By:Misha Gitberg
Rome - orange trees, southern flowers along the dusty streets/ancient ruins/noisy and passionate language of amore, abundant fountains one can drink from, melting gelato, deep cleavages, assaults on the senses, pastas, cappucinos, vinos, tortas, revving scooters/statues that cleverly combine sensuality with graceful restrain over flesh. It is impossible to restrain however, when one is not in marble. Rome is a sexy city.
No matter who you are or where you are going, the scooter is the way to do it in - as ubiquitous in Rome as cows are in India. Rome can turn the mundane into charming; junk mail junk looks stylish when in its grasp.
Although commercialized, Rome, unlike Florence and Venice, absorbs tourist crowds well. The exception is the Spanish Steps where throngs of people approaches that of India. Unlike India, fountains produce clear, tasty and drinkable water, which comes from the surrounding Hills of Rome.
I was impressed by the way Italians (Rome, Florence, Venice) live in their bodies, not uncommon to see someone having an intense conversation, gesticulating right in the middle of a busy street. People seems to be present in a tangible way. They have a strong sense of collectiveness. Often when we were lost and asked for directions, many locals were involved in helping us. On a bus, half the passengers would discuss our stop, where it was...
Italy killed our insatiable desire to see and experience, for a while, anyway. By the time we arrived in Venice, we were saturated with museums and sites; we decided to skip previously booked Academia. Hours of the Italian Renaissance made me yawn; I caught myself more interested in the museum visitors than the artifacts.
Art can never be contained in the museums of Rome. It oozes out everywhere (you can even see the latest Pharaoh, in good condition, right on the street). We spontaneously walked into churches and heard great and free concerts. On our last night, we wandered into a church which held an international choral competition; included concerts by a Russian choir and one from Bosnia-Herzegovina - Hebrew spiritual rocked!
Clare's apartment was located in one of the few remaining "real" (as opposed to museum) neighbourhoods. We could escape the huge numbers of camera clicking, souvenir buying, ice-cream licking, semi-drunk on good Italian vino and hot sun tourists. (I don't like being one of them).
After going through a few countries in rapid succession, I began to realize how hard it is to discover the true spirit of a country. It is as if the tourist industry has conspired to keep the authentic nature of countries from visitors, present only a slice, a thin and corrupted veneer.
We enjoyed buying food from tiny local shops and shopping alongside the locals in Venice. It is easy to buy wine from small trattorias, or, bring your own. Italians are enthusiastic about organic pasta, as well as fresh basil, tomatoes, garlic and onions, which we purchased from a boat on the canal. We combined the ingredients at home. Our meals were superb - pasta and sauce, no vegetables or other solids.
Venice is a labyrinth of canals, bridges, blind ends, turns - unusual to our urban habits. Once I became so foolishly confident in my ability to navigate Venice that we got completely lost on my second attempt. We wandered the dark people less streets at 11:00 p.m., trying to solve the riddle of getting home. Next time we were armed with a detailed map. Once we took advantage of an opportunity to photo shoot children and pigeons. We purchased a bag of pigeon birth control for one Euro. It contained a sterilizing substance to limit the number of pigeons. They ate, the children got to feed them, we had our shot - everyone was happy.
Florence appeared poor and dirty, perhaps because it was overwhelmed by tourists. The Uffizi Gallery made the trip worthwhile, though. We witnessed a gradual progression of iconoclastic art, from one dimensional unnatural expressiveness of saintly forms to the more spiritual portrayal of religious scenes. I liked David and the Vecchio Bridge. We saw an American man standing on one knee in front of a reddened and tearful elegantly dressed woman - proposing - through her weeping and shock, it appeared she accepted.
We found the best audio and tourist guides in Canada - yes. They speak from experience, not patriotism. Montreal, Ottawa and Vancouver had enthusiastic, knowledgeable and funny guides. The European audio guides are unimaginative and basic; the live guides are bored and boring, certainly not funny, even when they try to be, not worth the money, in my opinion. It's best to buy your own books, develop neck pain reading as you stroll through streets, museums, etc.You can view more pictures at Flickr.