(Part 3 of “The Waters of Rome: 4Days in the Eternal City”)
Let Rome in Tiber melt. -
Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra
I've always been fascinated by the
love affairs between rivers and cities in Europe: the Seine and Paris, Florence
and the Arno, the Rhone and Lyon, Budapest / Vienna / Bratislava and the
Danube. And it's always a welcome thought to just walk along the riverbank,
following the flow of water. Among those who are lost, there's a saying that
goes “follow the river and it will lead you to the sea.”
On our third day in Rome, while I did
prepare some big bookhunting plans at least for Saturday morning, a sudden change
of itinerary with my Vietnamese companions made me resolve to just follow the
flow and look forward to be drifted towards a certain sea.
Before taking the train, we went up
the center of Castelgandolfo to buy extra tickets and pass by an old friend of
mine who owns a shop selling religious articles. It was a pleasant surprise
that she was still able to recognize me after all these years, and that we
greeted each other with the same warmth as if time and distance had never
interfered.
While, of course, she didn't remember
my name, it made me believe that some great things do really remain. And that
some things do wheel on in this great cycle towards a certain oneness despite
the many walls and boundaries that our differences and the difficulties of
overcoming them also continue to build around us. And if only we take time to
recognize these great things, even the smallest acts of kindness and humanity,
the most trivial of acquaintances, the simplest gestures, they accumulate in us
and without much effort, we radiate them through our everyday dealings with the
Other.
To stumble upon a bunch of Germans,
Japanese and Thais while we wait for our train was no longer big news to us.
The great announcement came when they told us of the Pope delivering the
Angelus on Sunday at Castelgandolfo to the delight of my Vietnamese friend who
hasn't met the Pope yet. It was quite a nice start to a morning which saw us
having to get off the train and transfer to a bus that would lead us to Rome,
and going through the labyrinth that is the Roman underground metro only to
come out on the other side of the station to take the autobus as the metro was
not working that day.
With the rest of the world trying to
fit inside the autobus, we could not move a finger, all the more it was
impossible for us to get off our desired destination, and so again, we ended up
at the Vatican, quite far from the first bookhunting stop on my list. From
there, we decided to follow the river Tevere and hoped it could get us
somewhere. We docked at Trastevere, which literally means beyond the Tevere,
one of Rome's most charming and well-preserved quarters, which housed two
bookshops on my list. With one being closed for the summer holidays and the
other selling books as if they're gold, our feet bare against Trastevere's
cobbled streets led us to a Tibetan shop by the end of an alley.
The colors and designs of the
products displayed there would have been enough eye candy for all of us. But
one of the owners offered to explain to us in English some meditation
techniques using Tibetan singing bowls. Made of alloy of seven different metals
connected to the seven principal planets, the bowls are used for meditation and
relaxation. By encircling along its rim with a wooden stick, it creates sounds
and vibrations that would help us harmonize with the universe. Adding water
creates vibrations reminiscent of small fountains.
And our small trip into a Tibetan
shop turned out to be not only an afternoon of meditation but more so of a dialogue
with the Buddhist owner, with whom we shared stories of us coming from
different parts of the globe to follow a lifestyle of unity. We agreed that one
thing we have in common despite the many differences is our desire to be one
among us and with the universe.
We could have stayed there longer, if
not for a call from the rest of our companions already waiting for us at the
Colosseo. And so we crossed to the other side of the river through the Isola
Tiberina, passed by Piazza Venezia and Campidoglio towards the Colosseo.
(Standing by the ruins of old Rome deserves another narration.) And after an
eat-all-you-can apericena, again we walked along the Tevere, this time by
night. It was a different sight altogether with lights flooding both sides of
the river and the night markets and restaurants lined up.
Capping the night with a hike up the
Gianicolo hill, the second tallest in Rome, we were treated to a panoramic view
of Rome's churches and bell towers and this “old world’s” version of
skyscrapers. Catching my breath, I let my tired legs hang over the edge of the
cliff dipping in the eternal city melting into a sea of serenity. As dawn awaited
the sunrise that will paint Rome again with tourists and the typical modern city
life, I just let every thing, my worries and my joys, flow towards that big Sea
waiting for me. // Unshod Rover for Oasis Holidays
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is a worldwide-eyed wanderer currently based in Bangalore, India. You may follow his musings and journeys on this blog. "All Rover the World" chronicles his continuing travels wandering about the world and stumbling upon strangers.
