Getting Settled In Roma!

DIARIO DI ROMA V
Thursday (Giovedi) May 23, 2019
Sunny 67°F/20°C in Roma, Latium, Italia
Buonagiornata,

It always takes me a few days to get over my jet lag on a transatlantic flight! Never mind that I saw Dr. Young twice for what turned out to be a bad cold mixed in with my allergies. Then there is the acclimating that’s needed moving into a new apartment.  I have a top floor apartment that my son found on Airbnb. I’ve had good luck with Airbnb. It’s the third apartment I’ve rented…. In a nice neighborhood close to Michael and Laura. Stefania, the lady that owns the place, just renovated it with all-new appliances and dual-pane windows.

Il sesto piano…the sixth floor…sits seven stories above a quiet street lined with those ubiquitous

My Roma View!

Umbrella Pines that seem to be everywhere around Rome. Respighi immortalized them in his symphonic work The Pines of Rome. The effect for me is overlooking an urban forest from my balcony.  The neighborhood is in the EUR district, about 35 minutes by Metro from Roma Centrale, the historical heart of the Eternal City. EUR was developed under Benito Mussolini as the site for the 1940 World’s Fair. But, while Il Duce famously drained the swamp that EUR was best known for at the time, World War Two broke out and Mussolini’s World’s Fair died on the drawing board. EUR itself survived and is now a bustling borough of the city.

I’ve metamorphosed from first-time tourist in 2005, when I first arrived in Rome expecting to visit Naples, Pompeii, Florence and Venice in ten days, to the present and my status as a part-time resident. I’m limited only by the 90-day window that comes with a European Union tourist visa. From day one, the kids have lobbied hard to persuade me to move here full time. That’s a tempting thought, and one that was very far from my mind just a few years ago.

One thing that I did in settling into my new digs – change out the old, one-cup-at-a-time percolator

Caffe Italian Style: Old v. New! 

style coffee pot for a brand-new Nespresso coffee maker. You know, the type that George Clooney touts in those TV commercials. I’ll just leave it with Mike and Laura until I come back to Rome. I did that with my laptop computer and a suitcase full of clothes last year. If you’re Italian, and you grow up with a coffee pot like that, it’s one thing! But if you’re an American who grew up on the likes of Mr. Coffee, then an Italian-style coffee pot is going to be way beyond your abilities.  The same of cultural chasm exists between what most Americans consider a good, full cuppa cawfee, and what most Italians do, and we have G.I. Joe to thank for the course correction. Back during  the latter days of World War Two, when Rome was aswarm with thousands of American soldiers all looking for sex and coffee (not necessarily in THAT order), the GI’s decided that they would have to drink at least eight of the demi-tasse cups that the Italians drank from to get just ONE American-style cuppa cawfee out of the deal.  And so, another wartime compromise was negotiated between the occupiers and the occupied and Caffé Americano was born.  Now when I go into a bar, trattoria or ristorante, I can get a full cup of Joe. Since I drink my coffee black with a little sweetener, I order a Caffѐ Americano nero, con dolcificante.

Michael and Laura popped around noon to pick me up for a stroll around my new neighborhood and to have a spot of pranzo (lunch). Since, the sun had decided to make an appearance after several days of thunderstorms, a pleasant stroll was had by all, even Sofia, Mike and Laura’s black Volpino. Knowing that I am good for a few random table scraps, Sofia nestled her muzzle on my leg and looked up at me with her best feed me gaze. Italians bring their dogs with them everywhere. So, it’s not unusual to see the family pooch in a restaurant, at all.  Back home, the mere sight of a pooch in a restaurant would most likely cause a run on torches and pitchforks. We checked the shops restaurants within a few blocks of my  apartment. Laura wanted to orient me to the location of the Elite Mercato, which lies several short streets away from me. This market is not to be confused with the Elite SUPERMercato which lies beyond the junction of Laurentina and Viale dell’Oceano Atlantico on Via Giacomo Debenedetti.

Now, my goal with this series of Rome Diaries, is not to dazzle you with a typical travel log. After all, the likes of Rick Steves and Samantha Brown can do that, with much more panache.  Rather, my objective is to target the first-time traveler who has taken the kind of tour that drags a poor tourist

My Living Room

through 15 cities in 12 days and leaves him or her wondering, Wow! What a vacation! The castles. The ruins. The museums. The wine. The food. And, the people!  Oh! The people! What a wonderful trip! Oh, how I would love to go back THERE! Wait just a minute, Pilgrim! Do you have any idea where THERE is?  That was ME on my very first trip to Italy. I had just two weeks, during which – I figured – I  could visit Rome and Pompeii, see Naples, hop the high speed train to Florence, with a side trip to Pisa, and wrap it up in Venice, AND be back in Rome in time to catch my flight back to California. PS: I never left Rome! Too many interesting things to do in Rome. Besides, my son is one of the best tour guides in Rome. So, it was a no-brainer. In 2013, I came for Christmas and stayed nearly three months. That was where we started following a pattern where I would rent a place of my own. So. Life in the Big City – Roman Style! It’s designed for the first-time traveler who want to go back. IF he can figure out where THERE is!

Caio,
MikeBo

[Mike Botula, the author of LST 920: Charlie Botula’s Long, Slow Target! is a retired broadcast journalist, government agency spokesperson and media consultant.   Mike’s book is available from Amazon Books. You can read more about Mike Botula at www.mikebotula.com]

© By Mike Botula 2019