This weekend I flew from Barcelona to Rome to meet a good friend for a walking tour de force of this simultaneously modern and ancient city. Rome is fixed in a time warp, with little in the way of a gradient between modern shops and adjacent remnants of past structures. On first impression I thought I had walked into some elaborate outdoor casino, unable to accept these relics—which have been emulated elsewhere to great excess—as originals. I eventually warmed up to it though, and thought of the experience as being more along the lines of an amazing field trip. Other highlights of the visit included watching an amazing starling flock amass outside of the Vatican, venturing to the new MAXXI contemporary art museum in the north, getting spooked out within the Crypto Cappuccini’s monk-bone adorned interior, and of course eating pasta for every meal.
