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Copyright © 1998 by Manfred P.. All rights reserved.

Oct 24, 1998

Strolling through Time

Bella Roma

by

Manfred P.

Keywords: Italy, Rome, tourist, travel trip report, travel log, travelogue.

The travel guide says that Italy has given us so much: Da Vinci, Michelangelo but also the Mafia. When I arrive in Rome at 11:30 p.m., I instantly know that I am in Italy. The last train is long gone and the cab drivers are on strike. With the word "strike" I always have to associate two countries: Italy and France. A cab driver pulls me aside and offers me a ride anyway; for 200,000 Lira. The Lire is not worth much but that amount even in Lira is too much. I eventually manage to get to town for a quarter of that amount; even that is expensive in my opinion.

It is a sunny day. Warm and pleasant. It is amazing just how many other tourists besides me enjoy the weekend in Rome. The amount of people running through town with maps, turning their heads left and right is stunning. Lots of American students are here, lots of Germans and even a lot of Italian tourists. I blend in just fine.

I tour the major sights that anyone can find in any of the countless tour guides or travel books. Memories come back while I am at some of these sights. Typewriter (the Vittorio Emanuele monument), Piazza Navona and Pantheon are still there and look the same as I remember them from a family trip some 18 years ago. I also remember how gypsies had pickpocketed the wallet of my Dad as we crossed a bridge towards Castel Sant’Angelo. It happened just after he said to us "Hold on to your wallets". The skills of the pickpocket thieves were higher than the raised level of attention. Luck, however, was on our side. At that time, my Dad only had a few coins worth most likely not more than a dollar in his wallet. With such a dissatisfying result for the gypsies we even got the wallet back. Pickpockets are gone from that bridge today. Instead you can buy imitation Gucci handbags, souvenirs and other tourist fare.

On Trevi Fountain I became witness to an old man dying of natural causes. Just sitting there passing his time he died. An ambulance then quickly removed him. One never knows when it ends. I quickly throw a coin and make a wish.

For most of the day and night I simply stroll through town. Police motorcades go by with their bullet proof Alfa Romeos. The bullet-proof windows are especially effective if the windows are rolled down. On one occasion they just seem to drive nuns around. At St. Peter’s Basilica the columns are being cleaned with high-pressured water. I was impressed by the difference it made: a black and white comparison between the before and after. Inside St. Peter’s they ripped out the marble floor. I am not sure what for: to replace it, to repair it? The Pope attended a mass and gave a speech to with about 400 seated priests listened intensely. Regular folks like me had to stand.

Talking about the Pope a few more observations come to mind. The popes apparently had big egos. Their names are plastered on uncountable churches but also other buildings like the Coliseum. I couldn’t help it but to see a certain similarity to the graffiti villains that have to spray their names and signs everywhere. On top of that the popes ordered a lot of ancient Roman buildings to be destroyed so that the marble and other building material could be used to build new churches. Recycling the Popes’ way. St. Peter’s for example has marble from purposefully wrecked Roman temples and part of the copper roof of the Pantheon was used to make the black canopy in St. Peter’s.

Pisa does not have the only leaning tower. There are plenty of leaning towers in Rome. St. Maria in Cosmedin, St. Maria and St. Cecilia in Trastevere, the church on Tiber Island are just a few of them. Coming to think of it, I have seen only leaning towers. After so many centuries that is the norm, not the exception. I came by also a lot more Egyptian obelisks on my walks, maybe 10 in total.

Sightseeing tours die down in the evening. Only a Taiwanese tourist group could be seen after 9 p.m. They were fully equipped. A bus with running engine. A group leader with headset microphone and loudspeakers so that really everyone could hear something while she explained the Forum at night.

I don’t even have to exaggerate to say that there are more than 100 churches in Rome. Basilica di San Pietro in Vincoli is one of the more interesting one. Rather simple, but with Michelangelo’s Moses statue. Besides that there are also a couple of skeletons used to frame a painting and Mr. Death is also there as a life-sized statue with a large sickle. Another interesting "animal" is the fairy tale creation of a flying and swimming horse. A whole set of these animals that are a mix of horses (head and most of the upper body), birds (wings) and mermaids (tail) can be found swimming in the fountain appropriately named "Swimming Horse Fountain" near Villa Burghese.

The ancient old Romans are as captive of our imagination now as ever. That holds especially true when standing in the Forum Romanum. Here you can stroll through time. Caesar’s Palace here, Tempio di Saturno just yards from it, wherever you look history, wherever you step history. A round rock indicates the navel and symbolic center of Rome, and hence the world, the center of the universe. I start wondering if my ancestors lived here 2000 years ago. Maybe? Maybe not? Around 500 A.D. German tribes wiped out the Roman emperors and made a German tribesman king of Italy. My early ancestors are more likely to be found among them. But no matter where my ancestors came from, the Roman Forum is a special and fascinating place.

What I had learned in Los Angeles applies here too. Smog makes great reddish sunsets. Smog is plentiful, mostly from traffic I think, and it makes a beautiful red sunset.

Most of the sights I visit twice. What I had done during the first night I toured again during daytime of the second day. What I had done during daytime of the first day I redid in the second night. Some sights even attract more visitors at night. Nearly everyone seems to gather at Trevi Fountain or the Spanish Steps at nighttime. But Trevi Fountain is a beautiful spot, at any time. A wedding couple I had seen hours ago at the Spanish Steps I met at Fontana di Trevi again. It was past 9 p.m. and the groom couldn’t smile anymore. Not even for the camera from the wedding photographer team. He looked pitiful and that on his wedding day. Most likely they had a long day and 6 hours of photo taking behind them.

I hiked 4 of Rome’s 7 hills. So that I got to see it from west and east, by day and by night. For just two days that is not so bad.

There is a lot that I do not understand about Italy and the Italians. Why do they say "pronto" when they pick up the phone but then talk forever? Why tastes panettone so good? Why is it so much fun to watch elderly tourists cross the street? Why are the Spanish Steps called "Spanish" when the French made them? Why is there (thanks to God) no McDonald’s at Trevi Fountain? Why do the cops always have the blue light flashing on their cars? Why are they so much into fashion? Why ask why?

    

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