Brushy Creek Journal
Sunday December 11, 2016
Foggy 56°F/13°C in Cedar Park, Texas 78613
Partly Cloudy 55°F/13°C in Roma, Lazio, Italia 00128
Buongiorno,
From time to time, as I
open my Facebook page to see what’s going on in the cyber-world (as
opposed to what’s happening in the Real World) I am offered an
opportunity to re-share one of my previous postings. I suppose it’s the
thinking of Mark Zuckerberg and his band of merry cyber-geniuses that a
pleasant memory, or meaningful thought once posted is worth repeating. And so
it
 |
| The Coliseum Rome |
was on this foggy Texas Sunday morning that I encountered one of my original
Rome Diary postings. It was done on Day 30 of my 2013 Roman adventure
during a time of maximum tumult in my life. I had just spent the first night in
the studio apartment that my son and daughter had found for me after my initial
month in Rome camped out in their guest room. Now, you’re gonna get the
chance to live like a native Roman, Pop, said my son. Laura and I are
going on a cruise. Sofia, the pooch is going to Selci to stay with the folks
and we’ll see you next week! I was to be alone for the first time in years
in a place where I didn’t even speak the language. Panic! Denial! More
panic! And, finally….. well it all worked out.
Diario di Roma, la giornata
trenta! Mercoledì 11 dicembre 2013
(Rome Diary - Day 30 - Wednesday
December 11, 2013)
Cloudy 56°F/10°C in Roma, Lazio, Italia
Buongiorno,
Spent the first night in my new
pad here in Roma. Very comfortable studio not too far from Mike and Laura and
Laura's folks on the way to Fiumicino Airport. It's a very cozy place, and I've
rented it for the month that the lady who normally lives here is visiting
friends in Buenos Aires. Lots of people do that here. They'll rent out their
apartments to help offset the cost of their travels. The bed is very comfy and
I slept soundly on my first night. Now, I really get to learn the ropes. All on
my own. Challenging. Thirty days. Wow! I've away from home for a month now.
Actually, I should say away from the U.S., not away from home. That's because
in my present life, I am without a home. But, that's another story. Suffice to
say that rather than go sleep under a bridge I thought I'd come to Rome and
visit my son and try to figure out my what I want to be when I grow up. Good
move. More on that in a moment, but, first...
...Ostia
Antica. I mentioned earlier (in a previous Rome
Diary) that when Rome became the first city in the world to reach a million
in population, it's port, Ostia was a prosperous maritime trade center,
handling goods from all over the known world - Asia via the Silk Road, the
Middle East, Africa, and all of Europe. There's even speculation that the
Romans visited the Americas. Now the port is known as Ostia Antica (ancient
Ostia) and its not near the Mediterranean any more. The shoreline moved away
sometime in the 15th century. The new Ostia is a hopping coastal resort a short
distance from Rome proper, which reminded me of Newport, Huntington Beach or
Redondo. The original is now is ruins, but what spectacular ruins. Outside the
walls on your way into Ostia Antica you walk through a settlement that
resembles a large village. No hustle and bustle here. All of the residents are
deceased. This is the Necropolis,
Greek for City of the Dead. Today the
 |
| Necropolis - Ostia Antica |
quiet is broken only by the oohs and
aahhs of tourists as they meander past the sarcophagi and family
mausoleums. The sanitation conscious Romans always buried their dead outside
the city walls so as not to challenge the sensitive Roman-nosed residents inside.
Utter McKinley must have had an ancestor in charge, because the Necropolis is
the Ancient Roman Version of Forest Lawn Memorial Park where the deceased were
burned or boxed, buried or scattered. And it appeared to me that Ostia Antica's
Necropolis had a zoning code. The streets are wide and well laid out and the
memorial crypts line them in tidy rows, like country cottages or townhouses..
Pagan Romans founded the city with their tradition of cremation, followed by
the Christians who carefully prepared their dead for resurrection. Eventually
both customs survived.
 |
| Valentina at Ostia Antica |
For the living
residents of Ostia Antica, the city
boasted an amphitheater for music and drama, Roman style baths for health and
relaxation, a market place with shops and restaurants, and a bordello, of
course. (There was always a bordello. After all, the Puritans weren't invented
for a thousand years). There was an athletic field which hosted various
sporting events. I should say that Ostia Antica's amphitheater had great
acoustics. That was a hallmark of the ancient Greek and Roman cultures. Stand
in the center of the stage and speak in normal tones and the audience can hear
you in the cheap seats way up in back.
Shortly after we
arrived at Ostia Antica, Mike and I were commandeered by Giancarlo, one of the
many freelance tour guides you will see at Rome tourist attractions. Mike, who
is fluent in Italian, forked over 50 euros ($67.50 or almost $34 bucks an hour)
for a two hour tour that was way too fast for my poor arthritic legs and completely
unintelligible, even though he promised me that he did speak a little English. He was very right on
that one, he spoke very little English. Mike quickly
 |
| Mike Jr. Licensed Tour Guide |
figured out that our guide
was not licensed by the government like the pros hired by his company, City Wonders Tours, which prides itself
on matching native language guides for tours taken by its customers. And, of
course, all the licensed guides have to undergo special training for each tour
they conduct. That's one reason I implore you to take a guided tour in Rome and
based on my son's experiences working for them plus my own observations on
several of their tours, I heartily recommend City Wonders Tours. They're an international company. Next tour for
us is the Angels and Demons tour, a City Wonders specialty. We're taking
that on Friday the 13th. Yikes!
Next time, more of On the Road with MikeBo!
For now,
Ciao,
MikeBo
(Postscript: Following my initial random Facebook postings during my 2013 Roman Holiday, I returned to southern
California where I became a regular blogger and set to work producing my own
website. As I became more comfortable in my writing as a pastime, I set out to
do what a lot of retired news geezers
do, writing a book. In this case, a book about my father’s adventures as a US
Navy officer during World War 2. My book, LST 920: Charlie Botula’s Long, Slow Target!
was published by Amazon Books in August. I returned to Italy in 2015
and plan on going back again in the Spring of 2017. So there are more Rome Diaries yet to be written. Stay
tuned!)
Arrivederci!
MikeBo
[Mike Botula is the author of LST
920: Charlie Botula’s Long, Slow Target! (Amazon Books), regularly produces MikeBo’s Blog
and produces his web site www.mikebotula.com.
© By
Mike Botula 2016
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