GETTING
CLOSE - 2006
December 29-30
On
Thursday, we wake-up to a very cold rain.
Everybody gets going for the first day in Roma for our guests. My newest job is hustling out to get the
International Herald Tribune. Now that
our English language station has been taken from us with the loss of our
Satellite box and remote, we will no longer be able to get the BBC. Every American that I know loves the
IHT. I find it useful but pedantic, over
written, and totally Eurocentric. Call
me crazy, but you can’t even get the football scores most of the time. Football as in Soccer they cover with great
heart, as well as Cricket. Incidentally,
England won the Ashes this year to everybody’s surprise. The paper also does not cover any news from
the US that happens away from Washington or New York, the only two places in
the US they seem to know about. They did
have a restaurant piece about SF and the Bay today covering Ame at 3rd
and Mission, a good review so maybe it will move into the newsroom. By the way, Kimberly of course, loves the
H-T, it represents her lefty politics to the T.
Kim has
planned a real slog for Whitney and Amy for a first day in Rome. They will try to see the Coliseum, the
imperial forum and the Pantheon before lunch.
We will meet up at the Pantheon at 1:30PM. We do and they are frozen and wet. It is raining hard now and everybody is
wet. Our favorite restaurant, Armando’s
is full and we must improvise. We find a
pleasant Trattoria and try to warm up.
After lunch they plod on to a minor shopping thing on the Corso and I
run back to the apartment to dry out.
Apparently, the weather is colder and wetter than normal, but a hard
rain in the 30’s reminds me of late fall in Chicago. It also hailed and thundered and I had reason
to believe it might snow.
We
bundled up and walked to dinner in Trastevere.
Our choice was Paris. Friends
from Sonoma, Paul and Stan, love this place.
The food was good and the atmosphere more then casual but not
overbearing. For those who are keeping
track of my weight, I had ox tails, very good.
Even in the rain, the walk over to Santa Maria in Trastevere is Roman in
every way. You cross the river, the
traffic is surging, Trastevere so fascinating and old, it makes you glad to be
in Rome. I think the girls are having
fun; they are very polite, enthusiastic, and seem to be awed by Rome. As with all things Roman, Kim is planning
more then can be done. Tomorrow, they
will tour the Vatican. After 4 months
and probably 6 trips to the Vatican, I will only need another year to get
partially through the place. It is not a
huge amount of land, but it is a complex place with more than can be absorbed
in a lifetime.
The sun
shines brightly this morning and while it remains cold, it is a relief to be in
clear weather. We all burst out of the
building. I have the shopping list for a
small dinner party at our place tonight with friends who will come to meet
Whitney and Amy. It will be low key and
fun. The gang of three runs off to the
Vatican.
While I
am at out supermarket, I run into an old Irish priest (about my age). He is a
funny guy and we chat about wines, Rome, and life in general. A very pleasant encounter in a busy crowded
little supermarket that defines some of what we wanted to happen when we came
here 4 months ago. He was a positive
spirit and the lilt in his voice made me feel good. Besides, today I got to ride the Motorino
while the pavement was dry. I was on my
way to the American Academy via our Monteverde butcher and barber. It was so sweet going past the Vatican and up
the Gianicolo. Cruising on the scooter
through some of the best parts of Rome realizing how wonderful this journey has
been. The whole vibe is delicious. Even
while I am critical of lots of things here and miss home, still it is
undeniable that this has been the chance of a lifetime to be part of this whole
place. We agreed last night as we turned
off the lights, how much we had gained, how much we had seen, and how much we had
learned. I think that Kim could be a
tour guide, the information about all things Roman sticks to her like
glue. We walk down the street to a
constant flow of her knowledge and enthusiasm, using her hands to direct our
eyes to some small feature or rooftop; she is a font of information. A real contrast to Italian Telecom, waiting
in endless lines, no personal space to even walk down the street, incredible
noise at all times, not understanding much that is spoken and a few dozen other
things. So, nothing new, life is a mixed
bag and we are trying to extract the best of all of it.
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