First of all, this trip was one of the most amazing whirlwinds that I've ever experienced. It was at once intensely intellectually and physically stimulating and my mind has yet to wrap itself around all the things that I've seen and felt. The 550+ photos that I took don't begin to describe the true majesty of the city, in the sights, smells, the feel of the cobblestone beneath your aching feet at 2:00 AM, the crick in your neck from not being able to stop looking up at ceiling frescoes and carvings on ridiculously tall columns, the colors, the tastes, the solemness of the pious, and the levity of the people. The city itself is beautiful, a palate of reds and ochers, with a liberal sprinkling of green forests and marble fountains and monuments under a sky blue sky. And the atmosphere is a mix of out-of-their-mind-amazed tourists and a contemporary Italian aura. The culture is so rich, and the art so much that you almost can't take it all in. I couldn't in the short time I was there; every church stunned me to silence; everywhere I turned, another monument, another piazza, another fountain, another gelato stand.
But I aim to remember the entire experience and not just mask it in the awesomeness I have just described. Rome is much more humid than Athens, a humidity I did not appreciate. I never felt quite clean in the four days we were there, and I was always sticky. Rome is a great walking city because there are piazzas with statues and great art everywhere. The regular buildings are beautiful too, and one look down the streets yields great views all around. That being said, walking all over the city took a toll on my legs and feet so that when I got up each morning, I could feel the muscles contracting in protest. Somehow, I also developed a blister on the bottom of my left middle toe, so that I could not walk without it rubbing against my shoe (bandaids and socks helped). We stayed out late, which was fantastic because the city was cool (temperature and degree of awesome) at night, but that made getting up early in the morning harder than I would have liked, and we did so much that my mind was overwhelmed with information all the time. Food was expensive and not that great, to be honest [cheap Greek food is much better than cheap Italian food], and the subway at Termini Station was mindbogglingly inefficient. The bugs loved me a little too much, although they only loved my left leg, but the heat combined with the sticky, sweaty feeling made bug bites that much more itchy.
The good [the beautiful], the bad [the exhaustion], and the smelly [the urine scented trashcans]. Would I go through all of it - the bugs on my legs, the bags under my eyes, and the blisters on my feet - all over again?
Absolutely. Without a doubt. No question.
Before I go to sleep tonight, some thoughts about expectations:
Things that were bigger than I thought they would be:
- Colosseum
- St. Peter's Basilica (and most other churches. They're all really tall, but St. Peter's takes the cake.)
- Sistine Chapel
- Augustus's head [and foot and hand] at the Campidoglio
- School of Athens (<3 Raphael)
- Trevi Fountain
- Columns and obelisks
- Temples
- Termini Station, the train station with something like a mall in it.
- Doors. Rome has some buildings, just normal everyday buildings, with really big doors. The door to our hostel was really big, and another hostel even had a smaller door built into the bigger door for easier openings.
- Pieta
- Capucchin Crypt
- Spanish Steps
- The lesser Bernini fountains at the Piazza Navona
- A serving size of gelato
- The city of Rome itself. Rome is a walking city and many things are pretty close together. From the Vatican to the center of the city is about 5K, so it's possible to walk, but you need to be in pretty good shape. But still, it's smaller than I thought.
And my feelings, encapsulated in this shot taken my first evening.
