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EU03 :: Rome :: 111 photos

C

Christopher DeWolf

Guest
you last heard from me in june, when i was about to leave with my girlfriend, the indominatable mlle. laine, for europe. six weeks, seven destinations, eleven plane rides: we're back. it wasn't quite a whirlwind tour, since we had about a week to soak up each place, except for lisbon.

i am preparing ten threads that i will post in august and september. this is the third

KILGORE IN EUROPE :: Photo Schedule

01 -- LONDON (Part One)
02 -- PARIS (Part One)
03 -- ROME
04 -- MADRID (Part One)
05 -- PARIS (Part Two)
06 -- LISBON
07 -- MADRID (Part Two)
09 -- PARIS (Part Three)
10 -- LONDON (Part Two)

the photos in this series were taken by myself, except for those taken by laine, which are noted.


ROME

honestly, i didn't like rome. beneath the charmingly chaotic veneer, past the racing scooters and italians who so fabulously don't give a shit, it feels deeply irrelevant. rome has suffocated under the weight of its own history; rather than confronting it, the romans have simply abandoned it for the tourists.

maybe i'm being a bit harsh, but the city simply didn't give me a good feeling. it's not somewhere i would go back. that said, it's terribly photogenic, so i managed to amass a few photos despite the intense heat and humidity (made unbearable by the general lack of air conditioning in shops and restaurants).

i must admit, though, that the charm of nighttime strolls through trastevere and along the river almost redeemed the city. almost.

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Awesome shots as always... you really should compile these... you deserve a wider audience.

I found Rome to be like a living museum... so many impressive and extremely historic landmarks left and right. It's a city everyone should see at least once. Having said that, I didn't feel comfortable there. I found the people aggressive, the drivers crazy and the city in general to be quite dirty and grafitti-stained. I found all the South Asian bums selling cheap toys on the streets (seen in some of your photos) to be quite depressing as well. Some fine Roman pizza places though.
 
Christopher: Again, thanks for the pictures, and for your commentary. I have never been to Rome but interestingly a couple of friends who have, have made comments in a similar tone to yourself and ganjavih. "Great to see the Vatican and the Coliseum, and then great to get out of town."

The traffic and the dirtiness have been mentioned, but as these can be said of many cities, somehow there must be more to it. Maybe it's just exaggerated expectations? There seems to be a je ne sais quoi at work here that results in Rome being something of a letdown.

Could there be such a thing as too much history?
 

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