Wonderwall: My Italian Summer - Rome, wondrously chaotic

If you are a fan of the classic black and white movie, the Roman Holiday, like I am, you would know how it feels like to have Rome always on your mind.

If you think Vienna airport is unorganized, then Rome's is absolutely crazy. It took me 3 hours to find my luggage in Rome international airport. The train platform was packed with people with puzzled look. I hopped on a train praying it would take me to the main terminal in the city, and I was lucky that day.

When i was dragging my little suit case through streets on my way to the hotel, I was tired, thirty, semi-lost and happy. I was surrounded by strange places filled with strange people speaking strange languages, and for the first time I didn't feel like a stranger. Rome was big, dirty and noisy. Streets were packed with homicidal and suicidal drivers and pedestrians. People were rude and loud. All of these kind of made me smile to myself and think, 'this is just like home'.

I am not a huge natural beauty appreciator. I mean I think they are beautiful, the mountains, the ocean, the trees and the beaches. Honestly I almost hate beaches. It relaxes me, and it bores me to death at the same time. I love cities, cultures, civilizations, people and their lives, languages, history, humanity.... I need to learn something I don't already know all the time to stay awake. Italy is the perfect place for me. Did I forget food? Oh yeah, food is very important to me. As a Chinese I am a natural food snob. The reason I never was temped enough to go to England is I haven't seen/heard one dish there that makes me droll. I mean who the heck eat Yorkshire pudding? the salty, deep fried nothingness! I didn't go to any fancy restaurants in Italy. I stayed alive with all the street food or things from the small shops. I believe I could be a vegetarian and still be happy in there. I find Italian food almost as comforting as Chinese food to me.

I had bought a pair of flat walking shoes before I took off for Europe. Somehow I still underestimated the walking part. I planned the trip so hellishly, so that I didn't need to take a taxi at all. For the 3 days I was in Rome, I walked more than all the walk together I had done in my entire life. At the end of the each day, I could not even stand on my feet. I had to soak them in the cold water to get the burning pain off. Most of the time I didn't really have a destination. I wandered through streets, sitting down on stone steps watching the fountains and people passing by. Rome unlike other famous tourist cities in Italy, like Florence or Vinnece, it has a life of its own. Too bad I didn't get to see much of it for staying so short.

I have to admit there was disappointment. I was kind of hoping to see more of the Roman's Rome, the Rome through Julius Caesar's eyes, the Rome that belonged to the Jupiter and Venus worshiping people, the civilization that had a strong Greek root, the pre-Christianity time. Most of it was gone. Anything beautiful has been turned into a church. When I heard that the the bronze that was used to built the gigantic altar in St. Peter's was 'borrowed' from the The Pantheon, 'the temple of all gods', I was almost angry, although now the Pantheon itself is a church. People have built all sorts of monuments with hope to reach eternity, but who has touched more souls and who would be remembered by most people for the longest time? Do people come here from all over the world year after year to see St. Peter's? the Pope? or Michelangelo?!

The high light of my days in Rome would be the time I spent licking my chocolate gelato sitting on top of the Spanish Steps wondering if I would spot a lost Princess in the warm sunset in this beautiful, romantic, ancient city.

Rome is so chaotically wondrous, and I wish it would never change a bit.

I am not going to show you any picture of any thing that is in any post cards...