I went there exactly once, in 1999. I kindof tricked my company into letting me take 2 weeks in a row of vacation ... even though it was generally against their policy. So, on a whim, I went to a travel agent ... and found an airfare for $375 round trip. So I just picked up a little English-Italian dictionary, packed a little carry-on bag, and hopped on the plane. I knew Latin and figured Italian would be close enough (and it was). Mind you, I didn't bother to book a hotel. Well, the connecting flight from Kansas City to Cleveland was late. So we were put on a different plane to Paris. I didn't know a lick of French except for "ne parle pas Francais", and the Frogs in Paris refuse to speak English, so I had a heck of a time finding my way to the next plane, an Alitalia flight to Rome from Paris. So I finally get there, and asked a cab to take me to the "Via Ottaviani" near St. Peter's. Once there, and it was getting very late, I walked around hoping I'd find a hotel with a vacancy. I did find one ... and overpaid I think. I still remember its name: Hotel Florida. Next day I had time to find a better place. Ah, when I was young and single and stupid ... the adventures I could have without having to worry about the family's welfare.
So this was Monday. On Tuesday, I wandered around the Vatican, and a Swiss guard answered my question, hacked together from my dictionary, "Dove posso avere biglietti per l'udienza del Santo Padre?" He pointed up these stairs, at the top of which I found an English priest, who chatted with me for a while and gave me a couple tickets for the Audience. Next morning I got there a couple hours early so I could get way up front. Well, to my dismay, the Pope Mobile actually passed around the very BACK of the crowd. So, after spending a week in Rome, I tried again the following Wednesday and got a place all the way in the back. This time I snapped a bunch of pictures of John Paul II from no more than 10 feet away.
So, since I had booked the tickets last minute, my return flight had to be out of Milan. So I hopped on a train from Rome to Milan. Now, since my Italian was rusty, I inadvertently sat in a first class car ... and the conductor kicked me out to a different one. Reminds of the story about the guy at the banquet who sat up front and got kicked out.
One of the things that struck me most about Rome was that people walked around the streets with open glasses of wine. Lots of people smoked, even inside the airport. I also remember a couple of Jєωs with Uzis standing in front of the El Al ticket counter ... the only place I could see with openly-armed guards.
I mostly liked St. Peter's when I was there, and spent most of my time there.
I also walked into the little church from which those men stole the Pachamamas recently.
Topic: Eternal Rome (Read 561 times)