A Week in Rome: Intro and Table of Contents

Well, we did it. My dad and I managed to fly 6,000 miles to Rome, have a great time, and lose only a fancy umbrella. Bitterness about the umbrella notwithstanding, the trip was a great success. Over the next three weeks I'll be posting pictures from the trip, so you can follow along as we weaved through the delightful narrow cobblestoned streets, slurped up extraordinary Italian cuisine, and stood in awe before 2,000 years of history in a city that ruled most of Europe and the Middle East for a millennia. At one time my own western European ancestors were ruled by these people, whose descendents have now found a more humble, but happy, place in the world in the nation of Italy.

Italy is a culturally dense--and rich--country. Layer upon layer of civilization literally stacks up on every street corner.  Economically it is thoroughly first-world, a remarkable achievement after the Second World War.  Despite problems with unemployment among the young, the country appears remarkably prosperous, and small family-owned businesses thrive in a way nearly unimaginable in the United States today. Every restaurant had an attentive proprietor, minding his guests and attending to their every need. Gelato shops beckoned on every corner with candy colored temptations, such as our favorite ice cream shop of all time, in Florence, just a block from Il Duomo.

The Italian people were quite patient with my elementary attempts at their language. After 7 years of Spanish, Italian was both easy, and particularly hard, to pick up . The vocabulary is often shared, but sometimes, the subtle differences can be easily forgotten. I made a particular error in the Vatican cafeteria, when I asked for "Bad Juice" instead of "Apple Juice".  I don't think you go to hell for that, but I'm not entirely sure.

The Catholic Church still has a very important place in Rome. Though most Italians aren't, shall we say, following the instructions of the Pope (the birth rate here is remarkably low, and the population is actually shrinking, probably not due to the rythmn method), the churches still sway the seasonal tides.

So join me over the next three weeks as we peek into the sights of Rome and Florence, two of the most influential cities in western culture, and search for an answer to the eternal question: how many different uniforms DO the Italian police have, anyway? A hundred?