Living La Vida Loca!!

Okay, the title may be more appropriate to Ricky Martin's depiction of Latin life, but it certainly is an apt description of the streets of Rome. It's CRAZY here! First of all, I have to say thusfar, Rome has the most poorly organized mass transit system of any city we've been in. We're one side of the river and the subway doesn't go under the river, so it's all on the other side. So, our options are to either walk 25 minutes to the nearest metro stop or get on the surface tram on this side of the river which only goes as far as the other side of the river and then walk the same distance to get to much of the rest of the city. On the bright side, we're sure burning a lot of calories!

Then there's the constant traffic - cars, scooters, buses - you name it - whizzing and honking everywhere and although there are pedestrian crossings, they're really just a suggestion. You've probably seen those wildlife programs where you see the migration of the wildebeests and they're all piled up on the riverbanks knowing there's crocodiles in the water. They wait until there's a whole bunch of them and then they dash across the river hoping that safety in numbers will get them to the other side. Well, that's about what it's like crossing the street here. A group of people with gather at the crosswalk looking to see where there's a slight break in the traffic and then everyone hurries across, confident that the cars will actually stop.

The other thing I've noticed - and I'll be the first to admit this is a HUGE blanket statement and no doubt there are exceptions to this - but the majority of Romans walking on the sidewalks absolutely do not move over for you. Now, being the polite person that I am, I usually try to move behind Jim if there are people walking towards us and usually one of them will also fall behind so that everyone can pass easily. Oh no, not here. Folks just keep walking by, chatting away oblivious to the fact that somebody is trying to walk past them. So, I decided when in Rome, do as the Romans do. Now I promise, I haven't reached the point where I'm knocking little old ladies into the street, but when some fashionistas are strolling past me and don't seem to recognize anyone around them, I just brace myself, look straight ahead and BOOM - a perfect side swipe. So far, no one seems to care........

My last rant - and I promise, it's not all bad here - is how crazy packed the subway is at rush hour. Imagine the whole population of Houston squeezed into tunnels underground and onto a train and you get the picture. I didn't even have to hold on to anything once I got on the train because I was being kept upright by the sea of people around me! Probably no difference than Manhattan at rush hour, I'm sure.........

Well, there you have it.......man, I'm glad I got all that out!