La Vita Romana
8/3/06 8:15p Viterbo
Went to Rome today, and was prepared for the best and the worst. What I found of course was dirt, much like any other city. It was also choked with tourists, perhaps not like any other city, but similar enough. Rome was an afterthought of this trip and luckily for me, the bridge and groom had organized this excursion for all their friends, so there would be no real need for a lot of planning on my part.
Since the group had a variety of goals, we decided to split up and meet up back at the train station for the trip back to Viterbo. Luckily, a short distance away was the Spanish steps and Trevi fountain. In the interests of not mucking about with the logistical and linguistic nightmare of taxi-cabs I got onto one of those tourist buses that makes a big circuit of the city, and allows you to get on and get off as you come to points of interest.
Truth to be told I was mostly interested in ancient Rome and not the Rome of the Renaissance, so I patiently sat on the top of the double decker bus taking photos of interesting buildings as we approached the site of the old city center. I must say, the Coliseum looks a lot bigger than you think it will and also a lot more solid. The place was mobbed with tourists so I decided against going inside. From the gate I spied a large cross with people gathered about it. I had seen a bus with the words "Christian Rome: Pilgrimages for the Third Millennium" on it earlier and deduced that this was that crowd. In fact Rome is chock-a-block with Christians lamenting all their early forebears who were used as entertainment and an example. They typically take the form of large groups of hormone addled teenagers being lead by a beleaguered church official, and looking for ways to be very un-Christian at every opportunity.
The Forum was full of these folks, who I tried my best to ignore. It's strange to imagine that there was a time when the sunny, open area of the forum was coated with the shadows of various temples and public buildings. At one end is the triumphal arch of Titus Vespasian (I think) with friezes showing the spoils of the conquest of Judea. You can see a large menorah from the Temple and the leader of the Jewish resistance in chains in procession. I have always been interested in Roman history and, to a certain extent, their military. It is in many ways a shorthand for political development in the Roman republic and then in the Empire.
The Palatine Hill and the Circus Maximus flanked the Forum and I wandered through and around (not in that order) and became acutely aware of the fact that I had not eaten anything at all since that morning when I'd had an apple. I made several valiant attempts to find an authentic Roman trattoria and managed to find either places that sold hot dogs, Argentine cuisine (??) or cigarettes. To make matters worse there was a rapidly approaching deadline for getting back to the train station so I could hook up with the rest of the party (all Germans) - so I settled for a Coke to keep me going till I got to the area of the train station near the Piazza del Popolo and, hopefully, some restaurants.
What ensued was in fact the worst lunch in history. Ok perhaps I am blowing it all out of proportion but when you to a restaurant that has a menu that proclaims "assorted panini" you'd think they'd have an assortment. Instead they had a assortment of different garnishes with the prosciutto panini which helped me not at all. I did my best to find something to eat and gulped down some water, before heading off to the train station, 10 minutes late. The Germans were waiting as patiently as they possibly could - which is to say, not much, and we headed off to Viterbo and the bachelor's night.