So, Rome...
Is there any way to truly describe it?
It's one part blinding reality- hold on you your purse, or they'll steal it!- one part romance with the past- Julius Ceasar once walked these streets!- and several parts of deliciousness incorporated- you mean I can eat pizza for breakfast? Mom isn't here to stop me?!? :)
Definitely one of the coolest parts of my trip to Italy (aside from my awesome travel buddy) was the fact that I was incredibly ignorant of all things Italian beyond pizza and spaghetti. Sometimes I feel like some of the fun of travel is lost these days, as so often we've seen a hundred movies featuring the Eiffel Tower before we ever see it ourselves. So it really was a great experience to have no preconceived images of many of these sites, and to be completely surprised when we got there!
Exhibit A: Trevi Fountain
Exhibit A: Trevi Fountain. I'm sure the rest of the world is aware of how amazing it is, but I had literally never seen a photo of it, ever. I was expecting some decorated wishing well or other- imagine my surprise when we were greeted by a veritable waterfall gushing over magnificent statues into a pool the size of a small building! This was definitely one of my favorite discoveries in Italy, in large part because of surprise of the discovery.
We missed the memo that you're supposed to toss a coin in over your shoulder without looking. Hopefully tossing-one-in-sideways-because-we're-looking-at-the-camera counts. :)
Exhibit B: The Pantheon. Again, I'm sure all of you educated readers are aware that this impressive building from the Roman Empire was the largest dome in the world until the invention of poured concrete in the 20th century, but I was expecting something square and in ruins... I was literally blown away by this completely intact architectural wonder!
This is the best shot I could get of the Pantheon- I promise that it does not do it justice at all!
LB, don't be angry at my lack of Italian culture, but I must admit that many of our travels went along these lines... "Hey! Look! That's big. And old." "Yeah, I bet it's important. Let's take a picture!" Such was the case with the square below, which we learned later was the Square of Venice or something along those lines. To us, it is forever the SCARIEST street in the world to cross. In Italy, to cross you just walk out in front of the traffic, 4 LANES of speeding cars notwithstanding. It felt like learning to double-dutch all over again. Only, if you miss, you're roadkill. :)
The... Palace of Venice? Really, we don't know. But it looks cool!
We spent the first evening just wandering around, getting the lay of the land. We popped in and out of anything that looked interesting, like the church below. You know, just your average parish church. There must be dozens in Rome alone. So crazy!
The Sistine Chapel is NOT the only ceiling chapel in Rome, and if you ask me,not even one of the most impressive ones! (Don't tell the pope...)
No comments:
Post a Comment