Travellers, Fat Cats and Facetious Ancients

One of the most attractive qualities of a big city like Rome is the diversity of people that are drawn together, and how they choose (or otherwise) to get along with each other (or not). In this respect, Rome didn’t disappoint.

One week in Rome saw us:

• doing the classic backpacker gig of sleeping in a sauna temperature 13 bed dorm with comatose freight-train snorers from at least 5 different nations
• Sharing stories on Dave’s concrete floor. At forty, Dave chose to live in Rome for a year. He opens up his underground basement apartment/bomb shelter to travellers to help them out with accommodation costs (and to meet some great people). I would say that we were four people sleeping in a broom closet, but there were two American girls who the actual broom closet. In the kitchen we were two Kiwis, a Brazilian and an American - somehow we managed to avoid sleeping outside in the corridor with the other American guy :)
• Living the high life in Rome’s coolest neighbourhood (sleeping in real beds!) with Chiara, a film and TV script writer turned short story novelist. We loved Gatto (her parent’s overloved and overfed cat who got grumpy refused to be stroked when Chiara attempted to trim his calorie intake), and endless morning coffees discussing what brought on her latest short story about an eight year old boy murdering his 4 year old sister. Rather than disturbing, we found this plot to be hilarious - Chiara couldn’t be more gentle and kind if she were fictional herself (lucky for us, eh?), so discussion usually centered around where these disturbing thoughts came from.
• Hanging (in spirit, at least) with Socrates, my most memorable “character” of high school Classical Studies. He brought a smile to my face as we took a water break from the mid summer heat in one of his favourite haunts, with the memory of his argument which hit new levels of facetiousness, “I’m significantly wiser than you because I know that I’m not wise at all”.
• Cruising through the bedrooms of former Popes to see the interior design skills of Raphael & Co. Unfortunately the Big Man with the Big Hat was away on summer break, but that didn’t stop a 6 person wide, 1.5km queue forming by 8.30am outside the Vatican on the first Sunday we arrived (it’s free entry on the last Sunday of the month). Needless to say, we went off for a gelato and postponed our Vatican experience a few days.
• Doing what the cool kids do, sharing stories, opinions, laughs and Mojitos with Chiara in the “artist district”. This is where having a local on your side is invaluable - Chiara made relatively short work of dealing with the odd incoherent local under the influence, and we really enjoyed a night in an area well off Lonely Planet’s “off the beaten path” path.

Photo: Emma, Chiara and I in the mean streets of Rome after dark