Note to Self: Do Not Bring Heels to Roma

Yesterday was a beautiful day to have a walk through my new neighborhood of Roma. I walked with my new friend Lilli, my flatmate's girlfriend, as she was familiar with the city having visited here a few times. Within a 15 minute walk we arrived to the heart of Roma. Campo di Fiori, a known place of young people at night,  where vendors had just finished cleaning up from the market that was there that morning.

Within a couple of minutes of leaving a shoe maker where Lilli  wished to have some heels redone the bottom of my fairly new boots came off from the cobble stone streets. WELCOME to ROMA! But I decided to give my boots a run for their money before I myself needed to go to the shoe maker. I' m glad I decided not to bring any stilettos, and settled just for wedges. I don't know how the Italians buy such expensive nice shoes and walk this rough streets, but this is what makes Roma Roma, the preservation of his culture/history/heritage and its cobble stone crooked streets.

 It became a beautiful day and as I walked pasted this Roman buildings I could not imagine that I am living here. Actually living in Roma!

Crossing the streets is like playing chicken. There are often no pedestrian cross lights but one must embrace the Rondos without any fear and take the leap in front of cars, buses, trucks and Vespas and pray that they will stop. Which they always do, but sometimessss just sometimes your life flashes before your eyes for a second as the bus rapidly breaks, squeaking its tires to allow you to cross. The key trick to survival is take the leap with a group in hope that if someone gets hit the odds are in your favor.

My day concluded having a stop at the local shoe maker to fix my boots. Although I did not speak any Italian, it was enough to show my shoes as this is a common occurrence in Roma. This man must be pretty wealth off.  15 minutes, 6 costumers later, the shoe maker made me new rubber bottoms so I would not slip on the marble sidewalks and made me a sturdier heel. I wonder how long these new bottoms will last. Till then, for only 14 Euros you too can have brand new soles.