Favorite Destinations 2013: Rome (part I)

I know you've seen the picture before, but it is my definition of Rome: Worlds collide.

Italy was burning under my feet, stunning 38 degrees in the shadow. Rome was taking a siesta or maybe a holiday, people were running away to the coast not far away from the dear Italian capital. I was standing on a corner watching the life and fountains at Piazza del Popolo, happy that I finally had arrived in Italy, that I had gotten a shower, that I had found the hotel after three wrong turns, that we had gotten our room after a problem with the booking.

   Rome was… unique. Italians were one of a kind. On our way to Rome we had flown over the Alps, gotten on a full train, been helped off, seen a couple of places looking like a garbage dump. We had also seen clothes drying on the terraces. We had seen people in their gardens eating strawberries and drinking wine. And a man showering outside. Italy was laidback, and beautiful already.

     Piazza del Popolo ended up a usual stop on our way down Via del Corso to our usual restaurant Antica Roma. How could any place in this world be greater to live, surrounded by religion, art and culture? Wine, pasta, icecream and beautiful people crowding the streets. I was about to fall in love.

-Mari Clémentine