The last day of my twenties! It finally happened! I'm sure others have felt stuck in their lives, but I have been looking forward to the end of my twenties for the last two years, I just knew it would finally feel like a chapter of being lost and learning how to deal with heartache would finally be over. What an amazing last day it was.
I know not everyone gets pumped about their birthday, but I really do. Most things involving the calendar that we tend to celebrate in our culture are arbitrary...our calendar is arbitrary and has changed over time, the holidays are a result of centuries of beliefs and customs merging. It's completely random the new year starts in January, when back in the day years were more based on the harvest seasons. While the fact that my birthday is referred to as June 12 is also arbitrary, what isn't up for debate is the fact that I survived another trip on this water covered rock that orbits around a big ass star we call the sun. Sure others share the day with me, I mean I have a literal twin, but that in no way diminishes the fact that I survived, I have lived to see thirty and I'm hopeful I live to experience many more trips around because I think we all forget that in literally every moment of your life, someone has died doing what you're doing and you rarely get two weeks notice it's your turn to meet death.
With the knowledge that Rome is packed and parking difficult, I decided I would start the day with a mini hike in a regional park - Sirenti Velino while I waited for check in time to be able to utilize the free parking. The path the GPS took me on was through this old town called Aielli. It was so surreal seeing all these homes built into the mountains, like literally using parts of the mountain as walls. The destination it gave me lead to a gravel road that was getting less and less navigable by car so eventually I just parked and set off on foot. I wasn't really sure where I was going but soon enough I found myself being drawn towards a cavern. I wound up sitting in there thinking I would finally finish one of the blogs but had no internet, then I thought I'd write in my journal, but decided I'd rather do that in Rome. So all that was left was to read my book, which I made a lot of progress at the beach the day before.
I'm not sure there could have been a better place or day to finish this book. Basically the way it wraps up is reminding you that death is the greatest gift of all because the temporality of our lives is what gives them meaning. At the end of the day your peace and happiness is an internal choice. Life happens around you regardless of if you're ready for it, and so many things will happen or not happen that can disturb your view of reality, but that's the thing. Allowing something to pull you away from your center, to pull you down into the negative vibrations of fear, anger and despair, is a choice. We are not our thoughts or emotions, those are internal responses to outside stimulus informed from society and past experiences, but not necessarily accurate. I think it's a lifelong charge learning how to step back and observe these internal responses and then rationally choose your external response. When all is said and done our lives are the sum of our own choices, and either you choose to build walls protecting yourself from every possible disturbance, or you learn to trust that no matter what disturbance comes your way, you'll figure out how to deal with it and move through it, no matter how painful it is. You know that like every moment before, it will also pass. You learn how to be fully present in the current moment instead of ruminating over the past or worrying about the future. You learn to be grateful for every moment you're in because any one of them could be your last.
Not gonna lie I cried deeply in this cavern while reading through the last three chapters of this book. It felt like a purge of all of the hurt and this acceptance that this energy that's greater than all of us, it ultimately is love and if you can manage to show up everyday from a basis of love, you will indeed live a fulfilled life.
These last two weeks have been amazing and I can't believe there's still time left. I just have an overwhelming feeling of gratitude and I hope I have learned how to hold on to it. My first stop in Rome after getting settled was the Colosseum.
The entrance to Hotel Villa Pinciana.
My baller room. Decided when I woke up being 30 in all time zones I wanted to feel spoiled.
It even had a cute little balcony!
Saw this while headed to the Colosseum. LOL I guess the perks of a smartcar.
The Colosseum!
Much of the Colosseum, was originally covered in marble, but after the festivities once held here fell out of favor, it became a source of building materials.
The Colosseum was started by Emperor Titus and continued by the other Flavians as a gift back to the people. It was built where Nero's opulent palace with a lake once stood.
Me barely being able to contain it's my last day in my twenties and I'm in Rome.
Me, getting emotional af wishing I knew how to contact Wilma Slyoff.
See more fresh fruit.
This restaurant and area was recommended by the concierge and it was delightful.
I finally ordered an antipasto plate, they're not typically meant for one, but they accommodated me.
Yay! Italian lasagne and boy was is delicious. But I was definitely full after this.
There happened to be some sort of culture fair along the river so I checked it out.
I walked the whole length and there was this one place with this guy singing, like karaoke style, but he was clearly the hired entertainment and was VERY serious about it, and highly manicured. Decent voice, but trying too hard. On my journey back towards the bridge he sounded kind of awful, like it was obvious he was singing out of his range, and then all of a sudden he switches into a baritone and it is quite lovely and impressive and I realize he'd chosen a duet, probably because he rocked the male portion and this realization had me laughing hard as I continued walking. Eventually I decided to grab a drink and write in my journal for a bit.
These are apparently the Spanish steps. I had no idea when I happened upon them, but found out the next day when I was trying to see them before I headed out and when Google brought up an image I just laughed.
Shortly after this I was blown away by this fountain, only to keep walking to discover it was like a third of this massive compound that I still really don't know what it is.
And at last, Trevi Fountain, aka where three roads meet "tre vi", aka the fountain from Lizzie Macguire.
I got my gelato but I was not allowed to eat it down by the fountain.
So I finished and then headed down to get a closer look and prepare to make my wish at midnight.
This place was PACKED. This is just before midnight.
You're supposed to hold your coin in your right hand, make your wish and throw it over your left. I realized I'd didn't have a wish in mind, and then found one haha. They collect around $1.5M annually from the fountain and use it to run and stock a supermarket for the needy.
Finally back at the hotel, this is 30, wearing sneakers with dresses because comfort is way more important than style.
However I did dress up for my birthday, and these shoes are typically super comfortable, but apparently not for the amount of walking I had ahead of me.
Hi 30 😊 you are welcomed.
The Apricot preserve on pound cake was BOMB.
The crazy building I saw the night before!
First glimpse of the Roman Forum!
This is the arch dedicated to Titus after victory over Jerusalem. It's the first thing you see after getting through security. You have to buy your ticket at the Colosseum if you're not a part of a tour. It's 12€ and it's good for two days and gets you one entry to the Colosseum, and one entry to the forum and Palestine hill. I think I wish I had done the forum the afternoon before and the Colosseum the next morning. It would have been cool to see a sunset in the forum.
They're currently working on restoring this, and actually a lot of things on the forum are being worked on.
It was hot as balls yesterday, you can see that I'm flushed.
It was really cool and magical to walk through the forum. To be reminded of how much has already occurred before you and how much will go after you.
The Pantheon. I was not too impressed after the one in Paris 😂 🤷 still quite massive though.
This cracked me up, it think it's a calendar with pictures of priests and seminarians. Like why??!
Vatican city!
Oh hello there...
This place was packed and it was hot and my feet aching so I bounced quickly. I'm sure if I was more religious it would have felt important to suck it up, but I decided it wasn't.
This castle had a legit moat around it, I could not get a good photo though.
This fountain felt like a miracle and felt amazing on my feet.
Eventually I decided to head back, and was going to walk through this lovely park of the Villa Borghese, but realized, at least I thought hadn't seen the Spanish steps. So I tried to make a detour and somehow ended up on the highway... As a pedestrian... It was a stressful twenty minutes because there was no way off and I just had to look at the beautiful park across four lanes of traffic 🙄. And then when I finally managed to get to normal roads and started walking towards the steps and was like huh this looks familiar and pulled up a photo and started laughing, I'd already seen them. On that note it was time to leave Rome and head to Siena. I'm currently just outside Florence about to go on a wine tasting, so Salut!
No comments:
Post a Comment