This and that - random thoughts on Rome

We didn't usually see the police doing anything beyond this and this. Perhaps it simply means there is no crime in Rome, and there's nothing for them to do. Whenever we saw the polizia, there was more than one. And they were always chatting.

Romans are terrible at giving directions. Some don't even try. Others point you in the opposite direction from where you really should be going. Do they do this for fun or with good intention? Even when the restaurant or attraction is around the block, they don't know. We asked the police (naturally, there were two of them) in Piazza Navona, which seemed to be their beat, where a restaurant was and they didn't know. It was right down the street from here. We would ask, "Dove Colosseum?" and get puzzled looks. The Romans call it the Colosseo. Joe said, "You mean they can't tell that Colosseo and Colosseum are the same thing?" He joked, "Colosseum? Never heard of it. Are you sure it's in Rome?"

We had expected to be wowed by the food in Rome and Venice. While it was good and we never had a bad meal, it wasn't any better than the Italian restaurants in the North End of Boston or the seafood available here. I will admit that the atmosphere was wonderful, and it would be nice if more restaurants here would offer alfresco dining. The restaurants were often small and crowded, and the tables close together. At home we are used to more "personal space", but I didn't mind it. It seemed much more friendly and communal dining in the Roman way. The thin crust pizza we ordered at Da Ivo and other places was really, really delicious. We had never tried suppli, the fried rice and mozzarella balls. Yummy!

We were shocked at the amount of graffiti defacing every vertical surface. It was especially bad on the walk along the Tiber River between Testaccio and Trastevere. Even the higher-end streets on Rome were affected. Sometimes we saw graffiti on shop windows. We also noticed it in Venice. It really is a shame.

It was great fun to talk to other tourists and those who were temporarily living in Rome. In the Philadelphia airport, we had a long layover so we ate lunch in one of the restaurants. I was jokingly holding up my Eyewitness Guide to Rome, declaring, "Ha, ha, we're going to Rome," when the couple next to us said, "We recently got back from there. We've been so many times because we love it there. But now we get to take it easy and relax when we go, because we've seen so much of it already." "Relax? In Rome? Did they really say that?" I thought. Joe told them about my index cards with each day's specific, detailed itinerary. They were a retired couple who loved to travel all over the world, citing Turkey as one of their favorite places. After talking with them awhile, I said, "You two must have been married a long time." I turned to the woman and said, "You start off telling us a story, and he interrupts and finishes it for you. And you let him." She replied, "He says I take too long." It just may be their secret to a good marriage, who knows.

The Turkey mention turned out to be fateful, as we found out one night. On Monday evening at the pizzeria Da Francesco, we sat next to two young men who began talking to us. They were both originally from Turkey and befriended each other in Rome several years ago when they were both living here temporarily. The older one was married and still living in Turkey, and as luck would have it, was a lawyer like Joe. The younger man was living in Amsterdam, and they were celebrating a night out before the older man's wife arrived. We had a really enjoyable conversation with them, and it was one of the highlights of the trip for me.

We got a big kick out of the Vespa's, motorbikes and Smart cars. It was hard to believe that the cars were that small, but with the price of gas in Europe, it makes sense. The problem is that the car fits only two people, as there is no backseat and barely any storage in the back. The other problem is when the driver gets into a car accident, since there is virtually no front of the car for protection. I enjoyed seeing the variety of people, from businessmen dressed in suits, to women dressed in skirts, who rode the motorbikes. They looked like great fun to ride.