Rome: DAY 23 APARTMENT/MOTORINO SAGA

TWENTY-THIRD DAY

APARTMENT/MOTORINO SAGA

October 6, 2005

Yesterday was my first real day with the Motorino (scooter in Italian).  Our gate guy at the Academy, Norm, had insisted that we look at an apartment in Monteverde.  Norm is a very funny guy who came to Rome about 20 years ago for some sort of job in transportation and never left.  His Italian sounds like an American twang, but everybody seems to understand him.  He is sort of a character here and he takes care of everyone, sort of a gatekeeper concierge guy who knows everything about Rome from Bus routes to best buy restaurants.  He has been here over 20 years, sitting in the gatehouse of the Villa.  So even though I have no Italian yet and perhaps never will and Kim was in her Italian class, I found myself going to visit an apartment deep in middle class suburban Monteverde, just where Kim does not want to be. In addition, the guy I was meeting speaks zero English.  You can’t look at the map while riding a scooter although every Italian drives their motorino with a phone in their ear, so scary. I found the apartment and I am waiting around outside when I figured out he was in the building.  I remembered his name and punched the doorbell.  He came on speaking Italian, and I had no idea of what he told me to do.  Eventually, he came downstairs and let me in.  This apartment in addition to not being great was five floors up.  It is on top of a hill and the views are great but Kimberly was right, it was a no go.  But, Dr. Mander was going to show it to me no matter whether or not I wanted to see it.  We spoke in Italian, Spanish and French as well as some German on the side, since he is Austrian.  What a trip.  I finally broke loose about 30 minutes later.  It was hysterical and in retrospect very funny. 

So, I then decided to go to the grocery store where in fact I parked in a handicapped zone, which I only saw when I came back out.  I had better learn some of this lingua franca. 

Kim loves this apartment in the Pantheon neighborhood.  It is artistic and pleasant and another 5 floor walkup.  Tres Cher, is that Italian?  I guess it is Caro here.  I just call it a short rent rip.  Still by far the best we have seen.  Too much traffic and too touristy, but the street has cobbles. 

I met Kim at the helmet spot where I got the deal from Enrico because he is a friend of Stefano who is Kristin’s mechanic so we get it at a better price, and we bought another helmet.  Kimberly who is a really good sport is very leery of the machine.  Nothing against me I think, but these motor scooter, cycle guys are moving fast and stop at nothing.  It is a blast for me to drive here.  If you did this stuff at home, the cars would run you off the road. Here it is common practice and acceptable to move from lane to lane to lane over a one block length. It is also a plus if you can do it at some speed.  I am learning but being conservative and defensive may be worse then offense.  It is the only way to get around Rome.  The traffic is chaotic and the streets have no pattern.  The streets are also named every block so it is hard to know where you are.  It is a learning curve as is so much of this experience.  The motorino works for me, but I must stay out of those handicapped zones. 

We have wanted to eat at this place in Trastevere called Augusto since we got here.  There is no real menu and the joint is jammed all the time because the prices are cheap and the food is good.  All of the above is true.  We landed there after meeting a friend of Michael Roth’s (pres of CCA and friend to me) who has been writing a book in Rome, and loves it so much that after his Fulbright year he and his wife and kids decided to stay.  Sounds like he would like it to be permanent.  Roger is a tenured prof at UC Santa Barbara in the Religious Studies program.  He has the scoop on Rome and gave us many good tips.  We will try to do all of them.  One of his students is a fellow at the Academy and has invited Roger to dinner Monday.  We look forward to that.  The waiter at Augusto reminded me of that old standby, Edsel Ford Fong, at the Universal Café in SF in the early 60’s.  He ignored and basically insulted the customers. If you spoke to him in Italian he spoke English back and if you spoke in English he ignored you.  We had fantastic Bacon and Tomato pasta that we split, and then I had a slice of Roast Pork with
Rosemary and Kim had some kind of meat stew with green peas.  Really good eats, the red wine was crummy and the bill was about 30 Euros.  We may go back.