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So I'm home again, after a serious trip away. ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
umbran and I spent the last week and a half, give or take, exploring Rome and Venice. It was wonderful, it was amazing, it was overwhelming and powerful and incredible and I am so, so very happy that I went, and so, so very happy that I am home again.
More details will be forthcoming, as well as (probably) pictures, but for now there are some particular bits and pieces that stand out in my mind more than anything....
-I had been forewarned that Venice was a tourist trap, but honestly, Rome seemed much worse in that aspect. Not that Rome was bad in general; I loved it. But the touristiness was a lot more overt and the harassing street vendors were a lot more invasive. Venice tried to sell you things, yes, but in a classier way - and, well, Venice's job has been to sell things for about a thousand years, give or take.
-While the Colosseum and the Vatican Museum are the most famous and popular attractions in Rome, neither of them can hold a candle to Castel San Angelo or the Pantheon.
-Nothing in the world has ever overwhelmed me with wonder and beauty and awe like my first glimpse of the Basilica di San Marco in Venice. I will carry that image with me for the rest of my life, and my life will be better for it.
-Next time I go to Venice (and yes, there will be a next time) I will find a place with a kitchen, so I can take advantage of the truly epic produce and fish markets at the Rialto.
-It is a lot harder to get lost than I had feared, and walking around Rome leads you to find a lot more fascinating and beautiful things than taking a bus ever will.
So. There it is. I have seen the sun rise on another continent. I have eaten pizza and bacala and the best pasta e fagiole ever, and learned how to make pasta by hand. I have danced in the Doge's Palace in San Marco Square in Venice. I have learned that my Italian is better than I thought it was, that I do not have the necessary maturity to appreciate art in the form of paintings, and that there is such a thing as too many ruins, and that eventually no matter how amazing the local cuisine is, there comes a point where I will gladly sell my neighbor for a cheeseburger. And I did all of this in spite of a constant voice nagging in the back of my head that people like me don't get to take trips like this.
I loved every minute of it. And I love being home again.
umbran and I spent the last week and a half, give or take, exploring Rome and Venice. It was wonderful, it was amazing, it was overwhelming and powerful and incredible and I am so, so very happy that I went, and so, so very happy that I am home again.More details will be forthcoming, as well as (probably) pictures, but for now there are some particular bits and pieces that stand out in my mind more than anything....
-I had been forewarned that Venice was a tourist trap, but honestly, Rome seemed much worse in that aspect. Not that Rome was bad in general; I loved it. But the touristiness was a lot more overt and the harassing street vendors were a lot more invasive. Venice tried to sell you things, yes, but in a classier way - and, well, Venice's job has been to sell things for about a thousand years, give or take.
-While the Colosseum and the Vatican Museum are the most famous and popular attractions in Rome, neither of them can hold a candle to Castel San Angelo or the Pantheon.
-Nothing in the world has ever overwhelmed me with wonder and beauty and awe like my first glimpse of the Basilica di San Marco in Venice. I will carry that image with me for the rest of my life, and my life will be better for it.
-Next time I go to Venice (and yes, there will be a next time) I will find a place with a kitchen, so I can take advantage of the truly epic produce and fish markets at the Rialto.
-It is a lot harder to get lost than I had feared, and walking around Rome leads you to find a lot more fascinating and beautiful things than taking a bus ever will.
So. There it is. I have seen the sun rise on another continent. I have eaten pizza and bacala and the best pasta e fagiole ever, and learned how to make pasta by hand. I have danced in the Doge's Palace in San Marco Square in Venice. I have learned that my Italian is better than I thought it was, that I do not have the necessary maturity to appreciate art in the form of paintings, and that there is such a thing as too many ruins, and that eventually no matter how amazing the local cuisine is, there comes a point where I will gladly sell my neighbor for a cheeseburger. And I did all of this in spite of a constant voice nagging in the back of my head that people like me don't get to take trips like this.
I loved every minute of it. And I love being home again.
