When in Rome...do as the Romans do

Rome is a crazy city...it is certainly a hustle/bustle city with everyone going everywhere and usually fast! The transportation here is insane...especially coming from small old Corvallis! But it is seriously insane, there are so many people driving their tiny cars and scooters! I think I would be scared to death to drive over here!

But the insane traffic itself makes walking around slightly intimindating....at least at first. Lauren and I quickly learned the techniques to crossing the streets in Rome. "When in Rome...do as the Romans do" So Lauren and I did just that and instead of standing on the sides of streets with all the other tourists, we began to act like Romans and just walked across. Because the truth is that they will stop (when you are in the street and not waiting on the sidewalk). So you have to look for a slight break (or at least build up your courage) and step into the street and crossing streets become quite easy.

It becomes even easier if you can follow an Italian across the road because they are fearless! And even better is an Italian priest! Lauren and I were trying to cross a very busy street near Capitol Hill and found an Italian priest ready to cross. So we hurried up and closely followed him across the street. When we reached the "safe zone" in the center of the street we paused to consider stopping to take a photo of Capitol Hill, but decided it wasn't worth missing out on the easy of crossing the street behind the priest. I mean honestly, no Italian is going to hit a priest...so we were golden!

So just remember..."When in Rome, do as the Romans do"

Here is a picture of how small some of their cars are!!