Back to Roma

I love this picture. In the lobby of the Hotel President there is a sculpture in a solid log. The artist obviously wanted to let us know that it was a log as the bottom and parts of the top of sculpture have been left in their natural state. The sculptured area is a rich depiction of the characters in the story of Christmas. In the lower left, we see 2 of the 3 magi with their gifts. On the right, you see the reflection of the back of the sculpture on a mirrored glass wall. I think I see a couple of angels and a shepherd or two, and probably the third wise man.

It was an interesting piece for such a secular location as the lobby of a hotel, but what struck me was that although we had spent our first night of the tour at this same hotel many of your party had not noticed the rather impressive work, despite its prominent location. Perhaps we were just too tired when we first got in.

It's warm and reassuring to return to a place you've been before after 10 days of everything being new. There were landmarks that popped up and even the flow of midday traffic up the street in front of the hotel felt familiar.

Most of the group took the opportunity of this free afternoon to head up to the Vatican to see the sights as this location was not going to be part of the full day tour on Tuesday. I decided that I needed some rest and to catch up on some computer work. But I got a lovely surprise at check-in: Flavia, a knitter from Rome whom I'd contacted through Ravelry had left me a message that she would meet me at the hotel at 3:30. I was thrilled that I'd get a chance to meet her and so glad that I'd not made other plans.

I went for a walk through the city and took this picture to show everyone the value of owning a SmartCar in Italy. Parking is a crazy proposition here. We were told that generally Italians don't so much park their cars as abandon them for the time they need to be elsewhere.

I met up with Flavia and her friend, (FrostFlower from Ravelry - I can't believe that I never got her real name) and we had a wonderful afternoon knitting and drinking capuccino on the sidewalk in Rome.

They were both fountains of information about life in the city, in Italy and in the whole European Union. I was amazed at the quality of their English and they explained that many people learned their English from watching American television on the internet. They also shared that although the economic situation is  still quite difficult and uncertain in their country, the worst seems to have passed and that the government is making good and sensible decisions, so there is much hope.

One of my favourite discussions that I took from the conversation was with regards to driving in Italy. The bus driver for our tour, Luigi, is from Naples where, according to our tour leader, Alessandra, they are reputed to have the craziest drivers in the world. My Roman friends agreed with that assesment and explained it this way: "Traffic lights in Milan are considered to be the law. In Rome they are but a mere suggestion, in Naples they are Christmas decorations."

The next day was to be a full day walking tour of the city. We were saved from this exhausting fate by virtue of the rain that was forecasted for the morning. We actually had the best of both worlds in that we got a bus tour in the morning so we got to see much more of the city from the comfort of the coach, and neither did it rain.

 So here is a picture of the Coliseum, one of the many places that our lovely guide, Cecilia, introduced to us. It would appear that its official name was something completely different and more complicated but that there was a colossal sculpture on the grounds outside and people just began referring to it as the building near the colossal - the Coliseum.

 

We stopped for lunch at a Trattoria near the Pantheon and the Trevi Fountain. I'll just let you imagine the music and smell the capuccino. (The lead guitarist on the left was obviously a big fan of Eric Clapton. They were wonderful if not exactly traditional.)

 

Our Farewell Dinner was exquisite. The traditonal 4 courses of Appetizer (complete with gluten-free wonderful bread - there were 5 out of the 16 of us on the trip who were sensitive to wheat! We survived with great relish everywhere, and thrived in those places who could accomodate our specific diets) first pasta course (shown here with magnificently simple gluten free penne and light tomato sauce), second grilled meat course and dessert (which I don't actually remember.)

 

But the real treat was the opera singers and their accordion accompanist who strolled from table to table treating us to the most wonderful renditions of the standards of Italian Opera and a few others.  A few of our group were very interested in classical music and voice and one called over the lovely soprano. We asked her where she had studied, and in her broken English she was able to communicate that she did her undergraduate studies in Korea then came to Italy for futher training and has remained for 17 years. When asked if she performs in an opera company, she became quite flustered and turned to Alessandra for language help to get her answer across to us; she waved her hands in a nervous way and smiled anxiously as she left saying: "Troppo vecchio." (too old)  It was a very poignant moment and we were touched that she would share it with us.

 

 

We packed, had a leisurely breakfast thanks to the 1pm boarding time for the flight home. By the time we made it back to Kingston we had been awake for 24 hours and recognized the value of an earlier flight when available. Another detail to check when we get future itineraries... one coming up in the next few weeks with the details of the Scottish trip next May.

 

Arrivederci Italia!