At some point I became that person that makes itineraries when they go on vacation. Maybe it is because in Europe there is a discount Airline called Ryanair. With Ryanair you can go almost anywhere in Europe on a Return flight for around $120 each!
That is….as long as you don’t bring ANY luggage, eat nothing on the flight, and don’t mind sitting wherever there is space (or even standing!)
In my humble opinion, this has created a whole generation of European travelers that take 3 day vacations to European capitals, but who are also super pressed for time, and driven by the need to “see it all” in a few short days. This means spending a vacation in let’s say Barcelona, by waking up at 6 am, seeing non-stop attractions for 12-18 hours, going out for a drink and tapas because you MUST even though you are exhuasted, and then waking up at 6 for the next two days and doing it all over again because you are afraid of “missing” something!
Totally exhausting.
I’ve learned that in visiting somewhere new, you don’t need to see every historic monument, but you DO need to live your adventure otherwise it just doesn’t count.
Rome
Thankfully I’ve been to Rome enough times that I no longer have the anxiety to “do it all” or “see everything”. Gillian and I wanted to take the kids’ back to the Children’s Museum (I’ve written about it here in great detail) on a Monday, however, being the well-planned, fly by the seats of our pants moms that we are, we didn’t check the opening days/hours and found the museum closed.
We ended up having an overpriced, gross fried fish lunch and then walking. We walked and walked and walked all the way from the Children’s Museum to her neighborhood, Pignetto (which you can read about here) and it took us a few hours!
We just meandered the streets, taking our time, looking around, chatting about life, and the city, and the people and stuff. The city became a backdrop of our real life, we lived it and it got me thinking….. Rome didn’t just exist during the Roman Empire, Rome is alive.
The bus passes in front of the Colloseum, the man dressed like a gladiator will help you fix your rickshaw, people smoke while crossing the street in front of beautiful momuments, those red plastic construction fences are EVERYWHERE, the Collosum is getting some repairs so it is half-covered, the tram goes through the Acquaducts, monuments will have a great deal of pigeon shit on them and cars, scooters and busses will either be parked in front of or be driving in front of the church you want to photograph.
This city is not a museum, it is alive, it is more like a contemporary art gallery!
Today I’m sharing the last in Rome pictures along with this profile about my amazingly creative friends and their pop-up invitaiton studio.
Here is my walk through Rome. I haven’t included any info about what I saw, just pictures, some of which have an artsy filter on them because I keep involuntarily touching some button on my camera.
Technicaly I didn’t “do” anything on this day of my vacation, I just walked and chatted and saw a lot, but it really got me thinking and these pictures are some of my favourites from the trip so i hope you enjoy them.
I hope I’ve inspired you to schedule a little non-scheduled time the next time you are on vacation and just remember to walk and be a part of the city.