Now we are resting at Trevi fountain, not nearly as social as the Spanish Steps but more relaxing (despite the ever-moving conglomeration of tourists). Walking the streets I've noticed that, as I keep my tension in my shoulders, the stressed people of Rome keep theirs in their lips. Most of the restaurant owners and other relaxed people do not suffer from this slight pull that puts on the faces of businessmen and old ladies a look somewhere between worried and distracted.

While in Rome I have been reminded often by what I see of the book of Ecclesiastes. The tourists here care about the ruins and stautes, but the locals do not. At least in the same stop and look and feel kind of way; it is true that as Spain has a sense of Beauty about it, Rome has a sense of History. The Italian solution to the fundamental problem is the same as the Spanish solution, but while the Spanish sense of Beauty is alive and thriving the sense of History in Rome in some ways seems as "dead" as the Roman language. Along the main road in Madrid there are a series of sculptures/statues by a Bolivian artist which are interesting because of how the artist distorted traditional forms: people and horses and dogs looking like they were in a fun house mirror or a cousin of the same. The Roman monuments have plenty of majesty but none make me smile as the Bolivian works did. As with Solomon, I think a part of the Roman spirit recognizes that one day the Trevi fountain and St. Peter's will only be ruins, and the maliciously distracted look on stressed lips comes when they avoid that future by moving too fast to look around them or being purposefully entertaining. [In Rome, "Festive" replaces Spain's "Beautiful" in how the people enjoy living.]

Diary--July 9th, 1994

What a wonderful day!...Emily read this journal-so-far and offered commentary I should reply to. Then I will work chronologically once more (finally!).