Day 4
Coming from a “life of leisure” (read idleness) to a city which thrives on walking is certainly taking its toll. At times I fell Rome is tougher than Angkor Wat – you don’t exactly find cabs, etc throwing themselves at you in the hope of “sawari”. In fact the only people who even approach any tourists are the Bangladeshi immigrants, present in fairly large numbers, selling stuff on the streets.
Souvik went on an early morning run to check off another international city, mostly for bragging value.
This day was a bit of a disaster, with Souvik having work emergencies and busy in calls all day. ‘Twas a particularly hot day and out feet did their own share of protesting!
In spite of everything, we did manage to catch some excellent sights.
The power of branding – Michelangelo, at one point in his life was asked to build a base for some statue, and a piazza situated in the middle of some important buildings. Result: you have thousands of people photographing the piazza, and almost no one pays attention to the bronze statue. There is also a staircase to the same piazza that Michelangelo built, which has Its own importance. Hmmm. . . I guess if you said one of the stones in the cobbled paths was selected by Michelangelo, people (including me) would rush to photograph it!

And then we learnt that there was a museo dedicated to the other genius – Leonardo da Vinci. Totally worth walking all the way to Piazza Poppolo to see the work of LDV from his notes to wooden models. That man had no boundaries for thinking – from human body to motion on land, air and water, war machinery, and his best known paintings! Awe-inspiring stuff.
As if the works of these Renaissance masters was not enough to thrill me that Rome had to have one modern site to bring me to my knees ………. You will never guess!
It was my favourite clothing store – Fabindia! (I can hear Reva say “oh God! Of all things!”) I bought a couple of tops at obscene prices, and was truly happy 🙂
Haven’t done my usual amount of shopping on this trip, mostly because dragging Souvik from one kitchenware shop to another one with cosmetics is as horrific as it sounds! I do have (1) cake platter and (2) limoncello and (3) almond macarons for Reva on the list. Plus I haven’t really been tempted by overpriced designer bags and shoes and whatnots. Not in the least, our Florence apartment is on the 3rd floor (no lift) so am trying to keep the bags light until the last possible moment!
It has turned really warm during the day, and we’re planning to take it easy on day 5 in Rome, ditching Tivoli and Villa Borghese. I’ve thrown a coin into the Fontana Trevi, which should ensure a return trip to see whatever we’ve missed.