My Favorite Roman Memory

We were both so tired, our feet hurt from walking, blisters had started forming on our feet, the honking of horns and loud car bumping by the hotel on the cobblestone roads and the unforgiving jet lag led us to one thing: being awake. It’s 2:30 AM and I am lying there still but staring at the ceiling. Water helps a person sleep. Sure, I get up and with my phone light I guide myself to the unknown dark path to the washroom. I slide the door closed and pour a glass of water from the tap and I gulp it down, maybe a short pee? I do that as well and get back to bed. Okay, now I attempt sleep once more. That’s five cars gone by and I am still not sleeping. A voice breaks the silence.

“Are you awake?” It’s my partner asking me this. Thank goodness.

“Yeah, I can’t sleep,” I tell him.

“Neither can I,” he says as he switches on the light. “I’m hungry, I wonder if there are any places open right now,” without waiting for me to answer he grabs his phone and starts researching.

“You know we are both up, we might as well go and see the Trevi fountain, you’ve always wanted to see it,” I suggested.

“Oh, now you’re thinking…hmm…most places are closed at 2 am,” he tells me without glancing away from his phone. “Well, there’s a McDonalds open still, it’s a twelve minute walk and it’s close to the Trevi fountain.”

Like that I found myself fully clothed walking down the streets of Rome, young people were still out either drunk or smoking outside. We made our way walking down the uneven streets of Rome under the moonlight, swerving down the narrow streets until we saw that familiar sign.

“You know what I’m going to do?” I tell my husband.

“What?”

“Order a milkshake,” I say completely proud of myself.

“You and your sugar,” he laughs to bio self as we enter.

We come up to the touch screen and select English on the screen. We put our orders in and wait in line along with other people younger than us who were out drinking or clubbing or getting high on something. We receive the bag, packed to perfection and we head down the streets and come to a fountain, not the Trevi.

We sit down on an empty bench and pull out our meals and we eat in front of the light up fountain while a garbage truck drives by and changes out the trash can, next thing we know we observe a cleaning truck that starts cleaning the square we watch as we eat our food. The trucks leave and we are met with silence but not for long as a group of millennials wearing black come rushing into the square laughing hysterically. A women appears to have just turned thirty she’s carrying two balloons with the numbers three and zero. Her friends line her up and take a few photos. They were all dressed up in suits and black dresses. I got it a funeral to your twenties. Then they come towards us all giggles.

“Excuse me can you take photo?” Asks one the men from the large group in an Italian accent.

“Sure.” I say as I wipe my greasy fingers from the McDonald’s fries on my sweater and take his phone. I count down in Italian from three and snap a few quick photos.

“Hey tell my friends happy birthday Serena?” He asks us.

“Happy Biryhday Serena!” My husband and I cheer loudly and they all laugh and we clear out of the square and we leave the square. We could still hear them laughing and making jokes in Italian.

We continue on our way to the Trevi fountain. We come across it all light up and a few tourists are already there snapping photos making silly faces with their friends. I pull my husband towards me and we take a few photos ourselves while laughing while pretending that we were just there for the instagram.

We were laughing making funny faces and just being there in the moment that’s what really counted. It didn’t matter that we were sleep deprived or felt like our legs would fall off. It just mattered that we were there and enjoying every second of it.

The thrill of getting up early to see a sight, will never wear off. I’ve seen the Trevi fountain before but it was morning and of course 11 years ago. I forgot how it feels to be free with no itinerary but just getting up because we felt like it and seeing the Trevi fountain.