Rome 1

Have you ever been to Rome, one of the most exciting places in the world to see? It is also called the Eternal City! It is the home of the Pope, the head of the Catholic church, one of the most influential figure on the universe! It is a city rich in history, with colossal monuments, and many basilicas and churches. The architecture is something else too, very rich and magnificent!.Going to Rome is quite an adventure. It is one of the cities on earth that I wanted to visit for a long, long time. I finally made it last year, 2009, in February. The flight was very long, 11 hours, and February is not the right time to go there. It was very cold, and very windy. February, they say, is the coldest month of the year in Rome. There is no snow, only bitter cold and wind! It is really quite an adventure. Once we got our luggage, we hauled our luggage on a public bus. That is right! A bus!!!! Ha! That is unheard of, I think in the USA. We had our luggage on the seats of the bus! I was embarrassed, but the bus driver did not really care. I guess that is normal in Rome, a main tourist place in the world. I was in shock, not only with this, but also how the driver can manipulate the long bus on a winded, narrow streets!! I was sure at that point that the bus will fall apart considering how narrow the streets were! I forgot the bus driver is an expert. Oh, well. Once we reach our destination, we carted our luggage on the street to the apartment we were staying. The apartment is a few blocks away from the bus stop! Oh, my goodness! I was in awe and total shock that we had to haul our luggages on the street to the apartment! I have never done this all my life! And here I am, in a tourist destination, hauling my luggage on the street up to the fourth floor of the apartment building! My, oh, my!!!! There is no elevator!!!! I had to take a break every now and then to catch my breath. At this point, I realized how pathetic I am. I am not fit to this kind of thing! I was warned beforehand that there will be a lot of walking in Rome. I was not ready for this! But ready or not, here I am. I am ready, willing and able, even if my body is not! Go, girl!!!!! We were so eager to see the sights that we just flop our luggage and off we went sightseeing. We had a bus ticket that was good for a week, 10 euros ( 1 euro= 1.35 US). It was unlimited for the bus and train. There were no conductors to check it, but you have to have the ticket to show, if a conductor shows up. We were living the life of the locals. I thought this will be really good and interesting. We had to walk a few blocks to catch the train, and I cannot believe how many people ride the train. Most of the time, it is standing room only! You have to hold on something for dear life or you might end up on someone's lap! Gosh! You can really tell I have not been on a large city riding buses or trains! There is always a first time on everything! I remembered we were trying to look for seats. I went in and out of the compartments determined to find some that I forgot I had people with me. We ended up like we were playing ' Follow the Leader." They were good catching up with me! Ha! Ha! Ha! That was fun!! Yippee!!!! We have to run like crazy also to catch the next train to board for our destination. Up and down the steps and around to board the next train. I tell you, I must have lost some pounds doing this! Ha! Ha! Ha! No wonder a lot of Italians are thin! They do a lot of walking!!!! Some of the trains have graffitti on the outside of the train, and on the walls of the station. I thought I will not see that in Rome. I guess it is like any other big city in the world! Surprise!!!! On our way to the Vatican, I can't help noticing that there were rows and rows of apartment buildings. Their cars are mostly small, the smart cars and you can hardly see a big car! I saw very, very few American cars. Their parking is very limited, that is why. What else did I notice in Rome? There were no traffic lights in some areas! Cross at your own risk! The weak ones,mostly tourists,were left standing for a while, until they see a brave local cross the street. You just have to cross with the hope that the cars will stop! I wonder how many pedestrians are hit by cars everyday?? It will be interesting to know the statistics! It seems like it is chaotic sometimes over there with regards to traffic! I can see the big difference here and there. It seems we have more order here than there in regards to traffic and parking. It will probably be very challenging to drive in Rome with this chaos, plus all the motorcycles you see all over the city, either on the street or parked!
Posted by vs at 3/20/2010 8:11 AM Add Comment