Roma, Italia

When we arrived in Rome, we tried finding our hostel but it didn’t take long before we were totally confused and decided to get a taxi instead.  The car sped through the streets, like every other taxi I’ve ever taken in a foreign country and before long we were at our hostel.  We didn’t know what to expect since we tried finding a cheap place as the room in Paris was expensive (for what it was, anyways).  We found a place for $15 a night per person in downtown Rome.  Cheap and a good location, who cares what it was like so long as it was quiet!

The owner greeted us at the door and knew Erin’s name.  Sure, he was expecting us but it was a nice touch to be welcomed by name.  The hostel turned out to be an apartment which was converted into a hostel with around 5 or 6 rooms.  He showed us our room, a private room at the end of the hallway.  When he opened the door, I laughed.

The room was huge and it had a 12-foot ceiling and a tile floor.  The bed was already made with a nice blanket.  Best of all, it was clean.  He asked if it was okay and I laughed again.  “Yes, it’s great!”  He showed us where the bathroom was and that was even more impressive than the bedroom.  There was enough room to do gymnastics, a huge bathtub and a separate shower stall.  It was all tiled and very clean.  We really lucked out!

By then it was late so we went to bed.  There was a little noise with the other people coming and going in the morning but it was nothing compared to the endless noise at our hostel in Paris.  You win some and you lose some.  This time, we won!  We even decided to stay another night in Rome because this place is so nice (and cheap) and there is so much to do here.

In the morning we found the subway and visited the Vatican (knocking out yet another country).  We climbed the stairs to the top of the Cupola, all 320 of them, to look out over Rome.  After the Cupola, we went to the Vatican Museum to see the Sistine Chapel.  On our way, a woman was begging for change on the street.  Usually I just ignore people like her but something made me stop.

People try so hard to ignore people like this woman.  They turn away from them, or stare at them like they are a piece of trash on the sidewalk.  She sat there as the people walked by and not a single person stopped to give her anything.  I understand why they didn’t.  I don’t usually give money either unless I feel like the person “deserves” my money.  Usually that means performing or doing something to make me smile.  It’s selfish of me to operate that way but I’ve used this as justification to ignore a good number of people begging for money.

I wanted to give her something but I also wanted to find a way to give her recognition as more than just a person on the street begging for change.  I wanted to give her a face, so to speak.  I kneeled beside her and give her my coin and asked if I could take her photo.  She seemed hesitant but agreed.  She sat there looking at me and I snapped one picture.  I reached out and held her hand in both of mine and told her “thank you.”

I’m not sure if I did the right thing by taking her picture…but maybe I did.

We try so hard to ignore the imperfections of life so that we might live our own peacefully.  We would never stoop down to look a homeless person in the eye when we hand them our money and we would never reach out to hold their hand in our own.  Today I did both and to be honest, it was hard to cross that boundary but I’m glad I did.  I want the world to see the photo of this woman and realize that all the people on the street are just that…people.

Erin and I spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around the Vatican Museum and saw the Sistine Chapel.  There is no photography allowed in the Sistine Chapel, much to my disappointment.  Of course, I wasn’t going to let that little rule rain on my parade!  I snapped a couple of photos of myself inside and then spent the rest of the time just admiring the place.  It’s everything I expected and not really at all.  Of course, nothing is ever exactly as one expects.

We got back on the subway to go back to our hostel but thought it might be cool to check out the Colosseum first.  One transfer and a few minutes later, we were there.  It was impressive.  Everything I’d hoped it would be.  We walked around for a while before deciding to go “home”.  We thought it would be fun to walk back to the hostel and see Rome away from the tourist destinations.  It’s a city, like any other but it has a charm to it.  So far, I like it here.

A couple of blocks away from our hostel, we stopped at a grocery store and picked up some food for dinner.  It was a little different than the stores back home, especially in the meat department.  Chickens were on display with their heads and feet still intact.  You’d never see that in America…we don’t want to know that our meat comes from animals.  The butcher behind the counter was chopping away, another sight I’ve never encountered in America.

In a couple of days we’ll be heading further south to Naples and Pompeii before we go north again to Pisa and Milan.  After that it looks like we’ll be visiting Liechtenstein and possibly Austria before meeting up with a friend near Zurich for a couple of days.  Of course, this is all subject to change.  We haven’t made any solid commitments more than a couple of days out.  It keeps things interesting and it’s fun to look at our maps and make plans before going to bed.