Rome. A travel log.

Visiting Rome was my childhood dream come true. It was surreal seeing the Colosseum for the first time - a pure serotonin experience. But my experience with the city itself, as an adult, I "glazed" it from a critical lens, and I see things differently now.

Day One. 

I arrived at Leonardo DaVinci airport hot, exhausted, and a little hungry. The punishing 40C weather in Rome with minimal AC didn't help either. I quickly made my way to the Airport Express train station, got my tickets and boarded. The view from train was surreal. I kept thinking to myself how incredible it was to be here. It almost didn't feel real. Fields of rural and urban life. Small villages, old homes abandoned or sparingly occupied. Ancient ruins, chapels, and small churches. Graffiti. The atmosphere though felt distinctly Italian. Spicy and warm. The train ride was short just 30 minutes. I rushed to the bus boarded and made my way to the hotel luggage in tow. After check-in I turned on the AC full blast to cool off, took a shower, gave my gratitude to God and took a short nap. I woke up an hour later still dazed with the idea that I made it to Rome. I got dressed and started my discovery of the ancient city. The hotel's location was pretty amazing. 20 minutes or less walking distance to pretty much all the core sites. Pantheon, Piazza Venezia, Circus Maximus, and of course the Colosseum. I fought my way through the unbearable heat. My body felt like giving up on my last leg, the path to the Colosseum but I kept resisting the urge to give up. I made it. First the Arch of Constantinople (which I had no idea existed) but I remember standing there in all its glory, just fascinated with this incredible piece of history. A few steps more - there it was - my childhood dream manifest. The Colosseum. I couldn't take my eyes of it and I just felt incredibly humbled in its projection of power. This immense monument, the tribute to a different, ancient time of history, was just there right in front of me. Countless times I read and saw this thing in books and documentaries and now there it was - right in front of me. I did it. I made it.

Day Two.

Yulia and Sofia arrived tired and hungry. We sat the airport for about an hour to help them recover from travelling. We wrapped up and boarded a full train. We couldn't find a spot to load our luggage so I had to stand by them the entire ride. We made it to the hotel and Yulia and Sofia freshened up a bit and took a short nap. We prepped and began our exploration of Rome as a family. First stop, Trevi Fountain. We had to pay a 3 euro entrance fee, snapped a few Insta worthy pics and then some pics with the Pantheon. I can't remember what we ate for dinner that night. We went back to the hotel and just took the rest of the night off. It was a hot summer and energy levels get zapped quickly.

Day Three.

Early rise for hotel breakfast and then Colosseum. I didn't want to trouble Yulia and the kid with too much walking so we took the bus to Piazza Venezia and then walked the rest of the way to the Colosseum. We checked-in on time using our pre-booked ticket time-slot. Explored the Colosseum, but honestly the magic disappeared from me I couldn't enjoy the experience because 1) It was too hot 2) It was too crowded 3) The kid and wife were tired. There was a lot to explore but we had limited time to take in and appreciate everything. The heat killed the experience for me. Exhausted we got some gelato and headed back to the hotel for some rest.

Day Four.

Vatican. The Catholic Mecca. It probably would have meant more for me if I stayed a Catholic. But I'm Orthodox now and more so a Pantheist so a lot of this stuff seems excessive. A brief bus ride from our hotel dropped us right in front of the entrance of Vatican City. The plaza was immense. A thirty minute wait in line in the scorching morning sun and we were able to enter St Peter's basilica. Mosaics, golden tempered motifs, renaissance paintings, the obsession for beauty. They spared nothing. Is this what Jesus wanted for the church? I wonder. Souvenir shop, basically the Disneyfication of Catholicism. I picked up a few items as it meant something for relatives who subscribe to this stuff. We navigated our way to the Vatican museum almost got scammed but we knew better and booked a 3pm visit for the museum. A short nap and snacks at the hotel and we were back again. Didn't take too long in the lineup, just about 15 minutes of wait time and shuffling around to get our tickets sorted. There was no shortcut to the Sistine Chapel. You had to walk the entire museum and at the end of the line you get the Sistine Chapel and then the tour is over.

Day Five. 

End of the tour of Rome. We took the train to Bari, Puglia. Spent the rest of our trip in that region. I don't have much to say about Puglia. Although it was distinctly Italian, it just felt like a Temu version of Mallorca. Historical centres were Hallmark worthy for sure, but the rest of the cities were too urbanized, too polluted. Just imagine American culture and paint Italian symbols and motifs over it. That was Puglia for me.

After thoughts.

Okay, so my dream to see remnants of the empire I grew up with, educated in, and worshipped my entire life was finally realized. I should be ecstatic, perhaps, overjoyed with the idea of checking this one off my bucket list? Well, I'm half there. Half not. I think half of me looks at everything from a more mature lens. I grew up being an advocate for the Western world, believing it to be superior to all other worlds, but I just can't advocate for it anymore. Decolonization upturned my world, so I approach things with a more cynical and objective point of view. The Roman empire was built on conquest and slavery. Everything we witness now is ensnared in the commodification of ancient Rome's oppression of human rights (human rights didn't exist back then), and we funnel our tourism dollars into a region that still glorifies that behavior. Just imagine what the Roman empire laid the foundation to, we still see their influence in the modern world, Colosseums replaced with football stadiums, basilicas replaced with Mega Churches complete with laser shows, slavery with poverty. Our broken world is what it is now because of the Roman world, and I think that realization killed the experience for me. Rome, Paris, all these European hotspots have Disneyfied the lifestyles of the oppressive dictators and ultra wealthy of the past, and created a vacuum for tourist dollars. We've all fallen for the scam and continue to patronize it.

My childhood dream has been checked off and I think I'm ready to be an adult now. The Western world. I'm so over it.