There are at least 4,000 churches in Rome and 3,999 of them are Catholic. Most of them are outrageous! You’d think the Pope lives here or something. Imagine my surprise when this morning I found an un-catholic church. And the funny thing about the catholic churches is that they are all beside each other. How many churches do you need in a row? I don’t have a good punch line for that question! How many churches, in London, can you name that are on the same block? There’s King Street United and that evangelical on the corner, and there might be two downtown, and that’s it! In Rome, you can go in the front door of one church, slip out the side door and meander into the side door of the next! Maybe it’s so if purgatory has caught you by the tail in one you can scramble into the next unnoticed?
There are two other things I have figured out today. The first is that all roads lead to Santa Maria Maggiore. Doesn't matter where you are, you end up on the front steps. The second thing is that this entire city is under surveillance. You are being recorded every step of your day even as you slip out of one church into the next. Cameras are mounted on buildings, stoplights and poles everywhere. I don't know who is watching the activity on all these cameras because the entire police force, army and navy personnel are out on the streets telling you where not to park your bike!
And speaking of my bike. Wilson is presently being boxed up for the flight to Palermo. Cardboard box; not a hard case, which is available for purchase for 700 Euros! - I don’t think so!- I found a bike store in the neighbourhood that will box Wilson. I rode Wilson over there this morning and got dumped on by a big rain cloud with huge thunderbolts attached. I was soaked; drenched all the way through. If I was a smart tourist I would have bought one of those umbrellas from the million and one happy-to-serve-me vendors! But noooo, I am not paying 5 bucks for an umbrella. I got soaked instead! The store was hilarious. There I am standing, dripping wet, with a tiny, cheap, fold up bike in the middle of a store where the cheapest bike is 3,600 Euros and the most expensive, that I managed to see as it wasn't stored in the “Golden Room”, was 10,700 Euros! For a bike! - ~I can’t even do that math!~ I pick up little Wilson on Friday!
I have also figured out that you look like a tourist if you wear capris, pocket shorts, a wide brim summer hat, white running shoes with those little socks, bounce your camera off your belly as you walk, wear a knapsack on your front or back, wear flip-flops, hold a map in your hand as you squint aimlessly up into the sky and if you carry gallons of water with you. You look like an local if you wear a pocket vest and talk on your cell phone while driving your scooter.
Since I am bikeless and finished the photos I need, I wandered the neighbourhood. The photos I have posted today are from the walk; to give you a sense of what I am seeing. It is a lovely neighbourhood with lots of decoration, and.. churches!
There are two other things I have figured out today. The first is that all roads lead to Santa Maria Maggiore. Doesn't matter where you are, you end up on the front steps. The second thing is that this entire city is under surveillance. You are being recorded every step of your day even as you slip out of one church into the next. Cameras are mounted on buildings, stoplights and poles everywhere. I don't know who is watching the activity on all these cameras because the entire police force, army and navy personnel are out on the streets telling you where not to park your bike!
And speaking of my bike. Wilson is presently being boxed up for the flight to Palermo. Cardboard box; not a hard case, which is available for purchase for 700 Euros! - I don’t think so!- I found a bike store in the neighbourhood that will box Wilson. I rode Wilson over there this morning and got dumped on by a big rain cloud with huge thunderbolts attached. I was soaked; drenched all the way through. If I was a smart tourist I would have bought one of those umbrellas from the million and one happy-to-serve-me vendors! But noooo, I am not paying 5 bucks for an umbrella. I got soaked instead! The store was hilarious. There I am standing, dripping wet, with a tiny, cheap, fold up bike in the middle of a store where the cheapest bike is 3,600 Euros and the most expensive, that I managed to see as it wasn't stored in the “Golden Room”, was 10,700 Euros! For a bike! - ~I can’t even do that math!~ I pick up little Wilson on Friday!
I have also figured out that you look like a tourist if you wear capris, pocket shorts, a wide brim summer hat, white running shoes with those little socks, bounce your camera off your belly as you walk, wear a knapsack on your front or back, wear flip-flops, hold a map in your hand as you squint aimlessly up into the sky and if you carry gallons of water with you. You look like an local if you wear a pocket vest and talk on your cell phone while driving your scooter.
Since I am bikeless and finished the photos I need, I wandered the neighbourhood. The photos I have posted today are from the walk; to give you a sense of what I am seeing. It is a lovely neighbourhood with lots of decoration, and.. churches!
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