Ah, nostalgia, how can I describe thee? You are like a comforting hello mixed with the inevitable painful goodbye. I miss these places and all the memories made in them, but in writing and sharing them I can relive the moment, if only for a short while. You will indulge me, won’t you?
Rome: City of history and wonder. Unfortunately, I think it is hard to form a really informed opinion based upon a few hourse of experience, but I’m going to give a visitor’s first impression as best I can.
Tiahna and I were sittin in the airport for our extended layover (something like 7 or more hours), and had previously decided just to relax since we didn’t really have time to do much of anything anyway. Let’s be honest, though, as photographers and wandering adventurers, we each secretly wanted to go into Rome, but had decided based on our travel plan (plane to Romania, long train ride to our destination) that we would just rest until our next flight.
We decided to Skype my parents and my mother encouraged us to go in. "You can either sit in the airport or sit on the bus and possibly see something." With an argument like that, who wouldn’t make a hasty exit? Yet another reason why I love my parents – they enable my adventurous spirit. More parents need to be enablers and encourage their kids that they can do great things. It all starts with this curious, adventurous nature that is seeking to break through each one of us, if we let it, but few of us have the courage to let it out if we are not first encouraged that we can do it. It makes a huge difference to know that your parents are behind you when you go somewhere, it gives you the courage to go for it, knowing that your folks believe in you. Even as an adult, it makes a difference.
I can just hear my former instructors saying, "No railroad track pictures!" Relax, guys, they are tram tracks and it is used for foot traffic too. (At least that's the story I'm telling.)
Now, I said "hasty exit" before to indicate our state of mind, not the reality of actualy events. I’m not going to go into our walking around in circles to find a way out, asking a few people, finally being directed to go out the employee exit (say what?), buying bus tickets but deciding we didn’t need to buy return tickets right then, waiting in line for a long time, turning around after getting on the bus and not seeing Tiahna because she had to put her bag under the bus (but not knowing that until she told me later), and the worry that accompanied not seeing her until her slightly annoyed and concerned-for-her-bag face finally appeared and I could breathe a sigh of relief...I’m not going to go into all that. I want to talk about Rome.
I’m just guessing, and I feel like I am right, but I don’t think that December is the optimal time of year to go to Italy in general. There are probably nicer months to explore the ancient ruins and walk the streets as you experience the culture. However, a city is still a city in the winter months, and I think to truly get the essence of a place, you do need to visit in the "off-season." As it is, my opinion can only really be half-formed, but I hope one day to go back in the tourist season to see the excitement and agitation that occurs in that time of year. Also, as with any writing, take everything with a grain of salt – know that you must judge for yourself, not just take whatever I have to say and run with it!
Our bus ride into Rome at first filled me with a kind of sadness. I don’t have any photos to explain what I mean, because I didn’t want that to be my memory of Rome, but it definitely has stuck with me. On the outskirts of town, it was almost like the world had emptied their pockets of all garbage and finished up their drinks of whatever bottled beverage and casually thrown them on the ground, as if to relieve themselves of all burdens before entering the city. Now, I don’t honestly know what the state of littering is in Italy, and it shouldn’t have surprised me since I’ve seen it many times before elsewhere, but for some reason, I was shocked. I guess I just pictured such a famous location as being clean, but the truth is, the more people that come through, the more maintenance is required. I think my first feelings were ones of remorse, that such a great and beautiful city would be treated in such a way. She seemed like an old friend who has been disrespected by people that couldn’t have cared less. I wished to help her back onto her feet, and help her on her way, but I realized that I was just a visitor in this ancient city, and I would have to content my self with the experience. The truth is, I have no idea if there are efforts to clean up the surrounding areas, or not, so I cannot assume that the residents don’t care. I am sure that they care a great deal, and I will be glad to hear of any humanitarian efforts underway!
She'll probably hate this, but it makes me smile and shows her personality so well!
Moving on from first impressions, as we entered the city, the architecture immediately grabbed my attention. If you’ve ever been to any historic European city, you know that there is a unique almost antique feeling in the atmosphere. And when I say antique, I mean in the vintage, historic, make you want to time travel, sort of antique, not the antiquated, old, possibly dingy, needs an update, kind of antique. The feeling that the first definition produces is one of my favorites. I am not naive enough to think that I would like to live back in the day, I know I am too accustomed to this day, but I would give a lot to be able to time travel and experience history as it happened. I feel that way so often when I visit historic places. Who doesn’t?
By the time we made it through all of the traffic to the central station in Rome, we had about an hour to do the two things we wanted to do. Take a picture, and drink an Italian coffee. Due to circumstances (wandering around trying to find a return bus ticket so we had it for later), we only had time to do one of those – take pictures. We walked down one street, took some pictures as we went, and had to turn back around for our bus. I can almost hear the collective "Wow...” I did tell you that this is just a first impression, not a well educated post. I would definitely like to go back to round out my opinion.
However, even walking down that one street in Rome, wandering , trying to convince vendors trying to sell us tours that we literally had no time, taking in all the mopeds and little cars...it leaves you with this incredible feeling. A city that has been alive for such a long time has such an incredible heartbeat, and you can feel it in the streets. It’s not only in the sights, but in the sounds and the smells too. How does one describe such a thing? It is something that must be experienced first hand. Part of me wishes I had the ability to describe the din of the traffic, the vendors calling out to you, the sound of many feet walking on the sidewalks hurrying to their various destinations, and the sound of mopeds hurrying by...I wish I could describe the scent of the rain in the air either on its way or passed, the smell of the various restaurants wafting along and combining into one interesting amalgamation of aroma, or just the smell of the streets themselves. But I know that if you take my word for it, it’s a disservice to Rome. Please, do yourself an enormous favour, and go adventuring in Rome. I only saw the station and basically just one side street, and it left me hungry for more!
I’m not going to go into detail about our bus being late, exchanging tickets for a new bus that showed up, sitting on said bus for about a half an hour (probably more) anxious about making our flight, taking about an hour on the bus to the airport through traffic, making peace with missing our flight, and yet secretly hoping we made it, running like mad women through the airport, and barely actually making our flight to Romania... too much to go into right now, but suffice it to say that we made it! Obviously, the adventure is never-ending.
I have decided to leave you this time with Rome, and to pick up next time with my beloved Romania. I don’t want this post to be too long and get too wordy for enjoyment. Thank you all for your time and for putting up with my attempt at keeping this blog alive!
God bless!
~Alyssa Kay
Model and Fellow Wanderer: Tiahna Somero
Location: Rome, Italy
*All photos are property of Alyssa Kay Photography or Tiahna Lynn Photography and may not be used without permission.