Roma/Amor

There is a temple right by the Colosseum that used to house a statue of Venus and a statue of Rome. Amor and Roma, Goddesses with palindromic names looking over the Eternal City. A long time ago, newly weds used to come by to be blessed by these Goddesses, and even during our visit, we saw three June brides (and their grooms) in the area - although they were more focused on their photo shoots.

Speaking of love and Rome, I have realized that I have developed a definitely fondness for the city. The Riviera (both Nice in France and the Cinque Terre in Italy) was gorgeous and extremely relaxing, but Rome - Rome is alive! Rome is like Bombay or New York - there are people everywhere, and yet their presence is not suffocating. Vendors are seen selling all sorts of things on the streets - and today I finally engaged in some roadside shopping, buying a bag that Manish claims is a Lisa-sized bag. Lisa - apparently, the size of your bag leaves an impression ;)





However, the beauty of the city lies not only in its liveliness, but also in its history. Roman engineering was definitely top notch - it amazes me that the Colosseum was built almost 2000 years ago, that the Pantheon with its perfect 142 foot wide dome was completed more than 1700 years ago, and that the dome of St. Peter's was built 500 years ago and still bears the weight of the thousands of tourists who climb it everyday (I was both fearful and impressed as I climbed to the top). I love the fact that art created by famous artists is part of the city - Bernini's fountains are in piazzas in random places and of course Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel is absolutely breathtaking. This is not art that is brought in from elsewhere - it's art that was created for the city, that is still in the city!

In Rome, we also found our own little slice of heaven - not by the Vatican, but closer to the Pantheon. A gelato place with 140 flavors of gelato, 14 of which are different types of chocolate! Life really doesn't get much better than this :)



Tomorrow we leave for Florence. Travelling by train in Europe has become quite routine for us now. We got to the station an hour early for our first train ride from Amsterdam to Paris, but bought our ticket a minute before the train left when we were coming to Rome from the Cinque Terre – definitely forward progress, even though we almost missed that last train!