Rome: DAY 10

TENTH DAY

September 22, 2005

I was correct.  Everybody showed up for Grappa night in the 2^nd floor lounge.  Lots of politics and heavy hurricane conversation as we watched this next monster cover the gulf and get ready to take some more victims.  We stayed late in the night watching Fox and CNN International battle it out for hurricane disaster coverage.  It seems we are so far away and yet the TV makes it seem right on top of us; it is very confusing.  I think it is good to be away from the SF 49ers, too.  No explanation necessary.  Yesterday Nancy T, my assistant, told me that those doggie Giants had sent out playoff ticket info.  She has decided that the Giants have no chance and that they will keep our money for too long.  As Bonds has been saying for a while, it’s just a business.  In business, I always liked getting paid in advance when I could find some fool to do it.  Incidentally, Grappa is more expensive then Scotch but doesn’t taste as good.  I bought the cheapest one I could find.  It does have a high alcohol count.  I think there might have been some hangovers this morning.

We had lunch with a redoubtable woman, Kristen Jones.  She is trying to do a project on the Tiber River, which is to signify the birth of Rome.  It is proposed to stretch along the Tiber for about a mile.  For you Rome cognoscenti, it is between the Mazzini Bridge and the Sisto pedestrian crossing on the Trastevere side of the river.  Kristen and her cohorts managed to stencil wolves on the wall above the river by blasting away the grime with hot water. They are big and attractive. The stencils are not permanent and only serve to show what could happen. She faces considerable hurdles in completing her project.  It is hard to get permission for this type of project and even harder to get the money.  There was a recent well-written piece about Kristen in the New Yorker last month.  We met her in SF at some art thing.  She is my chance for a scooter in Rome.  It is too complicated to explain, but essentially she would get the license and insurance, and I would get the scooter.  Money may change hands.  We had lunch at a famous old Roman place “Checcio on Benadetta in Trastevere steps from the Sisto Bridge.  Three sisters own three places all on the same block.  One is a fancy restaurant, then a Gelato place and finally a cheaper café.  All good.  When I have more experience I will comment on the crazy number of Gelateria in Rome, but I simply don’t have much experience yet.  It sort of all tastes the same to me so I must improve my skill level.  One more comment on Rome.  Everything takes longer.  Lunch is never less then 2 hours and it is hard to get the bill even then.  We hurry home through a gathering rain, walking up the 75 steps at Vicolo Cedro and then up again to the Gianicolo and arrive at the Academy gates just before the monsoon starts.