(no subject)
Rome...
I've decided not to use LJ for pictures anymore because it's simply to hard to upload mass amounts onto it, either with there software or by hand. So all the rome pics will be on myspace and facebook, and who knows where I'll post them in the future. Any good pictures will, ofcourse, go to my website.
I will, however, write about it here. I won't bore you with details of every little place, you can find out about that stuff on wiki. I'll just give my impressions of the city as a whole. Now these impressions might seem mostly negative, but I should point out that I did have fun, and it was a good vacation. I guess I can say that it's a nice place to visit, I just wouldn't want to live there :O
Rome is a city of contrasts. Ancient and modern buildings, rude and overly-helpful people, restoration and vandalism to the structures, the laid back life with the frantic travel, and the extreme wealth and extreme poverty.
The first contrast should be fairly clear. While in Rome one can see anything from a 2500 year old building to a 1 year old building, often standing right next to eachother. While the architectual style of these buildings does obviously differ, the city as a whole doesn't feel as piece-meal as one would think, it feels like one city.
The second is perhaps an insult to the roman people on both sides, and perhaps it's not fair of me, but it's how i saw things. They're very rude and, well, douchebaggy. The drivers honk at every little announance, they express frustration with you if you're paying in bills rather then coins (i guess they're afraid of papermoney?) they never get out of your way on the sidewalks (shouldn't 50% be fair?), and some, as aimee can tsetify, have no respect for women. The exception to the rudeness is if they expect money from you, then they're head-over-heals nice to you. Now I know I shouldn't generailze, and I'm sure they're not all that way, but, as a general comparison between cultures, I felt they were very rude.
The third is about the constant state of change the buildings are in. Almost every old thing we went to see was under some state of restoration. It's good that the country as a whole understands the importance of what they have. The younger population, however, doesn't seem to understand this. I say this because there is literaly graffiti on everysingle building in rome. Not an exageration. It's everywehre, sometimes to the point where you can't see what's under it. Kinda crazy.
The fourth is perhaps the strangest contrast to me. The romans, like other non-americans, keep very limited store hours. The open for a few hours in the morning, close for a very long lunch, open for a few more hours, then close early. I'll accept that I'm just used to things being open all the time, and that's it's just differnt, not worse.....but it does seem damn inefficient :O So they have a very laid-back approach to work, but then when traveling to and from work they're madmen. They walk fast, they drive fast, and they park anywehre they please. I would not want to have to drive in that city.
The final contrast, wealth and poverty, isn't so strange, we have it here certainly, but it's much for visual in Rome. Our hotel was in the not-so-nice part of the city, and we passed by some even worse parts while on the trains. They're typical slums, and there's perhaps nothing special about that. The strange part, however, is that if you wlk jsut a little ways to a religous center you're suddenly engulfed in just immense amounts of wealth, more wealth then perhaps I'm even able to comprehend. The amount of gold and silver and marble and ornate workings in these churches, and especially the vatacin, is staggering. There are no words or even pcitures that I have that could relay how much granduer is in these buildings... just yards away from some of the poorest people...
So yes...contrasts.
I was also amazed how expensive everything was. This is partly because of the week dollar, and partly because of being in a large city...but geez. A restaraunt meal cost us anywehre from 40 to 70 dollars for two. Even a simple piece of pizza was 2 or more dollars. The only thing that was reasonable was the wine...go figure.
Finally I'd just like to thank aimee for dping most of the work for this trip. It was a lot of fun and I'm glad we went.
I've decided not to use LJ for pictures anymore because it's simply to hard to upload mass amounts onto it, either with there software or by hand. So all the rome pics will be on myspace and facebook, and who knows where I'll post them in the future. Any good pictures will, ofcourse, go to my website.
I will, however, write about it here. I won't bore you with details of every little place, you can find out about that stuff on wiki. I'll just give my impressions of the city as a whole. Now these impressions might seem mostly negative, but I should point out that I did have fun, and it was a good vacation. I guess I can say that it's a nice place to visit, I just wouldn't want to live there :O
Rome is a city of contrasts. Ancient and modern buildings, rude and overly-helpful people, restoration and vandalism to the structures, the laid back life with the frantic travel, and the extreme wealth and extreme poverty.
The first contrast should be fairly clear. While in Rome one can see anything from a 2500 year old building to a 1 year old building, often standing right next to eachother. While the architectual style of these buildings does obviously differ, the city as a whole doesn't feel as piece-meal as one would think, it feels like one city.
The second is perhaps an insult to the roman people on both sides, and perhaps it's not fair of me, but it's how i saw things. They're very rude and, well, douchebaggy. The drivers honk at every little announance, they express frustration with you if you're paying in bills rather then coins (i guess they're afraid of papermoney?) they never get out of your way on the sidewalks (shouldn't 50% be fair?), and some, as aimee can tsetify, have no respect for women. The exception to the rudeness is if they expect money from you, then they're head-over-heals nice to you. Now I know I shouldn't generailze, and I'm sure they're not all that way, but, as a general comparison between cultures, I felt they were very rude.
The third is about the constant state of change the buildings are in. Almost every old thing we went to see was under some state of restoration. It's good that the country as a whole understands the importance of what they have. The younger population, however, doesn't seem to understand this. I say this because there is literaly graffiti on everysingle building in rome. Not an exageration. It's everywehre, sometimes to the point where you can't see what's under it. Kinda crazy.
The fourth is perhaps the strangest contrast to me. The romans, like other non-americans, keep very limited store hours. The open for a few hours in the morning, close for a very long lunch, open for a few more hours, then close early. I'll accept that I'm just used to things being open all the time, and that's it's just differnt, not worse.....but it does seem damn inefficient :O So they have a very laid-back approach to work, but then when traveling to and from work they're madmen. They walk fast, they drive fast, and they park anywehre they please. I would not want to have to drive in that city.
The final contrast, wealth and poverty, isn't so strange, we have it here certainly, but it's much for visual in Rome. Our hotel was in the not-so-nice part of the city, and we passed by some even worse parts while on the trains. They're typical slums, and there's perhaps nothing special about that. The strange part, however, is that if you wlk jsut a little ways to a religous center you're suddenly engulfed in just immense amounts of wealth, more wealth then perhaps I'm even able to comprehend. The amount of gold and silver and marble and ornate workings in these churches, and especially the vatacin, is staggering. There are no words or even pcitures that I have that could relay how much granduer is in these buildings... just yards away from some of the poorest people...
So yes...contrasts.
I was also amazed how expensive everything was. This is partly because of the week dollar, and partly because of being in a large city...but geez. A restaraunt meal cost us anywehre from 40 to 70 dollars for two. Even a simple piece of pizza was 2 or more dollars. The only thing that was reasonable was the wine...go figure.
Finally I'd just like to thank aimee for dping most of the work for this trip. It was a lot of fun and I'm glad we went.