Beauty dignified - Rome and Florence

Being in Europe and not seeing Rome is a sin, according to me.

Capital of Italy left me amused, tired and happy. All emotions and same emotions experienced, which I would have, back in my home country.

Setting off on a trip to Rome and Florence for 5 days was not easy, especially with a two year old kid, who tags along with you day and night, not understanding much of what is going on. The hotel, we chose was very close to the Metro station and the moment I came out from the airport of Rome, I felt like I was very much in some Indian city, the only difference being, the majority of the people were bright skinned. 

There were shops and streets teeming with people. There were Mini-markets run mostly by Asians and they were open till 11 pm. One got all the things for daily needs in such shops. People were standing on the bus stops with no particular queues. There was filth on the roads, hawkers and beggars trying to prove their point. People were talking on phone while driving, honking was very common and there was a great chaos on the roads when it came to moving in cars. I loved the very sight of it. Felt human, felt close, felt good to be a part of the chaos. Coming from Germany to Rome felt like walking out of mechanical existence into the very arms of life and livelihood and energy. We travelled everywhere with trains. Trains were over-crowded, but had a cool ambience. We somehow got into the trains with Tanay’s pram and I was reminded of the mad rush in Mumbai trains. The travel in trains was extremely cheap compared to the one in Germany and even in this case, people were just avoiding swiping the ticket and escaping from the check point bar to catch the train. Oh! How Indian again!!. I smiled to myself and thought, being European, how is that they have so many similarities with an Asian democracy, India. I then realized Europe or Asia, people are same, mentality is same with little difference, that’s all.

 Rome is picturesque, every nook and corner is marvelous and one can’t but spend many days just exploring the city. It was no doubt crowded, but there was a sense of excitement and festivity. We saw everything possible in Rome and also visited the Basilica in Vatican. I climbed around 320 steps and reached right on the top of the dome and the view from there was exhilarating. Atul and Tanay made it upto the top and I was in awe of Atul’s stamina. I somehow pulled it off till there and he managed to lift Tanay upto the top. Hats off to him! We clicked pictures and spend some time there. It was a quiet and guarded community as the Pope was around. We also saw the church and it reminded me of the times when I had studied the different stages of European History and Italy has been the pioneer of the Renaissance. Many well knows artists, sculptors, painters are from Italy. The food in Italy was easily available and the veg options were in abundance. There was a restaurant every two buildings and I feasted on pasta and pizza and also tasted the Gelato ice cream. There was drinking water publically available in the city. One could drink the sweet and cool water from the streams below and it was very pure and thirst quenching. We drank a lot of water on our day trip and that too free!!

We had to walk a lot to explore the city on foot, so much that due to the leg pain, I couldn’t sleep peacefully at night. But that usually happens when one in on a trip without own car. Tanay sailed through with us, but I could make out that it is a kind of torture for him to be sitting in the pram for so long in such a warm and sunny weather. He refused to walk at all and so he had to be either carried by one of us or had to sit in pram against his wish. He hardly understood anything that we saw and he missed his friends and routine. But he slept nicely and played whenever he got a chance to do so.

We visited Florence for a day and got to travel in Italy’s fast train. Florence is a quaint little town and has a beautiful church to its credit. There was a huge rush even here and I could see many Indians in groups in this town. We saw the leather and gold factory, had a nice lunch in a nice restaurant and came back to Rome by night. The last day was spent shopping. We shopped for our favorite magnets and also gifts for our people back home. Exhausted, tired, satisfied and awestruck, came back to Germany and started the routine again. It was a wonderful break for us and we caught a glimpse of life and lively and friendly people in Italy.

Io amo l'Italia.