Rome

We’ve reached the last leg of our trip- Rome or Roma as it is called locally.

[Aside note: Many English names suffer from a rear-end chop in spelling/pronunciation. Roma in Italian is Rome in English, Marco is Mark.  It’s like the rear-end chop in Hindi. Acharya Kripa (short sound of “a” not “aa”) becomes Krip in Hindi, Karna (short final “a”) becomes Karn (or worse Karan!) in Hindi. In contrast, South Indian languages are like Italian- adding unnecessary trailing letters- Krishnan, Krishnaa! Hey, who is to say which is correct?]

Don Bosco!

As we get out of the station in Rome, a Don Bosco bookshop is seen across the road. There is a black and white picture of the saint hung in the shop, which can be seen from across the road. As a past pupil of Don Bosco High School, it is a feeling of genuine pride. The contribution of the school in shaping us the way we’ve eventually turned out, is immense. It is simply baffling that a century ago, some enterprising folks affiliated to this group should start from here, cross the seas and land up in a completely foreign land (and the associated culture shock!) and set up educational institutions in Mumbai, Kolkata , Chennai and other places.  They were indeed pioneers.

Lugging luggage one more time:

Taxi drivers in Rome are similar to the ones in India. They don’t want to drive to a location nearby with no scope to make money. More than one convinced us that the hotel is walking distance if we take the opposite exit from the train station. We fell for the bait- another bad decision.

To lug five fairly big pieces of luggage with 2 kids over a distance of 800 m is not easy at all. We were worn out by the time we reached the hotel.

Roaming around Rome:

Rome was not built in a day. But to attempt to see it in a day is even more futile. The city is vast and complicated with several places of tourist attraction. Also, we lack the familiarity which made navigating Paris easy. Roman history churns out several names, all of which sound familiar, but chronology eludes us at the nick of time. Nero, Caligula, the Caesars, Constantine, the Byzantines, the pagans, the crusaders are all wound to Rome in some convoluted way, but we need to shake the dust off the history books to get a good grasp.

At this point in our trip, we are like the mediocre student sitting for a Calculus exam. The questions are bewildering, the skill-set at the student’s disposal is limited and time at a premium. Cracking the exam paper is out of question. The student solves the obvious questions to just pass the exam!

We take a decision to go with the guided tours that we have been booked for. The rest of the time, which is little, we will try to cover the most obvious ones. The remaining places, well, it will just have to wait!

The coliseum:

The coliseum was not too far away. Took a bus right up to it. The stone skeleton of the coliseum is still intact. It has arches in multiple layers. Time obviously has eaten into the structure, but it is still in a shape where we can wander around at different levels. The audio guide was too detailed; our attention span limited. But it was good enough to get some insight into the details of the structure.

It was inaugurated in the year 80 AD and served as a venue for gladiatorial fights- where man fights exotic wild animals, sometimes unto death. It was built by King Vespasian and his son Titus. It was named coliseum because there was a colossal statue of King Nero which was later converted into a statue for the Sun God.

About 50000 people could sit and watch this spectacle. It was the IPL of those days! The base of the Coliseum is called “arena” because it is covered with sand. (I believe arena means sand in Latin.) Below the arena were a set of underground chambers used to store animals as wells as weapons for the gladiators. These chambers are still intact though the arena is gone and being restored currently.

Lots of dots have to be joined by our imagination to appreciate this place. It seems the entire coliseum was covered by a canvas awning hoisted by some 250 poles atop the structure.

There are references to holes in the arena through which animals and warriors could be raised from the underground chambers (as though by a lift).

Classes of people were segregated and made to occupy levels according to their status in society.  The coliseum fell out of favor when Rome embraced Christianity. The coliseum was neglected and the marble from here was taken away for construction else where. We cannot follow why they couldn’t have replaced gladiatory sports with something more graceful. That way, the coliseum could have still been put to use.

Soon, we have had enough. It was extremely windy and cold which made it difficult to hang around for more time.

Illuminated Rome:

In the evening, we went on a tour of the city under lights. The bus took us past quite a few landmarks which we could quickly tick off.  In particular, we spent time at the Trevi Fountain and the Novona Square. 

Trevi Fountain:

Trevi Fountain had a festive look in the late evening. It was milling with people, all of whom follow a particular ritual- They toss a coin behind them in the water so that their wish comes true. I’m not entirely sure whether we can wish for anything or whether the rewards are fixed- someone mentioned that 3 coins are tossed so that we can get back to Rome, get married and then get divorced. Whatever- It didn’t quite tickle me.

The fountains are lit and the water gushes out surrounded by a host of marble statues.  We are told that Neptune is at the centre and represents the ocean- He is an old man who points to something in an animated fashion. There are other figures which are supposed to convey the various moods of the ocean. The guide has an alternate explanation that the four figures stand for the four seasons.

It is termed Trevi fountain because three roads meet at this point. 

Novona Square:

It was quite late by the time we reached Novona Square. It has two impressive marble sculptures by Bernini. Bernini came after Michelangelo and accounts for some of the most moving sculptures in Rome. The square (piazza) was lively even at this time. People typically have a gelatti (ice-cream) in dark chocolate flavor for which this square is well known.  Also, there were plenty of artists drawing portraits for a price- 40 Euro. Others specialized in caricatures and some with scenes around Rome. It made for interesting viewing.

The rest of the places were a blurr. The Old Roman wall, the old ruins, the coliseum, the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill, the Capitol, the Tiber River, the island converted into a hospital, the Capitol, the balcony from where Mussolini announced Italy’s entry into World war II, St Peter’s Basilica and Vatican, the fashion street in Rome- We drove past all these places in the luxury of our bus seats.  By 10:30 pm, the trip was done and we were back at the hotel.

The images are too fleeting to form an opinion about Rome. We have one more day.