Evening Exploration

It was near the end of the day when I heard the music. Drifting through the closed windows in the back of my apartment was a haunting yet jazzy melody. I’ve heard this same tune before, but never figured out where it was coming from. I went out onto the balcony and listened. It was loud, filling up all the space between apartment buildings and coming from the south. I went to the front of my apartment and threw open the windows. Nothing. Not a single sound besides the cars driving by could be heard. How could something so loud on one side not reach the other, two rooms and a hallway away?

This was the day to finally investigate. I had shut myself in all day working and now I would discover the origin of the mysterious music I heard weekly. Maybe it was a band playing at a cool club. Maybe it was a weekly open air concert at a park. Maybe it was a traveling guitarist, roaming the streets in search of fans. Whatever it was, I’ve heard it for over two straight months and I had to know.

The night was clear and warm, something that had become rare during my stay here. I followed the street toward the closest point to the music I now wasn’t hearing, but no matter where I walked, I couldn’t hear it. Could the apartments be that good at blocking noise? Frustrated, I decided to just continue my walk, going down a street I had neglected these past weeks.

Restaurants, cafés, patisseries, all empty. Waiters sat outside smoking, watching me walk by. No one was on the street at all. I checked the time: 7:05 on a Sunday night.

Continuing my walk down I began to think I was on some sort of highway. There were green signs posted every once in a while telling me the direction of large Italian cities. Suddenly, the buildings stopped and fenced in field started. I looked through the bars and was shocked to see a lit castle-like structure, complete with tall circular guard posts, which I immediately hurried towards. Through twisting streets and renaissance buildings I finally reached the structure and realized it was actually a wall, the same wall by my apartment, and inside was a park, Parco degli Scipioni.

Somewhat disappointed and somewhat delighted about how common antiquity was in Rome, I decided to venture down another nearby street, turning this way and that before soon realizing I was lost. Damn. As it was the midpoint in the term I was really getting annoyed at how often I could get lost. I thought about the path I took but was still utterly confused, and so I chose a direction and stuck with it. Ten minutes later I noticed a leaf covered sign: Napoli. Highway? I live next to a highway type thing! And thus, five minutes later, I was saved.

It’s weird how much a place can change in about an hour. At 8:35 the streets were filled, the restaurants had lines, and light flooded the area. I walked back to my street by the park and faintly heard a jazzy tune drifting down to the street, out of a bedroom window above.