The End

This trip has been an incredible experience all around but this blog has helped me to focus on certain aspects of Rome that otherwise i might not have been able to experience. First was the Colosseum.
From the first time that I saw this massive structure I was dumbfounded. I fell in love with not just the structure itself but also the story behind it. After visiting it during all different hours of the day and night I feel like the Colosseum has become a part of me. It sounds strange and far fetched but by spending as much time there as I have I became attatched to the architecture. Once that point was reached I began to see the Colosseum as something completely different. I experienced it as a native Roman might. I stopped being effected by the building itself and began to see the people that milled around outside. My focus changed and the subject of the Colosseum became about culture of both the American tourist and the local Italian.
This quest for culture followed me into my decision making for broadening one of my topics from one Piazza (Campo De' Fiori) to Piazza's in general. I am very glad that I made this change. After I opened myself up to writing about all Piazza's in Rome I found myself visiting more Piazza's than I otherwise would have. I found that as I visited more Piazza's I realized what each one was about and that each area serves different purposes at all times of the day and night. These ancient fields and pastures have transformed into cultural and social epicenters that I think should be more prevalent in the United States.
The final topic that I had for this blog was experiencing Roman streets. This was by far my favorite topic and the one that kept me interested at literally every turn. The streets here are so unique compared to any city in the United states and only vaguely similar to streets that I have been on in other European cities. What sets these streets apart cannot be narrowed down to just one thing, as my blog clearly illustrates. There is a culture about the streets in Rome that really just fits. Throughout the course of this trip I have found that the culture here breeds the streets and the structure of the streets breed the culture. This symbiotic relationship between people and the spaces that they live is unlike anything that can be found in America. People and places try to imitate this overall feeling but nothing can compare to the real thing.