Urge to Fly http://urgetofly.blogspirit.com/travel/ Fri, 5 Sep 2008 15:55:27 +0530 blogSpirit.com All Rights Reserved http://urgetofly.blogspirit.com/archive/2006/09/16/italy.html http://urgetofly.blogspirit.com/archive/2006/09/16/italy.html noreply@blogspirit.com (Khwaahish-e-Parwaaz) Travel Sat, 16 Sep 2006 14:15:00 +0530 <img src="http://urgetofly.blogspirit.com/images/thumb_300px-Colosseum-2003-07-09.jpg" alt="medium_300px-Colosseum-2003-07-09.jpg" style="border-width: 0; float: left; margin: 0.2em 1.4em 0.7em 0;" />When I had <a href="http://urgetofly.blogspirit.com/archive/2006/07/11/weekend-at-agra.html" target="_blank">visited Agra</a> two months back, I had lamented the fact that we Indians have no respect for our national heritage and have no qualms about desecrating historical monuments. After visiting Italy this week, I'm wondering if I can generalize this to the whole world. That may be a bit too much, but I witnessed exactly the same thing in Italy as I did at Agra. Whether they were the 2000 year old ruins at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rome" target="_blank">Rome</a>, or the precariously tilting walls of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leaning_Tower_of_Pisa" target="_blank">Leaning Tower of Pisa</a> - all bore witness to the regrettable proclamation of love by irresponsible lovers. <br /> <br /> Anyway, I had a great time at Italy. I have always been fascinated by history, and what better place to witness history than Rome. I can't think of any other city with such a rich treasure of history - from ancient to medieval to modern. Every street corner, every piazza is so steeped in history that you really need a lifetime to see everything that Rome has to offer. Given the fact that I had less then 3 days to explore the Eternal City, I'm sure there was a lot more I didn't see. However, I still managed to see the usual touristy stuff - Piazza del Popolo, Spanish Steps, Piazza Navona, Pantheon, Fontana di Trevi, Colosseum, Vatican city....<br /> <br /> <img src="http://urgetofly.blogspirit.com/images/thumb_Image_43_.jpg" alt="medium_Image_43_.jpg" style="border-width: 0; float: right; margin: 0.2em 0 1.4em 0.7em;" />If I were to pick up a few of my favourite places in Rome, they would certainly be <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trevi_Fountain" target="_blank"><em>Fontana di Trevi</em></a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Peter%27s_Basilica" target="_blank"><em>St. Peter's Basilica </em></a>at Vatican. It was&#8230;