A funny thing happened on the way to the Forum...

Sun May 22nd 2022

Here I am in Rome, with my trusty Google maps on my phone. Heading to my first day at scuola to learn Italian. Correction per imparare un po’ di italiano!!

Google Maps say 40 minute walk – so I head off at 8.10am for school at 9.  At 8.40 I am still walking and Google maps is saying another 30 minutes!

The app hasn’t seen the size and thickness of the buildings. Ancient stone is not Wi-Fi transmittable. I grab a taxi and wizz to school to be on time. So now I have to get home – well OK no time constraints and of course I now realise I have to be careful of what my phone is telling me.

So off I go. It’s now 26 degrees and beautiful blue sky.

There are several options to get home. And I choose the one via Piazza Venezia, with the Rome Forum, Victor Emmanuel Monument and so much more. It was logical because via del Corso, where my apartment was, starts at Piazza Venezia – so I then just had to walk up ‘my street’ to the other end to get home.

A funny thing happened on the way to the Forum … I got lost again

Somehow, somehow I managed to miss Via de Corso.

But what I found was magic. Small streets, cafes, churches, churches, piazza’s, groovy shops, churches, favourite restaurants, churches. The joy of being lost, of having the time to be OK about being lost. Of walking around with this smile on my face, laughing at myself because I am so hopeless at direction. And not caring. Did I speak out loud to myself; probably (just a whisper). Did anyone care, certainly not.

The reward was my first gelato in Roma; with 85% dark chocolate (it wasn’t my last one of those!)

14,000 steps and tired feet, I’m home.

Can’t wait to get lost tomorrow

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