I liked walking in Rome.
I liked walking a lot in Rome.
Rome is a very navigable city. Once in the center of Rome, one is
really never out of walking distance from the Roman Forum to the
Trevi Fountain to the Spanish
Steps. Granted, a taxi ride is nice once in a while if you don't
mind Italian drivers, but there's a lot to be said for taking Rome in as
a pedestrian.
Driving by the Coliseum, for example, isn't nearly as spectacular as
walking around its eighty entrances, guarded by 'actual' Roman
soldiers. Well, maybe not actual but, at least, men dressed as Roman
soldiers who will take pictures with you for a few thousand lira, or the
equivalent of a couple US dollars.
I anticipated a lot of walking so I bought comfortable shoes in America
before heading to the Eternal City.
That was a mistake.
Not that my shoes weren't comfortable...in fact, my feet were fine. But
Rome is a hot bed for fashion. It's amazing what several tens of
thousands of lira will get you in Italy (remember, that's only in the
tens of dollars, if you're comparing to US currency).
Shoe stores are everywhere in Italy. In fact, traveling down
cobblestone streets, there were certain shops I always knew I'd find:
cafes, gelaterias (ice cream shops), and shoe stores.
I traveled to Italy with Kerri
(she may have helped you with your vacation) and we each had a fashion
mission when it came to shoes: mine was to find a pair of summer sandals
and Kerri's was to find ìnavy blue strappy shoesî (say that ten times
fast).
We searched in Rome along the Via Nazionale for those shoes. Probably
twenty or thirty stores that sold shoes. But no ìnavy blue strappy
shoesî or sandals to our pleasing. There were baby blue and royal blue
[not equal] but no navy blue.
So we walked some more in Italy, searching for other shoe stores.
Along the way, however, we were stopped in our shoe hunt by the
breathtaking Trevi
Fountain.
The Trevi is tucked away behind the larger city streets...old apartments
and shops surround the fountain, whose majesty comes in part from its
being sculpted out of the side of a building.
Tourists gather around the fountain, tossing coins over their shoulder.
Toss one coin if you want to return to Italy...two to fall in love in
Italy...and three for the divorce (as the Italians say, it takes three
coins because the divorce is most expensive).
The water that flows through the Trevi is the same water that has been
flowing through it since its original conception in Ancient Rome...and
through its finishing touches just three hundred years ago.
As if the scene weren't beautiful enough, to the left and right of the
fountain are shoe stores. But these stores didn't have the ìnavy blue
strappy shoesî or my sandals either.
As we scavenged for those shoes I realized the streets in Rome look just
as I had imagined by watching movies and reading books.
Old buildings that tower just enough to prevent all but a few beams of
sunshine from dotting the narrow paths shaded by the uneven cobblestone
streets. Street vendors set up blankets from which they sell watches
and scarves while the aroma of cafes and gelaterias slides along the
air.
As we made our way to the Spanish Steps, I found a store that sold
sandals...my mission was accomplished...but we would still search for the
'navy blue strappy shoes.'
Every day we'd search, stopping to take in the beautiful Italian
monuments. The religious and political implications of even building
facades are so profound that one cannot help but wonder how any artist
could have sculpted such powerful symbols and people out of marble and
stone.
Walking in Italy helped us to find these monuments and sculptures, not
to mention shoe stores.
By the way, we never did find the 'navy blue strappy shoes'. But I'm
happy to report that Kerri did manage to find three pairs of shoes in
Italy...finding the final pair in the duty-free section of Rome's airport.
This article was written by Karyn Dest. | | |
| | Accommodation
Hotels in Rome
B&B's in Rome
Hotels in the
Surroundings of Rome
Hotels in
Rome Airport (FCO/Leonardo da Vinci) area
Hotels in
Rome Airport (Ciampino) area |
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