SAINT PETER IN CHAINS?
December
15-16
Thursday
was just one of those days. I haven’t
had many in Rome, but for some reason whatever jobs I undertook could not be
completed. Whatever places I wanted to
visit were not open. Whatever I said to
people in the stores was not understood. And that was all in the morning. Because it has been raining on and off for
weeks, the motorino is always wet. It
can be wiped off; the problem is the devices that I use to lock up the
scooter. When water enters the lock
after a while it starts not working very well - it is rusting. The solution is something like WD 40, which
is not a name anybody knows here. If you
can picture me in the hardware store continuing to say WD40, WD40 over and over
and when they don’t understand, I tend to say it louder. Not wise, I know and anyway it doesn’t
work. They have this stuff I just don’t
know the name or what to call it in Italian.
This brings up the major roadblock in trying to have a complete
experience in Rome. My language skills,
which were never very good, have completely eroded with age. I should have started taking Italian before
we came for at least a year. It is a
rather complex language with more irregular verbs than English and more tenses
as well. I do OK with food and even
grocery shopping, but in most cases it is English or nothing and yesterday it
was nothing. After the WD40 incident (it
must have been very funny to watch) I decided to take on the butcher. The butcher shops are beautiful and if you
can make art out of meat, they do it.
Usually, I can just point, but I think the guy just didn’t have the time
to mess with me. Pointing and saying
what you think the word for lamb is just won’t cut it. Not only do you need the word for lamb but
what cut you want. Mostly it works, but not yesterday. I left his shop in utter
defeat. Finally, I tried to go to a
museum that I have been wanting to see, the Dora Pamphili Gallery. It must be the only museum in Rome that is
not open on Thursday. So my entire
morning was a wipe out.
Later in
the afternoon we go to our Internet spot.
It has been a while since we have gone on line and Kimberly gets on to
post the Blog and it is gone without a trace.
It was there when she edited at the apartment and between the apartment
and the Internet point it has disappeared.
This is a new first and a disappointment. It means a rewrite; I am having a day.
It is
time to regroup. We retreat to the
apartment where it is warm and homey. I
spend the rest of my afternoon reading and redoing the blog. Not an unpleasant way to spend the late
afternoon and evening. We have been
renting DVD’s from the local Video shop.
It is a specialized place with lots of older movies and off beat
films. The guy that owns the place loves
David Lynch and the Coen brothers. We
are having our own film festival with these two directors. We venture off the path with Colors, a 1988
film about LA gangs featuring a very young Sean Penn and the excellent Robert
Duvall. I am feeling much better; we
have divine Chicken Kimberly that any chef in Rome would be happy to
serve. Things are looking up.
Today, Friday, I know that I must
make progress. It is always the little
stuff. On November 30 my Wells Fargo
Debit Card expired. I am at war with
VISA about their crazy 3.8% Foreign Transaction Fee. I will not use my VISA. This means going to my Italian Bank for
cash. After yesterday’s problems with
language, I ask Kim, my Italian translator and speaker to accompany me. (I will receive the new debit card
soon.) Going to a bank in Italy makes
our banks look like service to the max.
We try to be there at the opening, but there is already a long line and
only 2 tellers. After yesterday who knows what will happen? We get to the teller, Kim says in Italian,
“Do you speak English?” the guy says “no,” Kim says three sentences, the guys
says, “Si.” I hand him my passport and literally one
minute later we leave with the cash. A
very impressive demonstration of the lingua franca.
After
weeks of hunting, I have found the most beautiful, lovely coffee house a couple
of blocks from our house. I am able to
order Due Cappuccini and be understood.
Also, it is delicious. After Kim
and I split up for the rest of our morning, I go to the Galleria Dora Pamphilli
and am immediately surrounded by Caravaggio on all sides. He is the one I would have made a saint -
what a painter and so dramatic. A great
gallery in the heart of Rome, 3 blocks from our apartment. As I am coming down the steps of the Gallery,
a gentleman with a Cairn Terrier is walking across the courtyard. Our paths cross and this wonderful dog is the
younger version of Cashew, confident, spirited and happy. What a nice way to remember my due bambini
waiting for us in Sonoma. The owner
tells me that the dog is a champion from England, 10 months old, perfect
confirmation, nice dog. Everyone writes
and tells me that they see our dogs walking in Sonoma and they look better and
lighter, younger, too than before we left. Maybe we all needed a holiday.
I have
found a pop-up book of ancient Rome for Kimberly. It is in a bookstore in Trastevere where it
is sold out most of the time. I have
placed my order and it has arrived. I
buzz over, meet some other English speakers and have a nice chat. The book is really great, she will love
it. When I read the labels it is for
kids 5 and older.
In the
meantime, Kim is on a mission and is exploring churches. She has hit St Peters in Chains with its
Moses by Michelangelo, the chains that bound St Peter when he was a prisoner
and the remains of the Macabaies (how did they get our guys?). It is almost too much for one experience. Kimbo has a list and she can now check off
St. Peters in Chains. There is no give
in in that girl. She will see it all and
with lots of energy. Who would doubt it?
It is
holiday party time in Rome, restaurants are booked, streets are crowded with
shoppers, and chocolates are being bought, whiskey too. The lights are bright and spirits high.
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