The European Adventure – I

Now, this is what I call blogging on the go. However, for lack of internet connection or even phone connection all day long, I will post my impressions gathered through the day at the end of the day when I get back to the hotel!

• First impressions: Rome is like Chennai. Taxis refusing to ply, cars parked on pavements, traffic lights that everyone ignores. Yay for Italy!
• Trying to find the hotel: Lost in Rome, when I requested help, a very nice couple took the trouble of directing me to the hotel, after having looked it up on their GPS. Sweet! Don’t think people in Paris would ever do that!
• Getting used to the idea of being alone with my thoughts and moods. Must bring a book and a pen along tomorrow. Makes it easier to write.
• There is something liberating about being able to go into a restaurant alone and order something to eat. Equally a relief is when people don’t wonder why someone would be vegetarian.
• Lunch! Just finished a decent meal after nibbling inedible morceaus in Paris. Cheers to the Italians who are so helpful. The guy actually made something for me that didn’t contain meat or fish.
• I am the only idiot waiting for a green signal to cross a road. Everyone else just walks.
• Just saw the most beautiful set of rosary beads. Pity I am not Christian and don’t know any religious ones. Would have bought one otherwise…
• I can buy condoms from a vending machine outside a pharmacy but not lip balm or BandAid. Strange place.
• People look happy. I actually see them smiling at others. So unlike Paris.
• There is something so beautifully peaceful about the St. Paul’s Basilica, that I couldn’t help praying at the chapel.
• These are men of God. Their devotion and faith touches the heart, however misguided the brain may claim it is.
• First pizza in Italy not impressive. Too salty and soggy. Damn my taste buds. They never seem satisfied.

And finally, I spent Valentine’s Day attending a special prayer (which was beautiful by the way) at the St. Paul’s Basilica and having dinner by myself in a pizzeria decked in red and while balloons! Can there be anything more…unusual?

I leave you with one picture to end the day!