Diario di Roma II – Rome Diary 2!
First Day in Town!
Sunny and 93°F/34°C – It’s
August here, already!
Buongiorno!
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| Roma a notte! |
I think I mentioned in one of these postings that Italian drivers have their own interpretation of the “rules of the road.” My literary idol Beppe Severgnini has frequently written
about them. To recap: A red
light or stop sign doesn’t necessarily mean “Halt.” No, no! To Italian drivers, a red light is merely
advice to the driver to lift the foot from the pedal and
look both ways while making a decision on whether or not to keep moving forward.
Yellow means put your foot in it and go like hell before it turns red. Yield is a No Slowing Zone, and green means proceed at speed, do not slow! The first example of that was our
tram driver, who was driving all of us Alitalia passengers from plane-side
yesterday to the main terminal and a very long line at Passport Control. The
driver started turning too near a truck parked next to another airplane. Ignoring
the chorus of passengers who cried out their loudest warnings in at least six
different languages, our driver kept going until his bus
made glancing contact with the parked truck. Pausing only long enough to finally
look in his side mirror while making his decision; our driver then proceeded
forward, sideswiping his own bus with the corner of the parked truck from the
middle of the left side all the way to
the rear bumper. As he did this, the passengers, including the members of the
Iranian Special Olympics team who were on our plane, cheered him on in their
six languages, and they were joined by all the folks standing around outside on
the tarmac. I can only imagine that not even the Caesars ever heard cheering
like that during their triumphal returns in the old days.
The
Iranian kids, by the way, were on their way home from Los Angeles where they
took part in this year’s Special Olympics. L.A. had just hosted 6,500 Special
Olympics athletes from 165 nations in 25 Olympic-type sporting events. The
kids and their coaches and chaperones would be catching a connecting flight at
Rome bound for Tehran and home. There’s nothing like an airline passenger
cabin, especially on an international carrier like Alitalia to bring a group of
diverse nationalities under one roof in a peaceful setting. After all, when you
learn to line up at the door of an airliner’s lavatory and no fights break out,
you can do the same thing at the U.N. Our world leaders should take note..
Today
is a decompression day for me. Weeks of getting ready. Long flight. A full day
lost – I left LAX on Tuesday, but didn’t get to Rome until Wednesday. Nine hour
time difference. All the little Gremlins that go with a long trip. But it timed out OK. By the time we had dinner and I got to bed, it was around midnight. So
when I woke up this morning after nine hours of “Z,” my body clock had been completely
fooled into thinking that I was acting normally. Jet lag on some of my past
trips have left me loopy for days.
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| Mike and Michael |
If you
are wise enough not to overbook your vacation schedule on your trip, take a day
or two just to relax and get acclimated to your new surroundings. I plugged in
my laptop and established a good Wi-Fi connection, then I picked up my I-phone
to call Liliana and check on my pooch, Lola. The message told me, “NO SERVICE!”
Ever try to call your wireless carrier when your phone is out of order? I
finally called ATT using Skype from my laptop to their international number.
It turned out that the genius in the “Customer Care” unit failed to restore my
international cell phone services when I upgraded my phone last month. The
problem was quickly fixed, but if I had just picked up and gone on with my
touring, I might have missed that and wound up in real trouble.
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| Sofia! The other Wonder Dog |
This morning Laura headed off to work, and Mike and I
chatted over coffee on his patio. They’re living in a new home this time. Their
building backs up to an urban nature preserve near Fiumicino Airport and, not
too far from where I had my apartment last time and in the same general area
where they used to live. After lunch he headed off to lead a group of tourists
on one of his famous “Crypts and Catacombs” tours. I’ll start tagging along
with him in a day or so. That’s an interesting tour to remember, if you’re
planning a Roman Holiday. Another
favorite of mine is "Angels and Demons," based on the Tom Hanks movie and the book
by Dan Brown. Later in the week, it’s the day trip to Pompeii – always worth
seeing a second time. Ostia Antica, the ancient seaport of the Roman Empire is
right down the road from here. In fact, I could catch a bus there from the
front of the building. But, in keeping with my “do nothing the first day of the
trip” policy I am staying home with Sofia, il
Cane famiglia! Sofia came to the airport with Mike and Laura to welcome me
back to Rome. So far, so good. More a domani!
Ciao!
MikeBo
©Mike Botula
2015
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