FROM ROME WITH LOVE

   I suppose I imagined Rome. But I didn't imagine this. Nor could I have. Mostly it's the size and ubiquity of all things Roman: ruins, walls, fountains of every shape for every use, colors, parks, churches, piazzas and pizzerias, pines and palms and bougainvillea, myths and motos, shrines and their saints. Even St. Peter's dome and the meandering Tiber seem always to be not that far away.  Everything is much bigger AND more beautiful--more OMG--than could have been captured in all those photos I saw before encountering the reality that is Rome. Those popes and emperors really knew how to show the little man and little woman just how small he/she really was. And in the presence of these monuments to God and to the men who believed they were God, they still have this effect.

  
   Photos just don't make it, not that it's kept me from trying for an approximation of that OMG moment. But mostly I'm trying to focus my shots on the little things. Like gelato. Did you know that there's a time of day for gelato? And also for espresso, and for pizza, and for buying stuff in stores (not between 13:00 and 16:00). And somehow something called gelato doesn't seem too terribly bad for the arteries and the waistline. Not if you call it gelato. Ice cream?. . Now that's another story and a continent away. 

Two scoops, 2 euros.

   
   Perhaps not surprisingly, the beauty and the grand scale (and probably the gelato) seem to have a good effect on people, or at least on the tourists who've come here during this not-so-hot-and-humid, not-quite-so-crowded season. It occurred to me--maybe on Monday while waiting in line at the Coliseum or on Thursday when we contemplated the long security line at St. Peter's Basilica--that I'm actually enjoying being part of these masses of people, hearing all these different languages, seeing all the faces full of anticipation, curious to see all these awe-inspiring achievements of humanity. Waiting in line to feel small. It seems to put people in a good mood. Thoughtful. Happy. Smiling. Putting our lives in perspective. Taking the long view.

Along with these folks. . .

. . .Jim as tourist on Spanish Steps.