I've loved my trip but am glad to be home. There are wonderful things out there to see and experience and I am glad that I've had the opportunity to enjoy some of them, smorgasbord style. Europe is an amazing place and they have their act together. I am impressed, awed, and am better for having made the journey. I personally think it's so important to travel and be exposed to knew things, be out of your comfort zone for a while, and learn to respect peoples' differences. I am struck by the beauty of it and all of the wonderful people out there. It also makes me appreciate home more too.
In Europe it became clear that war and religion has really shaped our early history. In Paris touring the Arch de Triomphe I was looking at the list of battles and generals listed in the stone and the tour guide made a comment that you wouldn't see the Battle of Waterloo in that list because, of course, they wouldn't commemorate their losses. That struck me for a moment that in the US our monuments are not so much about the victory but also about our losses too, the sacrifices that are made by loved ones. Think about the magnificence of the Vietnam memorial. Thank goodness that we seem to really understand and feel that. I also love that our monuments are not as much about our war heroes, although we have those, but more about our leaders, our presidents. Also, we also celebrate the light and fun part of life -- Disney, Vegas, Times Square, Beaches, San Diego Zoo, Universal Studios, Yellowstone!
So, in closing, I've loved my trip, loved seeing all those beautiful places, learned a lot, I am better for it, and want to go back and see more. I am also grateful and glad of the place that I live and glad to be home!
Sunday 23 May 2010
Coming Home by Plane, Train, and Automobile
Traveling is hard but well worth it. I decided to take the train back to London because the loads were better going out of London than Paris. Carrying all my bags from the hotel I tried to take a taxi to Gare du Nord (train station) but the taxi driver literally refused telling me that there was big traffic and I should take the metro. Dragging my bags up the stairs down the stairs - I was glad I had been working out prior to my trip. Took the subway from La Defense to Gare du Nord. Train tickets were sold out until the 18:15 (6:15) train so I bought a business class ticket which got me access to the business lounge which was great - drinks, snacks, magazines, wifi! The Eurostar high speed train from Paris to London goes through the chunnel which was on my bucket list so I can cross that one off. No big deal - the ferry was more scenic but slower. Two hours and I am in London, Kings Cross St Pancras. Next step, head to Heathrow. Picadilly line goes there direct - I might make the 10:50 flight. However, I've found I have a tendency to underestimate the time necessary to travel by metro. It looks so easy! A straight shot! Between trying to feed the ticket machine Euros when it wanted Pounds and dragging my luggage I arrive at Heathrow at 10pm - too late for check-in. I thought seriously of simply abandoning my luggage at the Kings Cross train station but then I had visions of a London bomb squad going through my dirty clothes and underwear and thought better of it. Where are all those luggage thieves and pick pockets when you want one?!
I dragged my smelly, tired self to a Heathrow hotel where a lovely man named Raj behind the counter commented on how tired I looked and upgraded me to a club level room. Yeah! I raided the club lounge of as much bottled water as I could carry and digestive crackers which are these very bland crackers that seem to promise easy digestion - whatever. Good night sleep does wonders. I'm on the noon flight in First Class headed to New York and I am one happy camper. On Terra Firma again but flights from JFK to DC look really full and we don't get on the 4:05 flight. The 6:15 and 10:50 don't look much better. Rental car! I'm going to get home tonight if it kills me which was a possibility. I think I hallucinated during part of the drive home but whatever I stayed on the road. By 10:10 I pull in and by 10:15 I am in my own bed!
I dragged my smelly, tired self to a Heathrow hotel where a lovely man named Raj behind the counter commented on how tired I looked and upgraded me to a club level room. Yeah! I raided the club lounge of as much bottled water as I could carry and digestive crackers which are these very bland crackers that seem to promise easy digestion - whatever. Good night sleep does wonders. I'm on the noon flight in First Class headed to New York and I am one happy camper. On Terra Firma again but flights from JFK to DC look really full and we don't get on the 4:05 flight. The 6:15 and 10:50 don't look much better. Rental car! I'm going to get home tonight if it kills me which was a possibility. I think I hallucinated during part of the drive home but whatever I stayed on the road. By 10:10 I pull in and by 10:15 I am in my own bed!
Paris!
There is something about Paris that just has a great feel. I can't quite put it into words. Earlier I had been talking to people on the tour about what cities they liked the best - All the cities are fantastic and different but Prague was a favorite as well as Germany. I personally liked Prague and Switzerland but the minute we pulled into Paris, everyone was like Paris, definitely Paris!
The hotel is very nice in the La Defense part of Paris and my hotel room has a view of the top 1/3 of the Eiffel tower. I went on a Seine River cruise and a tour of Paris by night. It was great but at this point I am passed sore throat to full blown sick. I think that's a sign that it's time to head for home. I've been to Paris before and have no doubt that I will be back again but now I am homeward bound!
Lake Como, Lake Lucerne and Switzerland
The drive between Florence took us by Lake Como and Lake Lugano in Italy and then through the Alpine country side into Switzerland. It was so amazing. Being in all of that natural beauty was so refreshing and so restorative. My little coolpix camera was so woefully inadequate to capture the full breadth of it. I went up the stansehorn train and cable car up to the top of the mountain. There was snow up there and it was completely engulfed in cloud. Then, like a movie the clouds parted and the view was amazing. There's something about places of natural beauty that speak directly to my soul. I saw people who broke down crying in St Peter's Basilica - they were so overwhelmed and overcome with emotion- for me it's woods, rivers, lakes, and mountains. Switzerland is the church of natural wonders.
Later I took a lake cruise on Lake Lucerne, actually it's in the town of Lucerne. The name of the lake is a German unpronounceable word meaning 4 forests. It was beautiful but cold and here my fatigue has now turned into a raging sore throat. I wandered around Lucerne and liked it very much.
Its evident that the Swiss reputation for precision and accuracy is well earned. The tour guide told us a lot about Swiss history, art and culture - all very interesting but the part I found really ironic is their preparedness for war. The country that is least likely to go to war is probably the most prepared for it. All young men are required to do compulsory military service. They store their ammunitions in their homes so they can muster an army of a couple of hundred thousand in a matter of hours. They have roads which, when needed can be blockaded and turned into airplane runways. They have tank traps in their road tunnels which can be raised effectively trapping a tank inside the tunnel. Interesting stuff. One German woman from South Africa on the tour leaned over when the tour guide was talking about this and said to me, "Germany is even more prepared for war but they don't go talking about it." - A comment I found a bit unnerving.
Anyway, I definitely want to come back to Switzerland and stay a little longer someday.
Later I took a lake cruise on Lake Lucerne, actually it's in the town of Lucerne. The name of the lake is a German unpronounceable word meaning 4 forests. It was beautiful but cold and here my fatigue has now turned into a raging sore throat. I wandered around Lucerne and liked it very much.
Its evident that the Swiss reputation for precision and accuracy is well earned. The tour guide told us a lot about Swiss history, art and culture - all very interesting but the part I found really ironic is their preparedness for war. The country that is least likely to go to war is probably the most prepared for it. All young men are required to do compulsory military service. They store their ammunitions in their homes so they can muster an army of a couple of hundred thousand in a matter of hours. They have roads which, when needed can be blockaded and turned into airplane runways. They have tank traps in their road tunnels which can be raised effectively trapping a tank inside the tunnel. Interesting stuff. One German woman from South Africa on the tour leaned over when the tour guide was talking about this and said to me, "Germany is even more prepared for war but they don't go talking about it." - A comment I found a bit unnerving.
Anyway, I definitely want to come back to Switzerland and stay a little longer someday.
Friday 21 May 2010
Florence (Firenze)
In Florence I hit the wall. It wasn't Florence's fault. It's a beautiful city; I am just tired. I don't care if I ever see another church again, and it's a shame because Florence has the Duomo. There only so much fabulous-ness I can take. I toured Florence faithfully - Pilazzo Vecchio, the Old Bridge, the Duomo, of course.
Michelangelo's David is supposed to be here too. I walked by the museum where he's kept and the long line of people and was glad I don't have to stand in it. Florence is also known for it's gold and leather so I went shopping a bit too. The prices were probably good but there's nothing a really need. I did buy a pair of white gold earrings though. I am really missing home. I'm tired of traveling, of pillows as flat as pancakes, of street vendors yelling, "best price for you!", of checking in and out of hotels, little tiny-weeny glasses of water, and the flippin' bus! Everyone in Europe seems to have a dog and I am missing Trudy. I know mom's taking good care of her though. I have great cities yet to visit so I am going to pull myself together and keep marching along!
Wednesday 19 May 2010
The Scoop on Touring
I've had a number of questions about what it's like to be on a tour so here's the scoop on that...
I'm touring with a company called Trafalgar. The are a British company based in London. I chose them because I liked their website, they have been in business a long time, and they had a lot of different itineraries that I thought were interesting.
Okay, first the pros. I had wanted to see as much of Europe as I possibly could (a smorgasbord) and didn't have all that much time. Initially I tried to put together my own itinerary even copying one of theirs and I couldn't do it. So there's a big pro. For the daily rate of the tour (price of tour divided by number of days) I could not get the same kind of pricing on my own -- so there's a price advantage being in a group. Second, on some days I am only in the city for one day and to get to the hotel and deal with all of the luggage and logistics and tour the city it's very difficult. On a tour they deal with all of that. Luggage is brought to your room and you are dropped off and picked up right where you need to be all of the time. It is really quite amazing how these tours are put together. They have been doing tours of these cities so long that they know exactly what to see and do and the
schedule is very tightly packed with really amazing stuff.
Along with that on a tour they get advantages that the general public does not get. For example, as part of the tour we never stand in line. When we went to the Sistine chapel, they bought the tickets in advance, we went in a separate entrance just for tours, got a private tour with a special our guide just on the Vatican and Sistine Chapel. We were given wireless headsets so we could hear her no matter where we were and we could wander around. The same was true for the Schonnebrun Palace and the Colosseum. We are dropped off and picked up right in front and the whole thing takes a couple of hours as opposed to the general crowd who waited 3 hours just to get in.
I have to say that I am really impressed with the tour. They take prodigiously good care of you. Another example, we went to a music concert in Austria of Mozart and Strauss. In the concert hall we had to check our coats and bags - they wouldn't let us bring them in. A few minutes before the concert ended our tour director collected our coat check tickets, went and got all of our stuff so we wouldn't have to stand in line at the end of the concert. They are constantly taking care of details like that - it's really wonderful.
They generally try to combine things as well. Several of our lunches have been and will be on river cruises: the Rhine in Germany, the Vltava in Prague, San Bruno and the Lagoon cruise in Venice, Lake Como in Italy, Lake Lugano in Switzerland, the Seine in Paris. Frequently, if we are going to a planned dinner they will call the restaurant ahead and make sure that they have something ready for us when we arrive - drinks, appetizers, champagne are often there waiting for us when we arrive. At dinner, they often have folklore stories, or singers, or performers. I told you about the gondola ride in Venice where they arranged for a singer and accordion player to be on one of the boats. These are things that you just can't put together as a new visitor to a city on a short timeframe. Every single day there are all different types of activities and each one seems to be better and more amazing than the last.
Okay, so here's the funny thing and maybe a con depending on your point of view: I actually like discovering a city on my own. One of my favorite things is to learn their subway or bus systems and get around on my own - go where I want to go. Initially, i resisted the tour schedule and did things on my own. However, I quickly learned that you really miss out on some fantastic stuff if you go out on your own. The tour directors are super knowledgeable and seem to take a genuine interest in making sure that you get to see and do every fabulous thing the city has to offer so it becomes easy to just hand over the reins and say okay take care of me! Now the funny part: because they are taking care of every little detail in such a fabulous way - including making sure that you are eating at great places and they steer us to the best bathroom places, where to go, most importantly which ones not to go to - your brain just shuts off! At one point, we were in Prague and he had taken us to this little town square and we had free time to look around we all just stood there! 43 people standing there not sure what to do next - we were so used to someone telling us where to go and what to do that we had no idea what to do with ourselves. I had to tell myself - turn your brain back on; you need to make a decision! Embarrassing, but true. So, when you see those people marching around zombie-like after their tour guides you'll understand.
So, I would say the pros far out weighs the con ( whose brain can't use a little rest, right?) so I would highly recommend touring. I am doing an impressions tour which is a lot of places in a short period of time. They have all types of tours, some that are more in depth in specific regions or countries, some shorter, some longer, and others like mine which cover a lot of territory and really condenses everything. They say that once you've completed a tour that it takes time for it all to sink in and to realize all that you have seen and done. I can see how that is true. This smorgasbord will take quite a while to digest, I think.
I'm touring with a company called Trafalgar. The are a British company based in London. I chose them because I liked their website, they have been in business a long time, and they had a lot of different itineraries that I thought were interesting.
Okay, first the pros. I had wanted to see as much of Europe as I possibly could (a smorgasbord) and didn't have all that much time. Initially I tried to put together my own itinerary even copying one of theirs and I couldn't do it. So there's a big pro. For the daily rate of the tour (price of tour divided by number of days) I could not get the same kind of pricing on my own -- so there's a price advantage being in a group. Second, on some days I am only in the city for one day and to get to the hotel and deal with all of the luggage and logistics and tour the city it's very difficult. On a tour they deal with all of that. Luggage is brought to your room and you are dropped off and picked up right where you need to be all of the time. It is really quite amazing how these tours are put together. They have been doing tours of these cities so long that they know exactly what to see and do and the
schedule is very tightly packed with really amazing stuff.
Along with that on a tour they get advantages that the general public does not get. For example, as part of the tour we never stand in line. When we went to the Sistine chapel, they bought the tickets in advance, we went in a separate entrance just for tours, got a private tour with a special our guide just on the Vatican and Sistine Chapel. We were given wireless headsets so we could hear her no matter where we were and we could wander around. The same was true for the Schonnebrun Palace and the Colosseum. We are dropped off and picked up right in front and the whole thing takes a couple of hours as opposed to the general crowd who waited 3 hours just to get in.
I have to say that I am really impressed with the tour. They take prodigiously good care of you. Another example, we went to a music concert in Austria of Mozart and Strauss. In the concert hall we had to check our coats and bags - they wouldn't let us bring them in. A few minutes before the concert ended our tour director collected our coat check tickets, went and got all of our stuff so we wouldn't have to stand in line at the end of the concert. They are constantly taking care of details like that - it's really wonderful.
They generally try to combine things as well. Several of our lunches have been and will be on river cruises: the Rhine in Germany, the Vltava in Prague, San Bruno and the Lagoon cruise in Venice, Lake Como in Italy, Lake Lugano in Switzerland, the Seine in Paris. Frequently, if we are going to a planned dinner they will call the restaurant ahead and make sure that they have something ready for us when we arrive - drinks, appetizers, champagne are often there waiting for us when we arrive. At dinner, they often have folklore stories, or singers, or performers. I told you about the gondola ride in Venice where they arranged for a singer and accordion player to be on one of the boats. These are things that you just can't put together as a new visitor to a city on a short timeframe. Every single day there are all different types of activities and each one seems to be better and more amazing than the last.
Okay, so here's the funny thing and maybe a con depending on your point of view: I actually like discovering a city on my own. One of my favorite things is to learn their subway or bus systems and get around on my own - go where I want to go. Initially, i resisted the tour schedule and did things on my own. However, I quickly learned that you really miss out on some fantastic stuff if you go out on your own. The tour directors are super knowledgeable and seem to take a genuine interest in making sure that you get to see and do every fabulous thing the city has to offer so it becomes easy to just hand over the reins and say okay take care of me! Now the funny part: because they are taking care of every little detail in such a fabulous way - including making sure that you are eating at great places and they steer us to the best bathroom places, where to go, most importantly which ones not to go to - your brain just shuts off! At one point, we were in Prague and he had taken us to this little town square and we had free time to look around we all just stood there! 43 people standing there not sure what to do next - we were so used to someone telling us where to go and what to do that we had no idea what to do with ourselves. I had to tell myself - turn your brain back on; you need to make a decision! Embarrassing, but true. So, when you see those people marching around zombie-like after their tour guides you'll understand.
So, I would say the pros far out weighs the con ( whose brain can't use a little rest, right?) so I would highly recommend touring. I am doing an impressions tour which is a lot of places in a short period of time. They have all types of tours, some that are more in depth in specific regions or countries, some shorter, some longer, and others like mine which cover a lot of territory and really condenses everything. They say that once you've completed a tour that it takes time for it all to sink in and to realize all that you have seen and done. I can see how that is true. This smorgasbord will take quite a while to digest, I think.
Rome (Roma)
As our tour guide was briefing us for Rome he told us about Stendahl Syndrome which is an illness characterized by dizziness, rapid heartbeat, and fainting caused by an over-exposure to art and beauty. Oh brother, lots of eye rolling, pa-lease.
However, that said, I must say that there is a limit to language to describe all that is Rome. It's overwhelming and takes your breath away in so many ways - the Vatican, the Sistine chapel, Piazza Navona, the Trevi fountain, spaghetti bolognese, or the TRAFFIC! OMG I saw pedestrians step right in front of a truck and motorbikes would go right in front of the bus and disappear - I thought for sure I would hear bones crunching under tires -- and they would pop up on the other side. They have absolutely no fear in traffic.
We did a walking tour in Rome which was fantastic. Rome is layer upon layer of ruins and history, literally. When one civilization ended, another would come and build right on top of it. When they went to build a subway in Rome it was a nightmare because you stick a shovel in the ground anywhere here and it's automatically an archeological dig.
No matter how advanced or innovative we think we are it was all done here first in Rome, 1900 years ago. Over 1900 years ago Rome had 1.2 million people. They were handling crowds of modern day city standards back then. I saw ruins of ancient condominiums where people lived in apartment style living with shops on the lower level. Rome is the birth place of modern democracy and government. They had highway road systems with bridges, a network of plumbing, they developed currency for trade. At the colosseum it could hold 75,000 people, provide bathroom facilities for that crowd, allow for entering and exiting of that crowd in 30 minutes, they had corporate boxes sponsored by local merchants, and they could even flood the colosseum to allow for exhibits featuring boats and water sports. They had spas and baths that could handle thousands of people a day. Over 1900 years ago! Vegas has nothing on ancient Rome!
But of all of the breath taking views the Sistine chapel is true to its reputation. Just recently the chapel has been cleaned but instead of using solvents it was done with lasers which has revealed even more detail than was previously realized. The restoration was paid for by Fuji so you can't take pictures in the chapel as Fuji now has exclusive rights to photography there for a certain number of years.
Based on what I learned I would say that Michelangelo was a bit passive-aggressive. Apparently Michelangelo considered himself to be a sculptor, not a painter. He had been commissioned to decorate the Papal Chapel, originally with sculptures. He had spent a great amount of time at the marble quarries in Carrera picking out the marble pieces when Pope Julius changed his mind and said he wanted paintings instead. Michelangelo, obviously angered, put a likeness of the Pope on the ceiling adorned with horns.
But what the most recent cleaning has revealed is even another layer of meaning to the drawings. As a sculptor, Michelangelo had an amazing grasp of anatomy. You can look at some of the sculptures and the men are ripped! Every muscle is evident and defined. Apparently in Michelangelo's time autopsies and studying of anatomy of corpses was not allowed but somehow Michelangelo managed to do it - probably illegally. In some of the Sistine chapel drawings the cleaning has revealed very detailed renderings of anatomy. For example, in the center section famous for God reaching out to Adam, finger to finger, the shape containing the figure of God is like a human brain and neurologists point out the anatomy is accurate. Fascinating! Also, the additional detail is showing that in Adam's bent leg there is a shape of a woman. The thought is that Michelangelo was saying that we are all made of the same material and all touched by God. Amazing stuff. There are other anatomical features and many other stories but you'll have to come discover them when you come :)
The other fascinating place was the colosseum. I was actually dreading the tour of the colosseum because I had heard they sacrificed 1000s of animals and it was the sight of bloody battles. But the tour of the colosseum was more interesting than I had thought. As I mentioned already the Romans really knew how to handle crowds and the colosseum is ingeniously designed and when you think about the fact it was built over 1900 years ago, has been pillaged and plundered, pieces taken off to use in other buildings, 20,000 visitors per day, and a busy, rumbling Roman street circling it - it's a wonder. It set the stage (pun intended) for our modern day arenas - even the name - the colosseum stage was covered in sand - the word for sand is 'rena', therefore 'arena' means in sand. Very cool.
There is a darker side to Rome though. We were warned about pick-pockets, thieves, and beggars. They warned us of the many scams - carry your purse in front! don't open your wallet on the street! don't put things in your back pockets! Don't put your camera/cell phone on the table in a restaurant! don't accept anything from street people! don't look the gypsies in the eye! if a commotion occurs on the right, look left! if someone throws you a baby don't catch it! Geez, fortunately I experienced no mishaps that I know of. I did, however, see something that bothered me. There was this woman with a dog begging in one of the piazzas. The dog was sitting next to her and there was a small can of dog food in front of him. When someone would give her money she would take the lid off the dog food and let the dog eat. The dog looked shaky and hungry. I wanted to ring her neck but people would probably have given her more money for that.
So, I guess that's just all part of it. I can definitely say "VENI" I came! I can definitely say "VIDI" I saw! But, I think it will take at least another visit before I can say "VICI" - I think this time Rome conquered me!
My favorite, Piazza Navona
However, that said, I must say that there is a limit to language to describe all that is Rome. It's overwhelming and takes your breath away in so many ways - the Vatican, the Sistine chapel, Piazza Navona, the Trevi fountain, spaghetti bolognese, or the TRAFFIC! OMG I saw pedestrians step right in front of a truck and motorbikes would go right in front of the bus and disappear - I thought for sure I would hear bones crunching under tires -- and they would pop up on the other side. They have absolutely no fear in traffic.
We did a walking tour in Rome which was fantastic. Rome is layer upon layer of ruins and history, literally. When one civilization ended, another would come and build right on top of it. When they went to build a subway in Rome it was a nightmare because you stick a shovel in the ground anywhere here and it's automatically an archeological dig.
No matter how advanced or innovative we think we are it was all done here first in Rome, 1900 years ago. Over 1900 years ago Rome had 1.2 million people. They were handling crowds of modern day city standards back then. I saw ruins of ancient condominiums where people lived in apartment style living with shops on the lower level. Rome is the birth place of modern democracy and government. They had highway road systems with bridges, a network of plumbing, they developed currency for trade. At the colosseum it could hold 75,000 people, provide bathroom facilities for that crowd, allow for entering and exiting of that crowd in 30 minutes, they had corporate boxes sponsored by local merchants, and they could even flood the colosseum to allow for exhibits featuring boats and water sports. They had spas and baths that could handle thousands of people a day. Over 1900 years ago! Vegas has nothing on ancient Rome!
But of all of the breath taking views the Sistine chapel is true to its reputation. Just recently the chapel has been cleaned but instead of using solvents it was done with lasers which has revealed even more detail than was previously realized. The restoration was paid for by Fuji so you can't take pictures in the chapel as Fuji now has exclusive rights to photography there for a certain number of years.
Based on what I learned I would say that Michelangelo was a bit passive-aggressive. Apparently Michelangelo considered himself to be a sculptor, not a painter. He had been commissioned to decorate the Papal Chapel, originally with sculptures. He had spent a great amount of time at the marble quarries in Carrera picking out the marble pieces when Pope Julius changed his mind and said he wanted paintings instead. Michelangelo, obviously angered, put a likeness of the Pope on the ceiling adorned with horns.
But what the most recent cleaning has revealed is even another layer of meaning to the drawings. As a sculptor, Michelangelo had an amazing grasp of anatomy. You can look at some of the sculptures and the men are ripped! Every muscle is evident and defined. Apparently in Michelangelo's time autopsies and studying of anatomy of corpses was not allowed but somehow Michelangelo managed to do it - probably illegally. In some of the Sistine chapel drawings the cleaning has revealed very detailed renderings of anatomy. For example, in the center section famous for God reaching out to Adam, finger to finger, the shape containing the figure of God is like a human brain and neurologists point out the anatomy is accurate. Fascinating! Also, the additional detail is showing that in Adam's bent leg there is a shape of a woman. The thought is that Michelangelo was saying that we are all made of the same material and all touched by God. Amazing stuff. There are other anatomical features and many other stories but you'll have to come discover them when you come :)
The other fascinating place was the colosseum. I was actually dreading the tour of the colosseum because I had heard they sacrificed 1000s of animals and it was the sight of bloody battles. But the tour of the colosseum was more interesting than I had thought. As I mentioned already the Romans really knew how to handle crowds and the colosseum is ingeniously designed and when you think about the fact it was built over 1900 years ago, has been pillaged and plundered, pieces taken off to use in other buildings, 20,000 visitors per day, and a busy, rumbling Roman street circling it - it's a wonder. It set the stage (pun intended) for our modern day arenas - even the name - the colosseum stage was covered in sand - the word for sand is 'rena', therefore 'arena' means in sand. Very cool.
There is a darker side to Rome though. We were warned about pick-pockets, thieves, and beggars. They warned us of the many scams - carry your purse in front! don't open your wallet on the street! don't put things in your back pockets! Don't put your camera/cell phone on the table in a restaurant! don't accept anything from street people! don't look the gypsies in the eye! if a commotion occurs on the right, look left! if someone throws you a baby don't catch it! Geez, fortunately I experienced no mishaps that I know of. I did, however, see something that bothered me. There was this woman with a dog begging in one of the piazzas. The dog was sitting next to her and there was a small can of dog food in front of him. When someone would give her money she would take the lid off the dog food and let the dog eat. The dog looked shaky and hungry. I wanted to ring her neck but people would probably have given her more money for that.
So, I guess that's just all part of it. I can definitely say "VENI" I came! I can definitely say "VIDI" I saw! But, I think it will take at least another visit before I can say "VICI" - I think this time Rome conquered me!
My favorite, Piazza Navona
Trevi Fountain
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