All -
As you may or may not have heard, I am in Rome. I arrived today. My luggage did not. No big whoop. I like wearing the same underwear for over 24hrs. Do you know they only sell designer underwear in Rome? I mean you can't find a Gap or a Kmart anywhere. Trust me. I tried. Oh, and fear the moped. And the Italian driver. Nobody slows down. Nobody yields for the polizia (who are constantly going somewhere in a hurry all day long). Nobody gives you space. Maybe it's the lack of clean underwear or maybe it creates the unclean underwear which everyone is used to sitting around in.
I booked my flight on the 3rd; voted on the 4th; climbed on board a plane on the 5th; and arrived in Rome on the 6th. It was kind of cool to see the lights come up on Spain and the sunrise over Barcelona but then it was a little tiring to think I had chased that same sun that I had seen rise on California half way around the globe just to see it rise again.
First thing I noticed flying into Rome was that the brown and green of the Italian countryside is a different brown and green that I'm used to seeing in the US. The trees are much more olive colored (even the trees that were not olive trees) and the browns are much ruddier. Also, the coast was so... flat. Much flatter than the east coast. The water and the land just blend in. I would think a sea invasion would have been pretty simple.
BTW, I've already been asked twice about Obama. And the newspapers here gave the elections the full front page.
The second thing I noticed, after I noticed my luggage did not show up, is how crappy Italian radio is. I mean does anyone really give Bryan Adam's 'Heaven' air play anymore? All the van driver listened to was bad 80s/90s pop and some Euro-poo-synth-crap. I had a van because I kind of wimped out and had the hotel send a van for me (as opposed to navigating the subway). I figured the van would be much easier to get around with a big bag in a new city. The losing the luggage part kind of defeated that purpose.
The third thing I noticed is how dirty Rome is - all the ruins aside. There really is a layer of soot on all buildings. And lots of graffiti. Which made me think of the scene in Life of Brian where centurion John Cleese makes Brian redo his graffiti with proper conjugation.
WWF Raw is in Rome this week. I may have to pass up going to the Vatican to catch that.
Italian is not Spanish. My Spanish is passable; my Italian is not. I've tried and tried but I keep mixing up the Spanish verbs with the Italian ones. The languages are so close but not really. I cannot even get hello correct (buongiorno - I keep wanting to save buenivito which is, I think, neither Spanish nor Italian). The only thing I have down is 'grazie' which is 'thank you' so anytime someone says anything to me I say that. I must sound like Latka from Taxi to them.
The hotel actually had a room for me when I got here at 9:30AM. That's unusal. Of course, if I had had my luggage, I would have showered and changed. Instead, I broke down my back pack to the tourist essentials and headed out to see what there is to be seen. I had carried on an extra t-shirt and it actually paid off this time.
The concierge hates me. I asked him about how to arrange for my luggage. He gave me a snooty look. I asked him about borrowing a plug adapter/converter. He gave me a snooty look. I asked him how I could get a laundry pick up. He gave me a snooty look. I asked him if it was ok, since my luggage had not arrived, to use the dining room dressed as I was. He gave me a snooty look.
When they said you could see the Roman Forum from the hotel, they were not kidding. I am a three block walk to the Colosseum. I have pictures I took standing in the same spot in forum ruins of both the Colosseum and the hotel. The Colosseum and Forum ruins are massive. I covered those and the Capitoline Museums all today. Blew through two rolls of film. Ate my lunch sitting in front of the Rostrum (that is where Marc Antony gave his "Friends, romans, countrymen..." speech; although, for some reason, I always hear it in Marlon Brando's voice).
Dinner time was spent in search of new underwear and socks. Apparently Romans like black sport socks. As if they are all 70 year old Jewish men living in Miami. A Jewish Diaspora was triggered by Rome in the 100s. I think they missed an opportunity for common ground and save everyone a lot of headaches.
Oh, and there are a ton of transvestites in Rome. So it seems. Or maybe I was shopping for socks in the wrong neighborhood. That or else they are just a lot of big women here who look like Abe Vigoda.
I've covered about a fifth of what I want to see. Tomorrow I am either going to St. Peter's or the Spanish Steps. There are about six different neighborhoods in Rome proper so I should be able to cover a lot.
As I finish this up, my luggage has arrived. I was already laid down for bed. So I had to get up and pull my designer t-shirt down over my tighty whitey designer underwear and take a walk on the wild side to the door in my black sport socks. Of course, it was the concierge. He gave me a snooty look. I forgot to give him any tip. I think it is the beginning of a beautiful relationship...
Caio.
Hank
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