Lost Money

Tuesday, May 27

Today we leave our beloved Roma. We take a quick walk to the Pantheon to enjoy 
this historic building, and then prepare for our train and rental car trip to 
Montepulciano. 


We travel by taxi to Termini station, the big train station of Rome. But I'm 
confused. Nothing looks like I remember. Hmmm...this is Temini, there are signs 
all around acknowledging this....but where are the trains??  I soon realize that 
this is not the front of the building that I'm used to using. 

A kind young man looks at our confused faces and tells us to follow him. I 
explain that we need to print our tickets first (we had purchased them online, 
received a code, and were to print them at the station). So he has us go up and 
down stairs to go to this weird, somewhat isolated location to get our tickets 
printed. But the ticket machine works, so why should I worry?  I'm starting to 
realize that this is going to cost us, but he seems so sincere and is even 
helping us carry our luggage. After a couple more jaunts up and down stairs he 
looks at his phone to check for some information and takes us to a track 
where he deposits our luggage.  "How much?" I wonder?  This will definitely be
worth ten euros, I figure. John is talking to the guy and asks Larry for a 
twenty. "No!" we say...we had never actually asked for his help...so ten should 
be fine. Then the confusion starts. John pays him and he leaves. "How much did 
you give him?" we ask John. "Eighty euros," he replies. What!?!?!?

This still isn't feeling right to me. Even after paying 80 euros for the help, 
this isn't the way I found our platform last time. We're way out at the end of 
the train line, and I know that they don't even post the platform numbers until 
15 minutes for departure (this is about 25 minutes prior to departure). So I 
tell them I want to go check this out with my own eyes. Larry and I walk to the 
area where the boards are listing train information. Now this place is looking 
more familiar!

What I find out is that we were on the wrong platform far removed from where any 
train would be boarding. I send Larry to go get John and Jacque...and what do we 
find out?  Another "kind young man" has addressed them and is trying to offer 
them some help. We've been conned...big time!  And they're trying to gouge us 
for more!!  What a racket!!  And I think of the poor foreign travelers who would 
have continued with their scheme with one con artist setting travelers up to be "helped " by their buddies...and helped again....and again...until they miss their train!!  What a 
racket!  I'm even thinking the cab driver was part of the scheme, because we 
should have never been dropped off where we were. 

John is feeling down in the dumps. But such is the way with travel...sometimes 
you get taken or some other mishap occurs. Yesterday we were out and about and 
Larry was wearing his traveling pouch under his pants (after the attempted 
pickpocketing he suffered in Paris last time; see Metro Shmetro entry from 2012)

and he went to pay for sandwiches. 

He returned his money to his pouch...or so he thought...and found out later that 
he had missed the pouch and had lost money down his shorts leg. Such is the 
expense of traveling!  Take the bad with the good.

Jacque and I intend to lose money too.  But we're hoping it's when we're SHOPPING!

Traffic

Monday, May 26 cont'd

A side note about traffic in Rome.  The streets are filled with insane drivers!  And no one really pays attention to any driving laws; the laws are only suggestions...which not many people tend to care about.  If there is ten inches between your car and another car a motor scooter will zoom in to fill the void.  Yet amidst all this craziness and horn honking, no one seems to suffer from road rage and we haven't seen any accidents.  Amazing!

But if you're a pedestrian...what is one to do?  It seems the safe thing to do would be to walk to an intersection with lights.  And they do have lights for pedestrians.  After a couple of days of observation we have figured out this is what the pedestrian lights mean:
green--walk at your own risk; you are taking your life in your hands
yellow--run like h***!!!!
red--stick your chin up and casually cross the street like the Romans do; if you're lucky you may live to see the other side

The elevators are quite small here.  Our hotel elevator says it's for four persons, but it's really the size for one person and a purse.  Here we all try to fit in at once.  Hope there's room for Jacque!

Bella Roma

Monday, May 26

I love traveling with John!  We have gotten to know details of the personal 
lives of our taxi drivers, bartenders, waiters, and passers-by in the street. 
"What's your name?" and "Where are you from?" leads him into conversations about 
where all his relatives live, where we've been and where we're going.  We've 
learned from these people where they live, where they vacation, and how to 
correctly pronounce Italian words. 

Today got off to an early start...for John and Jacque anyway. I booked them 
tours...from Walks of Italy again...to the Vatican Museums and the Sistine 
Chapel. In order to go on a tour that included visiting the Sistine before it's 
regular business hours, they had to be there at 7:15 a.m.  I was kinder to 
myself, though. We didn't have to be anywhere until 9:00. We went to the Vatican 
Museums also, but since we had been there before we just bought admission 
tickets (without a tour) and wandered at our leisure. 

From one of our tours we learned that the 

columns that are currently in front of the 

Vatican were originally surrounding the

Colosseum.




These are my impressions from the Vatican City:
     Vatican Museums--This place is so incredibly large!  No museum that I've 
visited in the States could have prepared me for the size of this museum. I think I 
read somewhere that there is four miles of museum. That doesn't seem possible, but it 
is hecka big!!  This museum is where I first fell in love with Raphael. His frescoed 
rooms are beautiful! 

 the gorgeous ceiling at the Vatican Museums

Michelangelo's Pieta at the entrance of St. Peter's

Basilica

 

the main altar of St. Peter's Basilica



     Sistine Chapel--There is so much beauty in this room, but as for my 
personal opinion, less is more.  Since there is so much fresco...on every inch of 
ceiling and every inch of all the walls, I find myself overwhelmed and over-stimulated. When I could focus on just one area, though, the view is gorgeous!  Michelangelo is known for his awareness of the physical form (shown especially in his sculptures) but I find 
that he paints his women looking overly buffed/muscular.  But who knows...maybe they 
looked that way before they moved to California and became obese?!
     St. Peter's Basilica--Michelangelo's Pieta always moves me. So beautiful 
and emotional!  And I fell in love with Bernini here. His use of 
fluidity with marble is breath-taking. This church is huge and filled with statues, many of 

which are of the popes. 

Next we went to Palazzo Valentino. This is an exhibit where the ruins of an 
ancient mansion were found underground. They just made the floor of the present 
building of glass, and through the use of lighting and projectors they show you what the 
original home looked like in its hey day. The exhibit also teaches you about the 
Trajan Column through the use of a video. Now watching a video in a dark room with 
jet lag is not the best of ideas. The inevitable happens. Our heads start to bob. 
Then three of our heads quickly hop up when the lights come on. Jacque, Larry, and I go 
into mild hysterics watching John continue to sleep until Jacque shakes him 
several times.

Later in the day we went to see some favorite monuments lit up.  Bella!  Bella! 

just a couple of Roman goddesses adorning

the Colosseum

We loved our meals the prior night so much that we returned to the same 
restaurant again this night. Between the two nights we enjoyed such delicacies 
as:  fresh gnocchi, fresh ravioli, lamb chops, mussels and clams, osso bucca, 
veal Marsala, lamb meatballs in cognac sauce, saltimboca, and tirimisu. Yum!  
Yum!  Yum! 

our waiter was so attracted to John that

we needed to capture the moment

a good day...a good day!

Saturday, May 24

Today was a good day...a good day...but it didn't start out so great.

Knock!  Knock!  We wake up to this dreadful sound in the middle of the night.  What the heck?!  Well, it’s John.  And it’s not the middle of the night.  It’s almost 11:00a.m.  Thank goodness he woke us up.  We might have slept through our 1:30 PM Colosseum tour!!

Then John stabbed a gladiator.  But...well..when in Rome...

But soon the day got better.  We started heading towards the Colosseum but I purposely took a side street.  Soon Jacque notices that there is a large crowd ahead.  I assure her that the rumor that the Riellas have arrived must be spreading.  We walk a bit more and then I tell her to turn around...and there it is...the beautiful Trevi Fountain! Watching her gasp gave me chills.  Reminded me of the first time I saw this fountain in all its glory.  Ah, bella Roma!

We head towards the Colosseum for our tour with Walks of Italy.  Now I love to explore on my own, but this company does a fantastic job with their walking tours.  Arrrrrnold, our tour guide, shared so much knowledge of the early Roman lifestyle during our three hour tour.  Three hours is a long time to stay attentive, but we all agreed that we could have listened for many more hours. 

So many facts were learned about the Colosseum, but here are a few of my favorites:
     The name, Colosseo, doesn't refer to the size of the stadium but the size of the gigantic
          statue of Nero that was next to the stadium (almost as tall as the building).
     It was completed in 80 AD.
     It held between 60,000 to 80,000 people with 80 entrances.  Each sculpted stone ticket
          stated the entrance that you were to use.  So entries and exits were efficient.
     All entertainment at the Colosseum was free of charge to people of all classes.
     The original building was completely lined with marble.  Much of the marble was later
          taken off and "recycled" for the local churches.
     Gladiators were typically trained prisoners.  You could gain much wealth being a successful
           gladiator but you couldn't be released from this contract.

After the Colosseum, the tour continued with the Forum.

(of course this picture is out of focus...I took it!)

 After this lengthy, but thoroughly enjoyable tour we ended our day with a delicious dinner.  Our hotel sent us to a nearby restaurant that was out of this world!!  It was a very good sign that we were the only ones speaking English in the building.  It was a very memorable dinner at the end of a very memorable day.

At the conclusion of the meal John pushes away from the table, crosses his arm over his chest, gets his charming and silly grin on his face (have you pictured this?) and announces, "It was a good day...a good day!" And so it was!

But what's going on next to us?  It's a very large group celebrating some special event.  Jacque assumes it must be a first communion celebration of the young gent in the jacket and tie.  (side note to my kids... it really was Jacque and not me that came up with this story.)  Jacque wants to check out her assumption and asks the busboy.  Ah yes!  Right on the mark!  He congratulates us for our great skills of deduction by offering us complimentary tiramisu and limoncello.  Go Jacque!!

The young gent stands and gives a speech.  We're sure he must be acknowledging the well dressed Americans at the table next to theirs, so we politely applaud.  This brings on recognition by the young gent's family which includes them pouring us some wine.  Which, of course, leads to John getting up to meet the family.

After dinner we head to the Trevi Fountain once again to see it lit up.  We toss our coins into the fountain to assure us another visit.  (Well...it's worked for me in the past!)  

Yes, John, it was a good day...a good day!  Amazing archeological sights, amazing architecture, amazing food, and best of all...getting to enjoy it all with amazing friends!!

And as I laid my head on my pillow, I paused to give thanks.  "Grazie, God, for a very good day...a molto buona day!"

the Riellas' fault

Friday, May 23

The Riella’s are to blame!  The Riella’s are to blame!  That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!

We had a flight from SFO to JFK with a two hour layover and then on to Rome.  And what should happen?  A sevenhour lay over!  Since we’ve never had this happen before, and since John and Jacque seem to have this happen to them whenever they travel…we’ve decided to place blame upon them! 

Really….a few hours of being detained is no big deal.  After all…a safe landing at your destination is what matters, and we were blessed with that.  But after getting up at 4:00 a.m. to prepare for our departure from SFO, the approximate 14 hours of flight time, and the layover time, we arrived groggy and spent.  But we only had three days to see Rome….and there is so very much to see…so we landed and took off running. 

First goal…find a taxi and get into Rome central.  We found one with an exceptionally jovial driver.  He entertained us for the forty minutes of driving time, which was wonderful, but there was one problem.  We realize the Italians are known for their love of gesturing.  And of course, looking one in the eyes when speaking is polite.  But Claudio did not seem in the least concerned that he was following both of these social practices while driving on a highway.  He would cajole us with some wild story while turned around completely to speak to us and using both hands to gesture throughout the story.  Ummm…Claudio….hate to interrupt, but you have driven out of your lane and only missed an accident because all of the other drivers on the road are doing the same thing.  Ahhh….Italy….we have arrived!

My favorite Claudio story is about his visit to the USA.  Just as when my relatives met Larry and they had to tell him about every Japanese person they’d ever met (and expecting him to know them), I find people in other countries seem to feel an urge to tell us about their travels to our country, thinking they must have traveled very near our homes.  Well, Claudio’s only visit to America was actually just a layover.  He was headed to Puerto Rico and had a five hour layover in Miami.  He and his buddies didn’t want to spend five hours in the airport so they headed out to a bar.  Seven days later they realized they never made it to Puerto Rico, but they had had a very good time…at least as much of it as he can remember!

We get checked into our hotel and although we looked like, and acted like, the Walking Dead (now operating on no sleep for about 36 hours) we ventured out into the city.  I have read (you will soon notice that I use this phrase often) that the best thing to counteract jet lag is to resist the urge to nap and instead get out in the sunshine and force yourself to stay awake until an appropriate bed time.  So we got on a Hop On Hop Off bus (HO HO for short) and got an overall view of Roma, the Eternal City. 

This city will always take my breath away.  Antiquities and excavation sites are everywhere.  As an American, with our two hundred year history, my jaw drops when I realize I’m looking at two thousand year old buildings.  And walking on stones that Julius Caesar may have trod.  Pinch me!

After the overview of the city, we headed to the Trastavere area to find a restaurant following our buddy’s, Claudio’s, suggestion.  We found a charming little restaurant and enjoyed the meal while trying to keep our faces from falling into the food (exhausted!).  Time for bed.  Ciao!

Here we go again!!

I'm trying to get this blog up and running again as we prepare for a second trip to the same delightful places. We will be going south to north this time and traveling with two beloved friends. Please join us as our journey begins....where, once again, dreams come true!