200307: Rome

1st morning in Rome. Woke up to a good breakfast provided by Sleeping Beauty. No, Sleeping Beauty isn’t a person. It’s an agent specializing in leasing apartments to tourists like us. Their apartment has free and fast internet, personal fridges and not to mention, decoration worthy of 5 star hotels.

Our morning was greeted with a downpour. It’s not surprising though, only that this time round it’s a hailstorm. Hailstones flying from thousands of feet high come crashing down on vehicles and umbrellas. Lucky we are still in the apartment. Wait for the storm to stop before we move on.

After checking in Hotel Des Artisites which I think has the poorest service of all those I’ve stayed in Italy, we started out on our way to the Ancient City. On our way, we passed by Piazza della Repubblicca. Our 1st glimpse of how beautiful Fontana (fountains in Italian) can be. Our next amazement was the Monument of Vittorio Emanualle II, otherwise known as Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Not that we saw it face up, but the copper statues of winged Roman soldiers on a 4-horse carriage are the highest spectacular thing we see.

We 1st came to the forum. Spectacular ruins in my opinion. Mud brick buildings with pieces of marble here and there. It’s here that we had the 1st scare of Italy. Young women carrying babies tugging at our clothes and pickpocketing. I had to admit I was thrown off guard. But when I saw my wallet came off, I started fuming. While I can tolerate begging despite not approving of it (if you want bread, you should work for it), resorting to crimes is simply despicable. Still, I don’t think I’ll be coming back to Rome after this, I prefer small cities and town life.

The Tomb of Unknown Soldier is a grand monument. Crafted entirely of white marble on the outside, it’s sacred to Italians. However, it’s kind of a mixed feeling for me. Maybe I should talk about the background of this monument. It’s built in memory of the 1st king of Italy, Vittorio Emanualle II. To build this, the Italians actually robbed the surrounding ancient city structures of its marbles, stripping it of its marble coating and leaving it in its present state. Later, the monument was to be the tomb of an unknown soldier after World War I. To the Italians, the unknown soldier is a symbol representing the numerous unnamed soldiers who would never return to their homeland after sacrificing themselves to preserve peace and protect the innocent. Now that’s something good for recent history. But to sacrifice thousands of years of ancient history is another thing. The majesty of the ancient city of the Roman empire can’t be ignored, especially should they be in their glorious marble white state. In a way, I feel for it. A whole lot. It’s not something you can build again. The ancient Romans sacrificed numerous lives of slaves and years to build up that urban landscape only to be destroyed by their descendants. A sad tale no doubt. Ancient history vs recent history. For me, a mythology and archeology buff, I would have prefer the preservation of the ancient site. Well, it’s not up to me to say.

The ancient city itself emits a sad feeling. I can imagine how the Romans used to live there, having a close community and worshipping their highly revered emperor. A happy life. Then I can also feel their sadness and panic as they are invaded and destroyed. Somehow, ruins transport me back to the olden days. Back to when their structures are gloriously majestic. Haiz. Getting too emo.

Anyway, we were hit by hailstones again. At the colosseum. We did not go in though, there were too many people, we were too late, and of course the hailstones. In the end, we went to find the recommended place for pizzas, recommended by David and others. Called Baffeto, near Piazza della Navona. The pizza is not bad, what with the paper thin crust. I think the reason for eating it is it’s thin. A bit like roti prata in Italian sense. However, we met an American lady there who is working as a housing agent. And she doesn’t like the pizza. She recommended us another place instead, also near Navona called Zio Ciro. We should try it tomorrow.

Despite the freezing cold weather and the lack of warm clothing, we ate gelato. Yes, freezing cold weather with freezing cold gelato. It’s kind of mad I think. Even the shop manager was amused. So amused that he gave Ivan a free chocolate and nuts coated ice cream cone. Wow.

We passed by Fontana del Trevi on our way back. The famous Trevi fountain. Recommended to be seen at night. And it’s beautiful. What more with hailstones. Actually, once you’ve seen Trevi at night, there’s no point seeing it in daylight. And to tell the truth, I love Italian fountains. Mainly because they are the only remaining source of Roman mythology left in a Catholic city. And all the fountains depict Neptune (or Poseidon in Greek) and I think I’m very fascinated with mythology, whether Roman or Greek. Anyway, Roman mythology is Greek mythology romanised. Haha. But they do have certain added elements that the Greeks do not have. So in other words, they share a lot of common gods and goddesses but they are not the same. =)