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.
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.
