Recently I’ve been evangelizing for “slow travel,” a leisurely way to see more of the world by consciously seeing less of it. It sounds contradictory but there’s a reason why it works. Travel provides an extraordinary opportunity to learn about people and cultures and place them in their historical and contemporary contexts. Slow travelers begin by reminding themselves that they can’t see it all. They are students of world history, geography, art, music, architecture, anthropology, languages – what Zorba called the “full catastrophe” (never mind that he was talking about marriage and family; the phrase covers all situations). Here are four famous attractions that you should avoid unless you have ample time in Rome.
Archive for Work and Adventure – Page 28
The surface of Rome is crowded with antiquities and monuments dating from before the time of Christ, through the Etruscan and Roman periods, the founding and dominance of the Catholic Church, and reaching perhaps it’s highest expression in the Renaissance painting and sculpture of Rafael and Michelangelo. But there is more to Rome than what appears on the surface.
Life is thriving over our heads and underground in the Eternal City. It is often difficult to think about looking up when there is so much straining for our attention on the ground, but if you do you notice that rooftops across the city are alive with greenery. This picture was taken from our kitchen window, and there are similar views from the living room and bathroom. Our apartment is on the 5th floor of a building just off the Piazza di Spagna, and while the facades of the historic buildings on the street are neat and orderly the interior courtyards and rooftops are alive with new growth.
In Rome (and New York, apparently) it’s either fashion or food. Today it’s fashion, and it’s all in black and white. Karl Lagerfeld once said, “Black and white always looks modern,” and this month in the fashionable neighborhoods around Piazza di Spagna and Via Condotti Karl’s dictum has been optimized. Women, men, thin, tall, short, heavy, young, old, and all the store windows are full of it.
But first, we need a soundtrack. Every fashion show needs musical accompaniment and these guys are a perfect fit. They call themselves Stageless, but they do have a CD and a Facebook page. They’re strictly street musicians. Yesterday they were in front of our apartment on Via del Babuino, where the narrow street with tall buildings creates an echo effect. The muted trumpet echoed in the neighborhood, and when we heard it through our open apartment window we had to go down to find out who was playing. These three guys are the best street buskers I’ve ever heard. They do upbeat, funky, New Orleans and soulful jazz, and they do it all well – especially the trumpet. We stood on the opposite side of the street, listened, and fed their open guitar case Euros. This morning we ran into them again in the big square in front of the Pantheon. Here’s a black and white fashion parade from the last two days in our neighborhood. Imagine, if you will, a soulful rendition of Summertime https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZWuyU-QC4E when you watch the black and white show unfold. – or this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51MB9fboJTE Let’s check out street fashion in Rome:
The Roman spring is legendary. Southern Europe is warming up but the rest of the continent is just beginning to thaw. Schools are in session and the bulk of this summer’s visitors are still in the planning stages for their Roman holidays. It’s the perfect time to visit.
The last time M and I were here was October of 2003. We rode our bikes from the lakes in the north (Como and Maggiore), south to Milan then down through Tuscany and Umbria to Rome. It was a first-rate adventure but by October the locals were exhausted, tired of tourists, and looking forward to their own vacations. By then the weather had changed and our four days in Rome were rain drenched. It was an exciting trip, but this year is totally different; the weather is perfect, the people welcoming, and the city full of energy.
If verb forms can have their moment, the gerund “trending” is definitely having its 15 minutes of fame. I see references to it everywhere. It’s not just Twitter that’s chattering about it. All the social media sites are full of it (no pun intended). There are trending global brands. Ralph Lauren, Gucci, and Versace are trending in Saigon. Banana Republic and Gap in Kuala Lumpur. In America the transgender population, cat videos, and selfies are trending. In food it’s slow cooking. And in Rome? What’s “trending” in Rome (#trendinginrome)? OMG, it’s Gluten-Free Pizza. What? No. Yes, it’s true. It must be a joke. Gluten-free pizza in Rome? Yup, not kidding. Here it is folks. Up close and personal.
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