| | “It's all the much more sporting when there's families in the pit, and the madness of the crowd is in an epileptic fit”- waits lyrics comparing the Colosseum to the political quagmire in Washington.
The Colosseum was, no doubt, my favorite site from Ancient Rome. It continues to be a worldwide image of bloodlust and Barbary within an ostensibly civilized people. Not to beat the uber-overused Rome/ USA parallel, but we might say the same today of, say, mixed martial arts...or boxing...even football... Having Christians fight lions might be one step or two more barbaric, but its not more than a couple more. Still, our sports are entertaining, and put me into this sport-induced arousal as well.
It might seem that I've been giving Berlin unreasonably large attention compared to Rome, where I was last week (and where I'll stop through again in a couple days). However, I think this makes sense, given the relatively more time I've spent here in Berlin, coupled with my greater knowledge of German (and Eastern Bloc) history and my prior visit to Germany which allow me to look beyond more surface tourist observations a bit more than my first time Rome trip. It's very hard to analyze when you're taken aback by a new system, language, and culture. Plus, I genuinely believe Berlin is very important and underrepresented in the popular psyche. Additionally I'm solo here in Germany, always a better recipe for reflection.
But still, it didn't take much to realize Rome is also an incredible city. In fact Rome (specifically the Vatican) is one of my “life 5”, of which Israel, The trans-Siberian Railway, and Rome are now touched upon. Japan and Pamplona remain.
The tourist overload only really applied to the Vatican (which I covered 2 posts ago), which was undiminished even so; and easy enough to avoid the worst by going early. A bigger problem, as previously mentioned, was the weather, made worse by no shorts (must be below the knee to go into religious sites.)
Italy is reputed as a very lazy and relaxed place- I see this more reflected in dysfunction as I posted 2x ago. But I thought the historical issues outweighed it and makes Italy a great destination nonwithstanding. One of my classmates (she is Italian) really criticized Italy, saying they are so endowed with historical wealth is the reason it is a tourist destination, not due to its good preservation or infrastructure or service. Though I think the painting seems to get a good deal of attention, probably due to Jana;s influence my classmate said she thought other western countries would take more care in preservation of such masterpieces.
Italy could be more pleasant destination- but its possible that the reason for some unpleasantness is the bourgeois other tourists.(Ameliorator and I heard the British-accented quote “Who hasn't been to Tuscany?” here.
I've also heart the critique that Italy (like Greece) rests on its historical laurels, not concerned about achievement because they are confident about their history but they sit and refuse to progress. Regardless, they have an incredible history, so I'll stop know critiquing a local mindset that I wasn't able to understand in my short stint there. And the tourists do come, the money is made, and the standard of living is high, despite huge inefficiencies. Despite my hassles, Italy is mostly western in its travel ease scale.
The Pantheon (again 2 posts ago) and the Roman Forum (were parliamentary democracy was implemented-in some sense) were other excellent historic sites- the Pantheon two orders of magnitude more well preserved, being converted to a church and used as such. The Colosseum is crumbling but still an incredible site, which has been sanctified for so many (Christian) deaths. Didn't see any aqueducts or the Circus maximus, but I don't know anything about ancient Rome anyway, so into our third ruins I began to not really know or care about differences.
The Gelatto (homemade Italian ice cream) was a favorite of the girls; I preferred our pasta and pizza meals. I had more time and money in Italy, Food is probably where I would first spend it. The waiters did not like my style (nor I theirs) but it was good enough. I don't think its particularly welcoming, which does make a difference, but I also took so little effort to adapt to Italian culture that to really have a genuine culture experience I would need to try to integrate more than a week of power travel. Italian culture doesn't fit in well with this approach.
Two excursions were lot of fun for us. The Palio in Siena (Florence's ancient rival town, whose power was wiped out by the black death) was an event packed 2 minutes. Each of the surrounding towns races a horse around the Siena town square in an a bareback-all holds barred chaos. Several horses always finish without riders (2 in our case). Medieval dressed pageantry of horses and minstrels as well as thousands of flag waving fans make an action packed environment.
This was the same day as the pope, so getting in was a bit of a solace. Tickets overlooking the square generally cost around 200 Euro (300 bucks!) But there is one opportunity for free entrance, which we stumbled upon, and got to stand in the center of the square amidst the rabble cheering. We even snuck our backpacks (forbidden) past the Po-Po! The left luggage place at the station ( in Italy not done by lockers, but, as in Russia and the South, by actual people) closes in the early evening so we wouldn't be able to pick it up. So we had to take bags with.
It is common opinion that the event, which is 700 years old at last, is very corrupt and the winner is bought beforehand. Whether this is true I do not know, but the number of fans from the winning town outnumbered the rest and paraded, singing and beating drums into the church across town to celebrate! Losing fans were disappointed, and everyone had high energy. The event is held in honor of the Virgin Mary, and so has some religious (albeit seemingly only outwardly) components. 3 days of parties were supposed to ensue, but we bailed to Florence to meet Jana and tour the Ufizzi and Academia.
Another excursion was to Cinque Terre, or 5 towns, on the Mediterranean coast, built into cliffs in improbable locations. Several hikes go throughout, including one running through each one. We did the trail through 'Cuarto tierre's, which was roughly 10 kilometers- stopping in each of 4 towns along the way. There were plenty of people swimming in the Med as well as soaking up the small town vibe, more violated in some towns than others by the hordes of visitors arriving on frequent trains. But getting out on the trail allowed us to get a nature feeling and feel the cool sea breeze despite the scorching Italian sun.
One more note about Berlin- it is well famous for being the only progressive city in Europe- where you can have facial piercings and hold a corporate job simultaneously. While not as wild as the fringier areas of London, fashion in some neighborhood s more uniformly alternative with oodles of bizarre head shave patterns dreadlocks hair colors tattoos and piercings. Its very common to see a dreadlocked woman pushing a baby carriage with a mohawked father. Alternative fashion need not mean alternative lifestyle. East Berlin has the alternative rep in particular, and indeed there is Ramones museum (which I could not find, even with lonely planets directions, surprising?) and cheap eats all through a neighborhood known as Kreuzberg. Very vibrant, and making me look relatively clean and well-kempt!
The social scene in Berlin is largely clubbing; I went to 2 clubs, a youngish club under a train station that emphasized American music – pop rock hip hop etc, and was very similar to an American club. With much more smoking outside...The second I went to was a trendy place on a 10th floor glass walled discotheque with electronic music- a place more in line with to be more my previous conception of the city. Still, American influence is omnipresent, with remixes of Enter Sandman and Smells Like Teen Spirit (albeit very remixed) into dance tunes, even at this uber-German atmosphere. The club environments were less social than American ones (little interaction between groups- you hang out with who you come with). But in general, its very much the same.
The conference is coming to a close tomorrow and so I'll fly back to Rome to grab one more good meal...then back to the U.S.S.A, done with Eastern Europe, for the time being.
|
| | Posted 7/15/2008 9:06 AM - 20 views - 0 comments
- recommend
  - recs0
- give stars
- votes0
- share
- email
 - sent0
|
