On Rome

I was meant to leave for Italy on Sunday, the second of May. I intended on going to Florence and Rome. Saturday afternoon I got online to purchase my bus ticket to Bremen Airport, the airport in Germany that caters to RyanAir flights. When I got online, the bus was sold out. This meant I had to travel on Monday, and because of this, I decided to spend my entire time in Rome. I didn’t want to split up 4 days between both Florence and Rome, so when I landed in Milan on the 3^rd of May, I went straight to Rome.

My train ride to Rome went through Tuscany. All I can say is this countryside is absolutely beautiful and green. Rolling hills with vineyards. Small establishment towns built on hilltops designed to center around a church at the top. I am not sure why the placement is here; maybe it brings the people and church clergy closer to God. It is the closest thing to touch the skies of heaven. The tips of the church scrape the sky with the beliefs held inside. I can even see the communities off in the distance with a church at the top.  Small rivers wind in and around the landscape. There is no real flat land. This is a complete contrast to the Netherlands.

The hills and landscape are alive in beauty, color, and scenery. The grasses and plants very in shades of green and the land that has been plowed to make room for the new harvest of grapes. The ground resembles the stripes on a watermelon rind. Everything feels alive. The history is alive in these small villages of Tuscany. This is the type of area that I prefer. If I could, I would stay in this area and explore more – maybe I will have time in July. The homes and buildings are old. The vineyards have been producing grapes for years. New grapes sprout with each harvest but the soil is acting on instinct.

The train weaved in and out of tunnels built inside the mountains of this region. The railroad had to be built around the existing landscape. Is it strange that I am traveling at 140km/h under a mountain? Are we meant to be taking trains through mountains and underwater? Is this too far?

I enjoyed the train travel more so than anything. I got to really see the country. On a plane, I contribute to a lot of pollution and the high-speed train works off of magnetism. I felt like I am making less of a carbon footprint.

In Rome, over the course of four days, I saw almost everything there was to see. I walked the entire city at least five times. I couch surfed with a professor from a university in Rome. He had a lot of insight into things to do and made my experience a lot better. I went to all the tourist sites from the Colosseum to the Vatican and some places off the tourist trail. The Roman Baths, were a really cool structure. So much remains and being place about 2 kilometers outside the center, it is less concentrated with tourists. I think I saw a total of thirty people while I was there. It is nice to have pictures of structures without any people in them.

The Vatican was an interesting experience. There was so much to see and it was sort of overwhelming. I ended up joining in on a walking tour so that I could learn about what I was seeing. The art was impressive, I’ll admit that, but being in the Vatican didn’t move me. I enjoyed walking around Rome more. It was more interesting to see the remains of a society that thrived for so long. It was cool to walk around the entire city and see small artifices from the empire. Seeing a column that was 2000 years old was way more interesting for me.

Overall, I really enjoyed Rome and I would have loved to spend more time there. The food was amazing and the coffee was the best I have ever tasted. The right amount of foam, milk, and espresso made for a cappuccino that required no sugar. The best part was that this cost under a euro fifty. Mmmm. I love the Netherlands but the coffee here is bitter and overpriced. Missing the coffee already.

Love and Peace ~ JP Popovich