A few weeks ago, I went to Rome and immediately fell in love with her. Just like her nickname, “Everlasting City,” Rome was so stunningly beautiful, full of marvels and wonders that I fell in love with her at first sight. Wherever I went, I encountered rich historic heritage and vestiges of the once glorious Roman Empire. Indeed, Rome literally looked like an array of beautiful postcards. 

I went to Rome not for pleasure, but for business. I participated in the 2013 European Translators’ Workshop sponsored by LTI Korea. Translators of Korean literature from 10 European countries gathered to discuss the problems and prospects of translating and promoting Korean literature in Europe.

There were a series of heated discussions all day long. Therefore, unlike Princess Ann in William Wyler’s famous movie “Roman Holiday,” I was neither bored nor wanted to secretly sneak out of the workshop to venture into the city. My trip to Rome was not for a “Roman holiday,” but for a “Roman workday,” after all.

Yet, I was in Rome and was reminded of the maxim, “When in Rome, do as the Romans do.” Thus I wanted to have some leisure time to walk around the city. I thought I deserved some rest because I had not been able to enjoy the luxury of having holidays at all for the past two years. When the workshop was over, therefore, I decided to roam the city with my Italian friend, Giovanni Volpe.

From the beginning I was impressed by the exquisite beauty and overwhelming grandeur of the Roman architecture. The magnificent Monument to Victor Emmanuel II was a good start. We walked to the nearby Roman Forum where I momentarily had an illusion of hearing Mark Antony’s famous funeral oration in Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar,” Act III, Scene 3: “Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears; I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him. The evil that men do lives after them. The good is oft interred with their bones. So let it be with Caesar.” Then we walked to the Coliseum. There, I was once again under the illusion that I heard the clanging, metallic sounds of swords and tridents of gladiators fighting to death in the arena.

We also visited the celebrated Pantheon and Church of St, Ignazio di Loyola, in which I saw 3-D effect wall paintings with shock and awe. Then we rambled to the Trevi Fountain, where I threw in a coin, wishing the best of luck for my children. I also wanted to see the Vatican, Castle St. Angelo and St. Peter’s Basilica. So Giovanni and I took the subway to the Vatican, the panoramic view of which reminded me of the turbulent history of the Catholic Church. The Vatican also reminded me of Dan Brown’s intriguing novel, “Angels and Demons.”

The architecture of all the historic buildings there was so mesmerizing and marvelous that I was hopelessly stuck on the dazzling, “everlasting” city, Rome. The amazing thing was that nearly all the historic sites I visited were located within easy walking distance.

As I sat in the plane bound for Seoul that evening, admiring and brooding on the beauty of Rome, I thought of Seoul, a city where I have lived for the past 30 years and which I always have to return to after visiting beautiful foreign cities such as Rome. God knows I love Seoul so much, a dynamic city bustling with people and full of constant construction noises. Seoul is a city of hopes and dreams for so many people from local cities and countryside. And it is a city of young people, a city that never sleeps at night.

At the same time, however, Seoul is regrettably a gigantic, inhumane city and it is not pretty, either. Look around you, and you will find ugly concrete apartment complexes everywhere. Under the name of modernization, we have indiscriminately destroyed our precious cultural heritages and replaced them with extremely unattractive clusters of apartment buildings instead. Alas! What did our leaders and administrators think when they first saw Rome? Did it not ever occur to them that they should make Seoul as culturally rich and charming as Rome?

Stroll on the banks of the Hangang River, and you will realize how gloomy it all looks. With a returned traveler’s eyes, especially from a city like Rome, what you see is gray cement embankments lining both sides of the river. Few monuments or historic buildings are to be seen. There is not much to call a national emblem on the banks of the Han, either. How, then, could you possibly fall in love with Seoul? Disillusioned, sometimes I think of leaving Seoul, searching for a more romantic place deserving of my heart.

So, there I was, about to leave Rome, the irresistibly attractive, enchanting city, suddenly beset by a sense of guilt as if I fell in love with another woman. Leaving for Seoul, I left my heart in Rome.

By Kim Seong-kon

Kim Seong-kon is a professor of English at Seoul National University and president of the Literature Translation Institute of Korea. ― Ed.