BEFANA
RULES
January
7-8
Kimberly,
Whitney, and Amy came back from Venice on Friday evening in high spirits. They had a good time in both Florence and
Venice. The only thing that marred their
great adventure happened after they got off the train in Rome. Friday was a general holiday in Italy. It is the celebration of Befana or what we
call the Epiphany. Italy is a Catholic
country and this holiday is a big one.
The witch called Befana comes around to all the children and gives them
presents. That is about all I know except
that I knew that the streets would be filled with people and that all stores
would be locked up tight. When the group
of three from Venice tried to get on the bus at the Termini it was jammed with
the Holiday throngs and it took them a long uncomfortable and traffic filled
ride back to get to the apartment. In
addition, they had toured hard and were exhausted. On top of that the girls were leaving very
early the next day. We stayed home and
ate pizza that Kim and I brought in from one of the zillion pizza joints. At least they were open. It seems they have a lot of holidays. One of my Italian friends reminded me that we
do too. By Saturday morning everything
was open again.
My buddy
from the Academy, Romano, aged 145 picked the kids up at 5:30 AM for the trip
to the airport. He worked at the Academy
for 30 years and retired only to find that he didn’t have enough to do. He has started a car service from Rome to the
airport well under market rates. His old
car seems to make it fine and we benefit from the deal. Kim loves that they had a good time. She is an exuberant guide and I know Whitney
liked the time with her Mom.
The
weather is cold but sunny and I am starting to feel that my cold/cough is
relenting a bit. Friday, in my haste to read my E-mails, I have somehow stuck
the AOL portion of the computer so that the Write and Address portions are not
working. This creates a major problem as
we are trying to have a garage sale/cocktail party for our many Roman friends
and acquaintances. All of their
addresses are on the computer and we cannot access them. I drag the computer up to the Academy and a
friend and I try to figure out what happened.
No luck and so I give it in for the day.
When I called Diane Blattner, she advised me to try turning off the
computer and rebooting everything. It
sounded so right and it was and we are back in business now.
It feels
like we are on the way out of here.
Friends are coming to say goodbye and it is all getting a little
sappy. Robert, a Fellow at the Academy,
comes down today for lunch. He just
accepted the associate directorship of a museum specializing in Islamic art in
Hawaii. It is the former Hawaiian estate
of Doris Duke and he will be going there after his fellowship ends in
July. We are all excited for him. Jobs for academics are hard to find and this
seems perfect. We take him to lunch at
my favorite spot mentioned many times, Sora Margherita. It is this place that demands you to join and
become a member of the restaurant. It is
so profoundly Italian and I love it. Kim
thinks the food is just OK but humors me.
It is always packed (cheap) and the food comes quickly. They are not unhappy when you leave, as there
is always someone to take your place no matter what time it is. For the usual
reasons of language, my order is mistaken and I am served meatballs and lamb
chops for lunch. Just what I needed, two
lunches. Everybody pitches in and it all
gets eaten. I would not miss this place
on your trip to Rome. It is authentic in every way. There can’t be too many more
like it in Italy. It is in the ghetto
and in every guidebook.
We have a
big week in front of us trying to close out our affairs here. I have now been advised that the bank account
that I fought so hard to get must be closed, as an overseas account is a red
flag for the IRS. It was probably more
trouble than it was worth, but I liked having it. The motorino must be returned and secure
boxes must be packed and loose ends tied up.
Kim is cool and I am trying to be cool.
We will get it done. For these
last several days Rome still is at our feet.
We have a full schedule of touring and seeing, talking and eating,
standing in lines, fighting through crowds and enjoying the Roman life.
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