m2!1sen!2sil!4v1528461791464&w=800&h=600%5D
    As you can imagine, it’s a pretty popular tourist destination. One of our colleagues mentioned that it isn’t really worthwhile waiting in lines to see the inside so I took some photos of the outside instead.
    Sou and I went for a walk through Rome’s streets and alleys on our free day. Sou and I went for a walk through Rome’s streets and alleys on our free day. Sou and I went for a walk through Rome’s streets and alleys on our free day. Sou and I went for a walk through Rome’s streets and alleys on our free day. Sou and I went for a walk through Rome’s streets and alleys on our free day.
    From there we walked towards the Altare della Patria, via a series of ruins. There was some work being undertaken along the route so the pedestrian walkways were pretty busy. The ruins are pretty spectacular in themselves. I just kept thinking that they’re almost scaled up versions of the smaller ruins we’ve seen here in Israel (yup, the Romans left their mark here too).
    Sou and I went for a walk through Rome’s streets and alleys on our free day. Sou and I went for a walk through Rome’s streets and alleys on our free day. Sou and I went for a walk through Rome’s streets and alleys on our free day. Sou and I went for a walk through Rome’s streets and alleys on our free day. Sou and I went for a walk through Rome’s streets and alleys on our free day. Sou and I went for a walk through Rome’s streets and alleys on our free day. Sou and I went for a walk through Rome’s streets and alleys on our free day. Sou and I went for a walk through Rome’s streets and alleys on our free day. Sou and I went for a walk through Rome’s streets and alleys on our free day. Sou and I went for a walk through Rome’s streets and alleys on our free day.
    The Altare della Patria is a pretty spectacular structure. It’s pretty over-the-top, and apparently locals refer to it as the “Typewriter”.
    [googlemaps https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!1m18!1m12!1m3!1d1484.9566323685765!2d12.481915008332596!3d41.89472239480524!2m3!1f0!2f0!3f0!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!3m3!1m2!1s0x132f604d1b805de3%3A0x21154807a7b83fe1!2sAltar+of+the+Fatherland!5e0!3m2!1sen!2sil!4v1528462054500&w=800&h=600%5D
    It’s a little difficult to get a sense of the scale of the building from the photos, but it’s really big.
    Sou and I went for a walk through Rome’s streets and alleys on our free day. Sou and I went for a walk through Rome’s streets and alleys on our free day. Sou and I went for a walk through Rome’s streets and alleys on our free day. Sou and I went for a walk through Rome’s streets and alleys on our free day. Sou and I went for a walk through Rome’s streets and alleys on our free day. Sou and I went for a walk through Rome’s streets and alleys on our free day. Sou and I went for a walk through Rome’s streets and alleys on our free day.
    At that point in the day, it was time for lunch. We walked for a little bit to move out of the overpriced tourist zone, and settled for a small cafe in an alley somewhere nearby. I definitely achieved my goal of eating pizza in Rome, and the pizza I had was pretty good.
    As much as I enjoyed the ancient remnants of the Roman Empire, I think the blended modern-ancient architecture of modern Rome appeals to me more. We walked in the rough direction of the Pantheon through narrow streets. I loved walking through those streets, peering down narrower alleys. This stroll was a real highlight of the trip for me.
    Sou and I went for a walk through Rome’s streets and alleys on our free day. Sou and I went for a walk through Rome’s streets and alleys on our free day. Sou and I went for a walk through Rome’s streets and alleys on our free day. Sou and I went for a walk through Rome’s streets and alleys on our free day. Sou and I went for a walk through Rome’s streets and alleys on our free day. Sou and I went for a walk through Rome’s streets and alleys on our free day. Sou and I went for a walk through Rome’s streets and alleys on our free day. Sou and I went for a walk through Rome’s streets and alleys on our free day. Sou and I went for a walk through Rome’s streets and alleys on our free day. Sou and I went for a walk through Rome’s streets and alleys on our free day. Sou and I went for a walk through Rome’s streets and alleys on our free day. Sou and I went for a walk through Rome’s streets and alleys on our free day. Sou and I went for a walk through Rome’s streets and alleys on our free day. Sou and I went for a walk through Rome’s streets and alleys on our free day.

    Reply
  5. Paul avatar
    Paul

    Being a distributed team has its challenges (and loads of benefits, too). We meet up with our teams at least once a year in person (last year our team met up in Rome), and the whole company meets up once a year for our Grand Meetup. Aside from these meetups, Automatticians also meet up in … Continue reading When Automatticians meet up →

    Reply
  6. Paul avatar
    Paul

    I’m in Lisbon for my team’s meetup (last year we were in Rome). Our first day was a free day, and we went on a walking tour of parts of Lisbon. It was a terrific introduction to this city. Of course, I made plenty of photos. We took the Metro to where we were going […]

    Reply

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