A quick 'Buongiorno' from Rome!
January 31st 2008 07:40
Category: No Category
Well, Iām in the lobby of my hotel and my usually very quick typing is interrupted by having to re-adjust to the "?" button being right after the number "0" on the top, the dash being next to the shift button on the top, and so forth... the quotation marks are where the "@" should be, and to get to @ I need to press the 'Alt Gr' button. The exclamation mark seems to be above the 1 button, I just discovered as I was writing this.
There is a gentleman singing as he ascends to the lobby from the breakfast room. I donāt know if heās Italian, but Iāve heard at least two other people singing as they walk so far - and itās only been a day and a half!
On a related note, when we caught the metro yesterday there was a guy playing an old accordian, and I almost took a photo of him but I was too slow to get my camera out - he had already wandered off to ask people for euros.
We arrived in Rome just after sunset, after chasing the sun off the horizon for about ten hours (most of them over the top of Siberia). Luckily my days in Sydney started at 1pm and ended at about 3am, so I havenāt had much jet-lag... I have, however, been tired due to flight schedules, and when we first got to Rome after the 13 hour flight which ended at our version of 4am both my parents and I were totally exhausted. We proceeded to hire a Budget car from the airport, and spent three hours getting to our hotel. Hereās a tip - if you go to Rome, donāt hire a car... if you absolutely must, donāt hire it at the airport, unless you donāt mind an 80 euro tax. And if you arenāt familiar with the types of GPSs available from a low cost company in your country of choice, donāt assume that you wonāt need a map. Enough said.
The hotel, however, is a delight... artfully decorated rooms, courteous staff and delicious breakfasts (of which we ate so much yesterday that we skipped lunch altogether). Itās called Hotel Spring House Best Western, and itās close to the Vatican, which is our first intended stop for today. We saw it when we last in Italy, but we all agree that itās worth seeing again. After that itās off to Villa Borghese, a complex which houses a 'modern' art museum. And I put 'modern' in inverted commas because it involves post-Impressionism, Cezanne and other 20th century art... I havenāt seen the words 'avant-garde', let alone 'postmodern' describe any of the tourist attractions in Lonely Planet Rome so far.
For those of you who are interested, itās pronounced Roma, Italia, and a lot of the names of Italian sites are made less staccato for English speakers. Genoa is Genova, for example, and Florence 'Firenze'. As for Naples, our next destination, itās pronounced 'Napoli'... Iām concerning you with these details because I would like to refer to the sites by their Italian names.
Yesterday was a whirlwind, as we walked from Piazza de Popolo to Musei Campadoglio, by way of the Spanish Steps, Fontana di Trevi, Pantheon, Flower Market and the Vittorio Emanuele Monument. By the end of the day I couldnāt walk... today weāre taking it a bit easier with only two major attractions on the agenda, even if one of them is a complex with lots of internal attractions. Most of the sites we saw yesterday we saw during our five-day stay in Rome back in the previous millenium, but we all agreed that it was lovely to revisit them.
Italy is full of women in heavy make-up... brown eyeshadow seems very popular, while the men might wear a moustache (especially the older generations). Almost everyone weāve talked to on the street has been friendly, polite and helpful, and Iām picking up Italian fast.
Iām considering going back and editing out all the ā's instead of inverted commas, but this natural typo represents a lack of fluency with this current keyboard that I donāt mind - it will always remind me of this moment, oscillating between the need to make everything look correct, and the need to include this errant āauthenticitā.
Well, itās time to go and face the world outside... I hope youāre having a wonderful day and look forward to putting up my photos for you to see - Iāve been taking quite a lot!
There is a gentleman singing as he ascends to the lobby from the breakfast room. I donāt know if heās Italian, but Iāve heard at least two other people singing as they walk so far - and itās only been a day and a half!
On a related note, when we caught the metro yesterday there was a guy playing an old accordian, and I almost took a photo of him but I was too slow to get my camera out - he had already wandered off to ask people for euros.
We arrived in Rome just after sunset, after chasing the sun off the horizon for about ten hours (most of them over the top of Siberia). Luckily my days in Sydney started at 1pm and ended at about 3am, so I havenāt had much jet-lag... I have, however, been tired due to flight schedules, and when we first got to Rome after the 13 hour flight which ended at our version of 4am both my parents and I were totally exhausted. We proceeded to hire a Budget car from the airport, and spent three hours getting to our hotel. Hereās a tip - if you go to Rome, donāt hire a car... if you absolutely must, donāt hire it at the airport, unless you donāt mind an 80 euro tax. And if you arenāt familiar with the types of GPSs available from a low cost company in your country of choice, donāt assume that you wonāt need a map. Enough said.
The hotel, however, is a delight... artfully decorated rooms, courteous staff and delicious breakfasts (of which we ate so much yesterday that we skipped lunch altogether). Itās called Hotel Spring House Best Western, and itās close to the Vatican, which is our first intended stop for today. We saw it when we last in Italy, but we all agree that itās worth seeing again. After that itās off to Villa Borghese, a complex which houses a 'modern' art museum. And I put 'modern' in inverted commas because it involves post-Impressionism, Cezanne and other 20th century art... I havenāt seen the words 'avant-garde', let alone 'postmodern' describe any of the tourist attractions in Lonely Planet Rome so far.
For those of you who are interested, itās pronounced Roma, Italia, and a lot of the names of Italian sites are made less staccato for English speakers. Genoa is Genova, for example, and Florence 'Firenze'. As for Naples, our next destination, itās pronounced 'Napoli'... Iām concerning you with these details because I would like to refer to the sites by their Italian names.
Yesterday was a whirlwind, as we walked from Piazza de Popolo to Musei Campadoglio, by way of the Spanish Steps, Fontana di Trevi, Pantheon, Flower Market and the Vittorio Emanuele Monument. By the end of the day I couldnāt walk... today weāre taking it a bit easier with only two major attractions on the agenda, even if one of them is a complex with lots of internal attractions. Most of the sites we saw yesterday we saw during our five-day stay in Rome back in the previous millenium, but we all agreed that it was lovely to revisit them.
Italy is full of women in heavy make-up... brown eyeshadow seems very popular, while the men might wear a moustache (especially the older generations). Almost everyone weāve talked to on the street has been friendly, polite and helpful, and Iām picking up Italian fast.
Iām considering going back and editing out all the ā's instead of inverted commas, but this natural typo represents a lack of fluency with this current keyboard that I donāt mind - it will always remind me of this moment, oscillating between the need to make everything look correct, and the need to include this errant āauthenticitā.
Well, itās time to go and face the world outside... I hope youāre having a wonderful day and look forward to putting up my photos for you to see - Iāve been taking quite a lot!
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Comment by Tracy
Movies and Life
Comment by Michaelie
Flick Wit
Can't wait for the pics!
Michaelie
Comment by postmoderncritic
Postmodern Critic
Relativity Watch
Padsoc
I certainly am!
Hey Michaelie,
Iām glad you liked my quirkiness...
Iām almost glued to my camera, and am really enjoying finding the perfect angle for each subject... my only regret was that I couldnāt take my camera into the Galleria Borghese... we had to settle for buying a book on it at the gift shop.
Hope you guys are well! (I just put a new post which you might like to read, btw - Iām going to continue to write about my trip every moment I get, so check back regularly if youāre interested in keeping up with me! *wink*)