Eternally: 8 Days in Rome
A Panic, a Gasp, and a Train Ticket: The Day Prior
I’ve been to Rome before and I wasn’t going to blog about it but this time was different. I had everything all booked out. Flight was early in the morning on Thursday, and I would have been there in about two hours. I like to pack everything I travel with a few days in advance and keep a mental note of what’s in the suitcase, that way I’m not rushing in the last minute. I’m an online check-in guy so when I was in my 24-hour window to fly I went ahead and got online to check in with Lufthansa only to find out that my flight there had been cancelled. I was confused and a bit upset at the same time. I had to be in Rome that Thursday in order to attend a conference the upcoming days later. There was only one thing left to do; I went down to the train station and bought a train ticket.
“A one-way ticket to Rome please” I said to the teller. “Overnight train or during the day” she responded. I couldn’t leave later that night. It was my birthday and I wanted to spend that at home, so I opted for an earlier start that Thursday morning. “Ok, you’ll leave here at 0545 tomorrow morning. Your stops are Frankfurt, Basel, Milan, and Rome” She said. “The trip is the shortest that we offer at 12 hours”. “12 hours?!” I gasped. I couldn’t say that his was going to be unlike anything I had ever done. I’ve travelled by train very many times for work, but never this long.
A young woman walks the streets of Rome and saw me with my camera.
On The Way: Rome In 12 Hours By Way of the Swiss Alps
0545 is early for traveling anywhere to me so I sleep on the train for the first thirty-minutes to Frankfurt and about two hours on the train from Frankfurt to Basel. It was uneventful basically until I got there. I had about an hour to kill until it was time to board the train to Milan from Basel. I got a little cup of coffee and a snack and then found my platform.
The time it takes from Basel to Milan is about three and a half hours on the bullet train. I also knew from just doing a bit of research that you can see the Swiss Alps on this route. It was for that reason I fought the urge to sleep on the train. It was about 10:00 when we started traveling and after a few hours I hadn’t seen anything except for a barren waste land similar to that in the movie “Mad Max”. I was about to give up and just try to get some more sleep when suddenly, yes literally very suddenly, we were passing through mountains so high I couldn’t see the top of them.
I shot this image on the train passing through Switzerland into Italy. The view was breathtaking.
This continued for about another hour as we entered Italy. I was sitting on the left side of the train in the direction of travel and had access to awesome views the entire time I was traveling. I purposely booked the first-class seats there and thought I would have a better time traveling for that reason, but it wasn’t worth it. The train had plenty of free and comfortable seats. I enjoyed the atmosphere and view for the next hour until we entered Italy and were met by the Italian Polizia, or I should say “I” was met by the Italian Polizia.
The nightmare that is Domodossolo is otherwise a nice town… I’m sure. except for this that happened to me.
Nuns can be seen practically everywhere in Rome, including on Sunday (when they should be in Church) at the local flea market.
The town we temporarily halted at is a border town called Domodossolo. It reminded me of a train station that could be in Mexico or some South-American place. The air was warm and humid, mountain ranges were everywhere and the vegetation around was not like anything I had seen in Germany or anywhere in Europe except Spain. We waited about thirty minutes in this town for a reason I had no clue of until they approached me, two Italian Polizia with surgical masks and attitudes. “Your passport please” they demanded of me. I could tell you the rest of the story here but I have written about it HERE. If you dare to read it to find out what happened, do so at your own risk.
In Milan I didn’t have time to look around. I barely made the train headed to Rome as I frantically got off of the train and ran to the next platform. I was just in time, about three minutes before the doors of the train were secured and we departed. It was undoubtedly because of the prolonged border control check in Domodossolo that took away the time we were supposed to have in Milan before boarding the next train.
Eight Days in The Eternal City
The Europeans have an acronym they use to refer to the countries of Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece, and Spain. While Rome is also affected by economic decline that is all over Italy, it still maintains its name, “Eternal City”, for good reason.
The hustle and bustle around the Coliseum
I had mixed emotions walking around the city. On the one hand, you can see block after blocks of dilapidated buildings and potholed filled streets.
The people who live there hang their clothes out on lines because dryers like we have in America and some places in other countries in Europe, just aren’t a thing. Almost everyone smokes, which isn’t a bad thing necessarily. Driving, “fuggetabodit”. People take to the street like they are drag racing their cars. I caught a few taxis here and there and regretted it instantly. When I was too tired to walk and didn’t feel like having my nerves tested riding a cab, I took the very poorly orchestrated metro system that the city has. There are basically only three lines, and they don’t go very far. I couldn’t wrap my head around why such a major city in the world could not figure out a public transportation system when so many people visit the city. I had to ask someone I felt had the competence to answer so I asked one of the information booth workers and their answer was simple, brilliant and leads me to the next part of this blog. She told me that every time the city votes to extend or improve the metro, they find more archeology during the dig. Some finds date back past three thousand years. I couldn’t argue with that. I’d much rather walk than realize the city plowed through more ancient ruins just so us tourists could get around faster.
What the cities locals lacked in monetary wealth they more than made up for in culture. The culture of the Romans runs so deep within every Roman citizen’s blood streams. I was refused service because I order an egg on top of my pizza. “I can’t let you eat that here or anywhere,” said the waiter. I was on the one hand confused since it’s a thing in most other countries I’ve visited but also appreciative for him keeping others from laughing at me in the kitchen. Every person I encountered, from cab drivers to waiters and waitresses and even people working at my hotel went out of their way to welcome me and ensure that I had everything I needed to see their beautiful city.
This gentlemen saw me walking around with my camera slung over a shoulder and asked for a photograph.
Rome is referred to by many as an open-air museum and it truly is. When I wasn’t on a break in a café or at the hotel, I would wander around the streets and get lost. I couldn’t walk two or three blocks without seeing some architecture from ancient antiquity. We don’t have to count the Pantheon, Colosseum, Palatine Hill, the Vatican or Castel Sant Angelo. There is so much more to add to those. I was in awe just realizing I was in a city hundreds of years older than most cities in Europe, maybe even thousands.
Conclusion
My time in the Eternal City came to a close and I sat on my bumpy flight over the Alps back to Germany writing in my journal some other thoughts I had about the city and its impressive past and future. I thought about when I come back to this great city what my responsibilities would be? I ask that only because so many Romans, and slaves for that matter, died creating things in the city to be seen, loved, respected. In turn those things would not only inspire you but could also give you a spiritual experience. Therefore, I feel like I have a responsibility to them to at least observe what was erected, painted, chiseled for their sake and even the entire city.
Gentlemen sit on the streets in front of cafes in Rome all day talking about this and that.