Monumental,
Rome is a day-trip, a weekend, two-thousand years of myth and history in one place. Rome and I haven’t always gotten along. On this trip, I hoped to change that.
Frankly, time and time again it’s proven to be my least favorite Italian city. Both times I’ve been there, it’s been toward the end of long trips, either too jam-packed or too aimless. The first time, I was with my high school, and the second time, I was alone. I haven’t given this city a fair shot, not once.
This time, we’re hitting Rome fresh and early—spiffy enough to see the city for what it is, and we’ll be seeing the city this time, not the sites.
People tend to visit Rome to see things. You’ll see a crowd posing in front of the Colosseum, people sneaking pictures of the Sistine chapel, and a cascade of coins constantly flowing into Trevi Fountain. People do that, then head home satisfied. That’s all I wanted in my first trip, so I get it!
My point is that Rome isn’t usually visited for just Rome. I want to know if it can be and if it should be.
There was a long plane and a long train ride, and then I walked the dark streets from Trastevere Station to my AirBnB, where my sister lay asleep with the door keys. Eventually, she answers and meets me outside where Google Maps said she’d be, just past steps with a graffiti face.
We don’t eat that night, don’t venture into the bars, but instead I take a shower, wash the travel off. Yet it lingers with me; it was on my feet as I took the steps, on my shoulders after I took my backpack off, and I still feel it as I drift to sleep, in a loft, unaware of what tomorrow brings.
Tomorrow is is far, burning and beautiful.