Three Coins in the Fountain

Trevi Fountain is interesting to me because it is both much bigger than I expected... and much smaller... I didn't know that you could just wander through the historic city center of Rome and then BAM! Sandwiched between three streets ("tre via" = Trevi), gelato shops, pizzerias, souvenir shacks, illegal toy peddlers and legions of tourists, the beautiful Trevi is a testament to the wishes and dreams of every visitor to Rome.

I was thinking about it today, as I watched hundreds and hundreds of tourists traipse through the Coliseum and Forum. We all want the same things when we come to Rome, don't we? To walk in the footsteps of emperors and gladiators, to imagine the world before iPhones and computers and cars and airplanes and TVs and working 9 to 5 and trying to keep up with the Joneses... We want to imagine that we are the ruling class of Rome, the men and women in white togas with slaves who will build travertine columns to the sky and erect statues in our images; or maybe we're the rich art patrons who employ the likes of Bernini or Michelangelo or Caravaggio to adorn our palaces with frescoes of angels... 

Rome is still unfolding to me, releasing its charms bit by bit. Every day, I feel as though I capture a little more of its magic, somewhere between its cramped "parking lots" (i.e., streets and sidewalks) and ochre and sepia buildings and lush "palm pines" that reach into its inky blue night sky with their lacy silhouettes. 

But it takes time to learn a city. To ensure the girls will be back, we gave each of them a coin...

Here's hoping for the ultimate return on those three Euros, in the form of three wishes fulfilled and three future trips to Rome.