Rome

I have seen old things- I have been to Stonehenge and seen Hadrian’s Wall and hieroglyphs and many more amazingly old things. But I had never experienced ancient like Rome. I have never walked down the street and glanced over and just incidentally noted that the ruins next to me were from centuries before the Christian Era. I cannot wrap my head around what it is like to see those things so many times that you take them for granted. There are people who use things like THE ROMAN COLOSSEUM as a landmark when noting where to meet someone for dinner and people who routinely drive by the Circus Maximus, which dates from the 6^th century BCE, en route to work or their child’s football practice. Those people do not live in awe. From what I can tell, they may live in a constant state of annoyance. Romans are not friendly. They are, at best, oblivious, and at worst constantly annoyed at the throngs of tourists who come to gawk at the treasures they take for granted.

We spent 5 days wandering the city. We saw incredible wonders and experienced a few very emotional moments:

Incredibly sad at the Vatican– The Sistine Chapel is smaller than I imagined, and the sheer number of people packed in it was mind-boggling. St. Paul’s Basilica was immense yet had fewer people. I wish I had allotted more time for the Basilica, because it was pretty amazing and I am saddened for the people who, obviously, decided to see the chapel but not the basilica. They wanted to see Michelangelo’s ceiling, but not his Pieta? The grief in Mary’s face brought me to tears.

Incredibly angry- It was the first time in all of our travels that we have had anyone try to really rip us off. We were waiting at a cab stand in a torrential downpour at about 9 pm after seeing the Vatican. We had to wait longer than most because we were a larger party (most cabs do not take more than 4 people). We finally had a driver pull up who was willing to take us. We were soaked and freezing and willing to cram 4 in a backseat and share a seatbelt just to get out of the elements. After we pulled away he let us know that his card machine wasn’t working and somewhere en route I realized that his meter was hidden from view. I didn’t want to argue while we were so far from our hotel, however, so I waited. Sure enough when we got to the hotel, he told us that the fare was 70 Euros, more than twice what we expected—we had done this the previous three nights and knew that the fare to the hotel (on the outskirts of the city but scored on Marriott Bonvoy points!) should have been about 30 Euros. It was a mess and devolved into a yelling match in front of the hotel, but I paid him the 30 and refused to pay a penny more. I offered to call the police for him if he had a problem with it.

Very scared and anxious- at the mall, of all places! We had to replace a backpack that was falling apart so we travelled to the nearest mall on our last day before heading to the airport. It was several stories and unbelievably packed, but the shocking part was the lack of control or rules. There were at least 2 loud dog fights (yes, dogs were inside the mall on leashes) while we were there, small children learning to rollerskate, and cigarette smoking inside. I spent the entire time worrying that there would be a fire- or someone would just suspect one- and my family would be trampled, or mauled by dogs, in the ensuing chaos. It is, by far, the most unsafe situation I feel like we encountered on any trip.

We flew from there to Greece, that afternoon. I think if I ever return to Italy, it will be to the countryside where, hopefully, there will be friendlier people and less chaos.