Day 2 - Trastevere yeah yeah

I spent most of today in Trastevere, the place has me hooked.. it the cliched image of a narrow lane, a small dimly lit cafe at the bottom of a run down building, cobbled alley with garbage, cats, beggars and locals enjoying a frascati,.. family discussions flowing from the windows in the uppoer flors and washing strung on lines betwee the buildings... but its real and there is street after street of it just waiting to be seen. Alley after alleys spins into a web of discoveries and suddelny bursts forth onto a large piazza or a church, fountains with cool clear water.. its a dream

I got blissfully lost this morning, even though that meant long uphill walks past walled villas, there was just delight after delight and i literally stumbled across one of the best views in rome.. It was somewhere I had planned to go, but didnt think i was doing so just at that particular moment.. i hope to get some pics on here soon.

Walked to the vatican in the afternoon along the Tevere, San Pietro, it's all about magnitude, pictures can't capture it, you just feel small,... you are supposed to, it's very effective..

What impresses me more about all these ancient wonders are the fact that at the time of their construction there were so few people that would actually see them... today with easy access to affordable travel every wog and their dog has gone to the Trevi fountain and it is still magniicent,.. but 100 years ago and more,.. the magnitude ... thats what its all about, we can't capture that devotion today, no government could build a monument to equal these places, because they would be built knowing that millions of people from all over the world would visit it, places of such magnificence will never be built again.

No it aint federation square.

But why are there so many locals on the streets of rome flocking to piazzas and sipping drinks or just riding around on their vespas? Why cant we capture this same spirit in some of the communities we have in melbourne.. Fitzroy, Carlton, St Kilda,.. there is something missing. I guess it comes back to necessity, housing is cramped and cities arent allowed to sprawl as much as they can back home... people need the space and desire interaction with people who share their lifestyle,.. it's not climate, ours is comparable, it's not public works, our public transport, cleanliness etc surpass what I have seen here, there is a willingness to participate that we don't have in Australia, a spirit, a dare i say it - culture a feeling that you are a part of something and each person plays a special part in the tapestry of life, multicultural life as it's meant to be not as we have constructed it back home... there is an evolution a rapid evolution a vibrancy which we lack.

The afternoon was spent getting lost on the way back from the Vatican, not that good a lost this time, through baically residentlial new developments ... i walked the wrong down a very long alley and a man appeared before me.. i was wondering which newspaper would come to cover my murder, because i really like the fact that italian daily la repubblica has 2 b's... It turned out, in direct violation of my american guide book's suggestions, that he was there to help, i didn't understand a word he said but he got me back onto the road that lead to San Pietro and away from the dreaded roads that wind around the walled Villas... and when i say walls I'm not talking about a 5 foot red brick job,.. I'm talking 50 feet of granite...

I couldnt understand a word the guy said... I think he spoke italian but not any italian that I did... I bought him a beer at a place that was open even though we were at the ass end of May Day and stumbled back towards home.

One more detour took me across the river, in a half assed attempt to get to Trevi fountain before nightfall and make a day of it... i stumbled across Via Giulia a straight lane flanked by old houses, the odd embassy, a palazzio and a beautiful fountain covered in roses, I sat there to check my map when a large family on their afternoon passegiata walked past me, i didn't catch everything the protagonist of the family said but he looked at me and my map spinning between my hands and said... °Roma,.. via fontana,.. via la fontana... via la fontana° to which i replied... °si,.. via un altra fontana,.. via un altra altra fontana... via la due fontani° they laughed,.. the old lady that walked with them gave me a rose.

A Trastevere pizza, topped with sausage, cheese, tomato oven baked on an irregular shaped dough,.. i could taste the ash from the oven ended the day for me..