It's a lot of fun to walk around Rome. By being here for almost 2 weeks and learning about the city development during class (nearly 10 hours of them everyday...) we get to learn alot about how to look at Rome. My favorite thing is the Nolli Map. It's a freaking awesome map, even it is made in 1748, it is the first MOST detailed map of Rome. And because Rome has not change much city planning in the last 250 years, whatever was there in 1748 is still pretty accurate for today. Crazy isn't it?
http://nolli.uoregon.edu/map/index.html a link to the map
Anyway so I used a copy of a smaller version of this map to explore around for a smoothie place tonight. Found a lot of scenic and cool things, as well as the smoothie place. Unfortunately it was too late and it's closed. But I don't really mind that, cz walking in Rome itself is a treat already. With that many monumental architecture squeeze in a little city called Rome, everything is in close proximity, and everything is interconnected, so getting lost is a given, but it's never too hard to find your way back, as long as you have a good map.
There are too many reasons for Rome to be cool, it is one of a kind and you can never understand it until you spend enough time here. But once you do, it is impossible to not love it. How can you not love a city where everyone walks to any places? Go to the millennium old Pantheon, enjoy its site with a cup of gelato in hand? or the important IL GESU church located right next to Pantheon and you classroom? What really give Rome its character is that; things of 125 AD and 1551AD be 5 minutes apart? It's not just the things a in close proximity, its also happening to the history of human development while each period is preserved. Yah... the whole city is archaeologically put together, the ancient, the old and the present all coexist in one location, budding shoulders, sharring their wine as if it is perfectly normal.
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