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Monday August 18, Barcelona - Rome
We have an uneventful trip to the airport and check in for our flight, but when we arrive at the gate, it is clear that the plane will not be leaving on time. It ends up being an hour late. C'est la vie. We enjoy watching a little girl, maybe 8 years old, playing Maman against Papa (she's French) over something that she wanted to get for her birthday. She had a beautiful cat in a carry case named Biscuit, and he father was carrying a lute in its case. Our flight to Rome was fine and our only difficulty is getting our bags. Finally they come down the chute and our driver was patiently waiting. Even as we drive into Rome, we are all agape at the sites. The difference between Rome and Paris is palpable. While Paris is more beautiful, with magnificent edifices on every corner and beautiful parks and gardens at every turn, and even ordinary buildings are extraordinary in their architecture, Rome immediately feels very ancient. Ruins are adjacent to modern buildings. We drive right past Palantine Hill, the Coliseum and the Forum. It is astonishing! I almost forgot to tell you about the fit Jacob threw upon our arrival in Rome. He wanted to go immediately to the Piarist monastery (whose exact address we do not have) from the airport before going to the hotel. We disagree and tell the driver to go to the hotel, so we can call the phone number that we have for father Aisa, determine whether he's there, etc. Jacob is certain that if we don't go immediately to the monastery, we won't get the tickets and all will be lost. We go to the hotel anyway, since we have no address to go to for father Aisa. Right after we check into the hotel, I ask the clerk, who speaks Italian, surprisingly enough, to call the monastery where they also speak Italian, by amazing coincidence, and speak to Father Aisa about the tickets. The clerk says he'll call the father, and call us in our room. We head toward the elevator, but Jacob isn't budging. He is going to wait right there until the clerk calls the father. 5 minutes after we get into our beautiful room, the clerk calls and explains to Nancy that the father will be bringing the tickets tomorrow, since the audience is WEDNESDAY! Jacob has mistakenly gotten it into his head that the audience was for Tuesday. We knew better because we knew full well that all papal audiences are on Wednesdays. The clerk then tells Nancy that Grandpa is upset, and on his way up. We brace ourselves for the next onslaught. Jacob arrives at our door and is the most agitated we have ever seen. He is apoplectic. Where are the papers that he gave me about the papal audience? Nancy produces them. We review the papers. It becomes immediately apparent to Nancy and Harvey how the misunderstanding occurred. One simple sentence construction, saying that the father would "bring the tickets for the papal audience on Tuesday" was misunderstood by Jacob. What was meant was that On Tuesday, he would bring the tickets for the papal audience. He is still sure that we are all wrong, and that he was supposed to meet the pope on Tuesday. Even reviewing the events do little to soothe him. We remind him that he originally gave the wrong arrival date, saying that we wouldn't arrive in Rome until Tuesday, which had them worried whether we would arrive early enough in the day to get the tickets! But we arrived on Monday, with time to spare. Eventually, Jacob calmed down, and we all felt like we'd dodged a bullet. But we were all worked up a bit over this fit of stress. We check into our hotel - the Ambasciatore Palace. It is elegant like the Hotel du Louvre in Paris, but grander in its entrance. We drop off the bags and grab a quick bite at a little trattoria across the street: Il Peperoni. Thin pizza with matzo-like crust, ravioli with spinach and ricotta that was "molto bene". We had the hotel clerk call 2 cabs, to go to Piazza Venezia. Nancy, Marcus & Elliot get in the only cab that arrives, and they get to the Piazza first and realize immediately that they've been ripped off by the taxi - 10 euros!! For a 5 minute cab ride? Harvey and Jacob don't get there for nearly 15 minutes. In the meantime, we watch a Southeast Asian looking young man get into a nasty fight with a guard who than called the police over - it was quite a mini drama for several minutes. Finally, Harvey and Jacob arrive (they paid 6 euros for their cab) and Jacob takes up a position on a bench in the shade. The rest climb the steps of this magnificent Palazzo. There's an exhibition of WWI military artifacts, which is only mildly interesting. The building itself is what we all find interesting. It truly dominates Rome's skyline, day and night. We hike down and take 2 more cabs to the Trevi fountain. Nancy and Elliot put their feet in, and the water is ICE COLD on this brutally hot day. The water was cold enough to numb our feet! We threw coins in the fountain as tradition dictates, and then we walk a bit and do some shopping. We hail a cab. It actually holds 5 people! The driver is friendly, though his English isn't too good - nearly as good as our Italian! He brings us to the hotel and we make arrangements to tour the city tomorrow. We change clothes and shower and get a recommendation to Taverna Flavia for dinner. We walk there (maybe 15 minutes) and find it. A little family place once frequented by movie stars whose photos hang all over the walls, including Sinatra, Liza Minelli, and many others. Dinner was ok - Nancy's fried Jerusalem artichokes were great (once she was told how to eat them!) and Jacob loved his ossobucco, but there was something moving in the lettuce garnish on Marcus' plate (and we weren't auditioning for the next 'Survivor'), which pretty much soured everyone on the place. We returned to the hotel and collapsed from a long, long day. |
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