Still despising pigeons:

Good day and good day and good day from Roma, Italia--the land of ancient architecture, oozing cheese, drop-dead disgusting champagne, and (apparently?!) palm trees. Ohhhh, my. What a web of complication we encountered upon kissing Paris goodbye. We count ourselves lucky...or blessed, rather, to even have slipped out of the debauchery of streets astrike. We reunited with a fresh-faced Meg in the Geneva train station, only to inform her that our only way out of this place (that avoided the inevitable French stop-over) was to turn around and catch a train straight back to Zurich, the exact city she had departed from mere hours ago. Murder. Madge took the potentially-crushing news like a warrior, and only laughed at our agonized eyes and consolation offering of cigarettes. And so. Instead of weaving ourselves to Spain/the south of France/Italy, we have twisted la route around. As it looks right now, we will spend our last string of days soaking up pure relaxation in the glitteringly affordable land of the Spanish. However, if I have learned any lesson repeatedly and, at times, crushingly on this trip...it is to plan tentatively but not in solidarity. Circumstances change on a moment-to-moment basis, and the by-far best attitude to take on is one of lightness and spontenaity. So I am channeling that. Besides, we are hardly fretting, as our magician of a travel agent will be able to make whatever we need happen, leaving us none the poorer. Winnipeg livin in two weeks still glows like something radiantly cherished in our hearts and heads.
In the spirit of movement and living in the present moment, though, here are a few words on the city of Rome. It is no word of a lie that the gelati here is of the life-changing sort. By the light of day, everything here is coated in warmth and loveliness, yet as soon as the sun dips down, the city cools to the point of inducing shivers. It is a curious climate. A good portion of all life stemming fom the soil is still lustrously green and growing, while the streets are also littered with burnished autumn leaves. Palm trees blossom upwards into the sky, alongside others that have long since turned skeletal, shedding their leaves for winter. It is a strange and entrancing sight. Wandering through the Colleseum the other day felt out-of-body...there was this discernable yet indescribable glaze of wonder draped over the place, and the people within it. I felt very young and incredibly naive in such an age-old, legendary place. Locking eyes on the Pantheon by night was quite the rush to the senses as well...us three all a little light-headed from the evenings copious amounts of red wine. The icing on the cake that night was the fresh, long-stemmed red roses we were gifted by our server at a bebe outdoor wine bar...we sipped our liquid deliciousness, and he stood there and laughed at us. Hectic English-speaking girls, clad in our token 'dress-up' outfits, talking five trillion miles a minute. I imagine we were quite a funny sight.
Other than the fact that our hostel is a shrine to elderly women everywhere (bless their hearts), a bit weird, our temporary life here is a delight. We are all swimming in relief at the fact that the Italian langugage slides off our backs like water off a fish's...the men here are AGGRESSIVE, and it is probably for the best that we remain blissfully ignorant of the content of their hollered words. Today we are dipping over to Naples for some serious street-wandering and exploration...the intention is to not get killed; Naples is notorious for its loco insano traffic. I am actually happy to embark on this blink-and-it's-over train journey, knowing there is no possibility for it to reach the twelve, thirteen, fourteen hour span. Au contraire, I am looking forward to this opportunity to curl up with book and thoughts, catching glimpses of the Italian countryside as it flies past.
It is so strange to think that two weeks from today, we will be on a plane bound for home. I am ready--ready to embrace these remaining fourteen days with renewed fierceness, and ready as well for home. My bed and bath are going to be receiving some serious face time once my feet are light on Winnipeg ground again.
I am off to catch a train. I hope you are all better, better, better than well.
Yours,
Rebecca L.