Rome - City of Love. - Part One.
Professor Ikaika Kaleo

I sit on the bus which brought me in from the large expanse of the Leonardo Da Vinci airport. It carries across the Italian "suburbs", which appear to this untrained eye as just smaller cities. The tight winding streets, huge volume of sound and unqiue smells pass through the air outside as i sit in the air conditioned bus. The sound of Ani Difranco pouring into my ears as the sountryside marks itself into my mind's eye.

We reach our hotel, after a quick nap on the warm bus. The hot sun beats down on my neck and energizes me while sapping me of the energy in the same instant. The flight in was long and the six hour adjustment is hard. I should be asleep at 3am, but instead I am bringing my luggage up the long stairs, an extra flight just for my room. All I want to do is sleep, but it is 9am and my day is just beginning. I have just enough time to sit down and collect myself. I'm no longer in America, I'm in Italy. I'm treading on a new continent.

Out side, I stand next to the bus and look back at my hotel. A church is attached to it. Well, the hotel is attached to the church. It's beautiful: marbel stairs, columns, floor. I glory at it as pigeons walk by it. I turn and look in the other direction. The tram is going by as scooters cut it off. Traffic never seems to stop, let alone have any rules. Small foreign cars zoom by. I think, "These cars aren't foreign... I'm foreign." I look down the street perpendicular to mine and just see it go on forever. I think how these streets have been walked by people for centuries. How, if I turn to the left, a Roman wall extends down around the city, or what's left of it.

I turn and go left, walking down the large sidewalk. I see another church come into the distance. It's huge. Marble. The largest church I've ever seen outside of St. Patrick's in New York. I don't even know it's name. Mass is going on and I can hear the singing outside. A group of young men is playing guitar and I am captivated by their skill. I walk back towards the hotel, when I reach it, I try to cross the street.

I wait and wait for the traffic to stop for a moment so I can get across quickly. I finally find a small break and run towards the other road. I walk down that sidewalk, going going and going. there are no breaks, no churches, I come to an old aquaduct. It is in a small grassy patch. There is nothing to or from it. A stone cold reminder of the past right here in this bustling city. I check my watch and I have to go back to the bus to see more of the massive, complex, chaotic and beautiful city.

We mount the bus and go to the Road of the Imperial Fori. It's massive eight lanes overpower me from the smaller 2 lane roads which coat the city. My tour guide, Iralia, tells the tour group and me about the history of the Road of the Imperial Fori how Moussolini wanted a road to march his armies down so he destroyed the Julian Forum to build the road. It begins at the Victor Emanuel II monument, also know as the Wedding Cake or Type Writer and ends at the Flavian Amphitheatre, or the Colloseum.

We get out of the bus at the Colloseum. It's massive double rings dwarf me. Never had I imagined such a massive structure to have been built so long ago. It's weakened structure stood as a test of triumph and time, a symbol of an empire, language and people so far in the past. The actors patrol the area, looking to make money from you.

I walk over to two gladiators. I've always wanted my picture with a gladiator... Iralia had warned us that they were pushy with money and to only give them no more than 2 euro. I had my pictures taken and they ask me for my money. I give them the two euro coin and they ask me for more. I tell them I have no more. they ask for American. I tell them i converted it all and walk away. They were more rude than I had expected. Even for rude they were rude.

We tour the massive colloseum, look at its construction and how it has been damaged over the centuries. From the Flavian Amphitheatre, I walk to the Arch of Constantine which is a large marble arch at the gateway to the Main Forum of ancient Rome. I walk up a small hill, slightly steep and I look over the crest, the main forum of ancient rome. Where the Romans did their business and government. I walk past the hut of Romulus and Remus, the twins who fought each other for the founding of the city. They were raised by a she-wolf (Lupa) before they were led to greatness. i walked to the grave of Julius Caesar. It is a modest cave-like structure. It is brown and on the inside people have placed flowers. I walk past the gardens, home and temple of the Vestal Virgins. The busts of the most well known Vestals are still scattered about what is left of their gardens. I continue walking. I look straight forward at what now is the town hall of Rome, but, at the level of the Forum, is the Tabularium. I look to my right and the Senate house is there. A large gabled roof with pediment. I walk inside and see the small room in which the senators had their meetings. I check my watch, the day has left me behind as I have wandered this part of Rome. I have to walk out of the Forum, down along the Road of the Imperial Fori and to the Colloseum.

I walk to the Colloseum and cross the street. Next a Gellateria the bus is parked, but I am looking into the ditch. My guide walks over and tells me it is the training area for the gladiators before they went into battle. I look at the circular structure of the walls, the pit in the middle and I picture the galdiators fighting each other with mock weapons for hours and hours. I hear my name called and snap back to reality. I climb back into the bus and head back to the air conditioned hotel for a good night's sleep.

Tomorrow, we go to the spanish steps.