Nlogaxical – What am I doing here?

Up until this weekend, I could never understand how London treats its sea of history.  We as Londoners walk around it casually ignoring the fabulous buildings, geographical quirks and peculiarities of placenames.  Visiting Rome, however, and all became clear.  In comparison, we Londoners really don’t take our treasures for granted when you stumble across a city where nearly every building, every corner, every vista is -  literally – littered with the past.

Rome 2009

I’ve also not been to a mainland European city that makes London seem clean in comparison – until now.    For all its ancient charms, Rome’s citizens really don’t know how to care for their essential infrastructure.   I’ve not seen that much graffiti since first visiting Leeds in the mid 90s (and if you know where the old National Express coach station used to reside, you’d remember).   Having waited for a subway train, we were confronted with what turned out to be a prop from the intro sequence of The Equalizer.  If I had the theme tune playing on the mp3 player, the illusion would have been complete.  What a sorry mess.

That being said, the best experiences were to be gained from walking the back-roads.  Narrow cobbled streets, scooters parked in every available nook and cranny,  inappropriately-named bars, keep-off-the-grass’ signs warning that ‘transgressors will be persecuted’ (a bit harsh, no?) – I loved it all.   And I can’t wait to go back.