Rome is eternal, the Eternal City! That much has been said before about it. But it keeps proving true over and over for me…
I just went for my third time, this time for the longest visit yet (about 6 days). I never seem to get to a spot anywhere near “I feel like I know this place”. I keep discovering new areas of town, new “must see’s”, new dishes, etc. It will take me an eternity to master Rome – and the money that goes along with that eternity! (Funding, anyone? Angel investor, I like to go to the Vatican in case that sways you.) Rome is eternal indeed…
Rome Has History and I Have History with Rome
Though I had been there twice before, each visit had been for about 3 days each. Both included Papal audiences as the Pope had changed inter-visit and I had to check out the new guy. Oh, and when I mean check out, I mean up close. I was not down with the masses that time. I was up by the stage. But I digress. This is about my 2012 visit, not my 2006 visit.
In any case, I had seen some of the key sights of Rome (the Forum, the Colosseum, St. Peter‘s all the way to the top and all the way to the bottom at the Scavi, etc.). But I STILL knew I had some key sites and sights I had not been able to get to. Most shocking of all the missing sites was the Sistine Chapel. It became my number one target for this trip (and I saw it!).
Laser-Focused Objective. Make that “Objectives”
Laser-like focus on the Sistine Chapel became a little less focused when friends coming on the trip raised the idea of getting to Pompeii. Scope creep! What I warn my clients about in my day job. But, heck I had been to Italy now 2 times and I had never made it south of Rome. And Pompeii… Images from all the history classes in school flashing like a neon sign in my head… Well, how could that be left out… But surely these two plus maybe a couple of churches and, of course, the Pantheon – how could I forget, I had never seen it either. OK, so now I had a definitive focused list of places I did want to see this time. The rest of the visit open for whatever…
And so the trip began on my way to reducing time-to-eternal, ETC (estimate to completion), shortening of the list of things to still do in Rome… and the trip ended with enough left over to ensure another return. A fourth…
See, it worked out perfectly. Now you have to go back yet again. It’s a wonderful problem to have.
If you are fascinated with history then you can not stop being fascinated by Rome, the inheritor of the world’s greatest civilization. Sometimes I wish we had more remnants of the great archeological and cultural achievements from that great empire. Rome continues to be a magnet even now, with its history and present perfectly amalgamated, making it irresistible for the visitors.
Well said, Ray! Can’t wait to go back some day.