Rome! What is it like?
Posted: 2004-04-02 01:05pm
Well that depends.
In Italy, there is no need to get a driver's licence as clearly everyone who's behind a wheel can't fucking drive. It get's worse with the cavalier attitude most pedestrians have when crossing the street. My god, people just casually walked across (minor exageration, people looked left and right, but still. They didn't exactly rush, and some drivers routinely put their lives on the line without so much as thinking about what they were doing - or so it seemed to me, the outsider).
People here are fucking insane.
In case you haven't read the venting thread I'll repeat what I said there: If you want to take a piss, be prepared to spend money for the privilege. Yes, I was about to walk in to the toilets after 30 mins of rushing around like I had a dam about to burst in my bladder (which was how it felt at the time), turned the corner and BAM! There was a barrier with a coin machine obstructing the way to sweet release. Fucking hell, and I was thinking going in the bushes would be obscene. Fuck that.
Oh yeah, Rome is OLD. There is no other way to say it. This place is ancient. The new stuff is essentially built around and through and on top of the old stuff, which of course was built on top of the ancient stuff, which is in ruins. You certainly get this feeling wherever you go. I'm from a country who's history is barely 200 years old. This place has 3'000 years, plus.
The Vatican apparently has technicolour-wearing spear-wielding Commandos protecting the inner sanctums. I was laughing my arse off, while my brother was like "Dude! What the fuck? Those are REAL commandos!"
The Colloseum - one word: WOW. This place could hold hundreds of thousands, and it sure looks like it. Even when in ruins it is still impressive. And the names etched into the rock was haunting. One complaint, and it's a serious one: NO FUCKING TOILETS. This is a major tourist destination, would it fucking kill this arseholes to put in some plumbing? Jesus fucking christ, just a bowl would be nice!
Oh yeah, for some strange reason people have a reluctance to break large notes. Go figure. Some people are arseholes.
Today's been a long day, spent right after a grueling total of 19 hours spent in the air (and a further 3 spent in Singapore). I'm fucking tired, hungry, thirsty - so I'm gonna go. If anyone's interested anyway I'm mostly fine. I couldn't live here. Visiting is barely tolerable for many reasons, some of which I've tried listing above. Still, I don't think I'll forget walking into the Colleseum and just taking it in.
Cheers.
In Italy, there is no need to get a driver's licence as clearly everyone who's behind a wheel can't fucking drive. It get's worse with the cavalier attitude most pedestrians have when crossing the street. My god, people just casually walked across (minor exageration, people looked left and right, but still. They didn't exactly rush, and some drivers routinely put their lives on the line without so much as thinking about what they were doing - or so it seemed to me, the outsider).
People here are fucking insane.
In case you haven't read the venting thread I'll repeat what I said there: If you want to take a piss, be prepared to spend money for the privilege. Yes, I was about to walk in to the toilets after 30 mins of rushing around like I had a dam about to burst in my bladder (which was how it felt at the time), turned the corner and BAM! There was a barrier with a coin machine obstructing the way to sweet release. Fucking hell, and I was thinking going in the bushes would be obscene. Fuck that.
Oh yeah, Rome is OLD. There is no other way to say it. This place is ancient. The new stuff is essentially built around and through and on top of the old stuff, which of course was built on top of the ancient stuff, which is in ruins. You certainly get this feeling wherever you go. I'm from a country who's history is barely 200 years old. This place has 3'000 years, plus.
The Vatican apparently has technicolour-wearing spear-wielding Commandos protecting the inner sanctums. I was laughing my arse off, while my brother was like "Dude! What the fuck? Those are REAL commandos!"
The Colloseum - one word: WOW. This place could hold hundreds of thousands, and it sure looks like it. Even when in ruins it is still impressive. And the names etched into the rock was haunting. One complaint, and it's a serious one: NO FUCKING TOILETS. This is a major tourist destination, would it fucking kill this arseholes to put in some plumbing? Jesus fucking christ, just a bowl would be nice!
Oh yeah, for some strange reason people have a reluctance to break large notes. Go figure. Some people are arseholes.
Today's been a long day, spent right after a grueling total of 19 hours spent in the air (and a further 3 spent in Singapore). I'm fucking tired, hungry, thirsty - so I'm gonna go. If anyone's interested anyway I'm mostly fine. I couldn't live here. Visiting is barely tolerable for many reasons, some of which I've tried listing above. Still, I don't think I'll forget walking into the Colleseum and just taking it in.
Cheers.