Roamin’ Holiday

Vatican museum exit

Grilled squid with eggplant

and radicchio

Gelato for dessert 

 While the title may be a nod to the movie, for those old enough to remember it, it sums up day one of our trip in a nutshell. 

Our plane left Toronto an hour late (AirCanada, of course) and sitting in economy was a reminder of life as a slave in the ancient Roman war galleys. The only thing missing was a guy in uniform standing at the front, banging on a kettle drum and screaming “Row faster you lazy bastards!”

Any more cramped and they could have drizzled us with olive oil and served us on toast!

And of course where would life be without a little drama?

 Halfway through the flight the pilot announced that they needed the assistance of a Doctor for some type of medical emergency, followed shortly by a “Is there a nurse on board to assist with inserting an IV”

The expected diversion to Dublin or Paris, luckily, didn’t happen but we were held on the plane for an hour, once we landed , while a medical team came on board to assess and remove an obviously distressed passenger.

 We never did find out what the emergency was but I’m having flashbacks to the part in the movie 12 Monkeys where David Morse is on a plane with a container full of lethal viruses!

 We eventually deplaned and caught a bus to the main train station- Termini, where we roamed for a bit looking for Metro tickets. Then we roamed a bit more, looking for the TIM store- ( SIM cards, rather than donuts.)Then we roamed a bit longer looking for an open Metro station.

 Turns out that line A was shut down due to one day strike- apparently in response to an increase in violence against staff because of unplanned stoppages and delays!

So we headed to the bus terminal where we once again roamed, looking for a bus that would approximate the Metro route.

Anyway, 2 busses and an hour later we arrived at our B&B- And of course, #4 Via Tunisi was not between #3 and #5,6 and 7 as expected, but across the street, right beside #10!

Suffice to say that, with temperatures around 29C and the clock ticking towards 4:30pm (30 hours with virtually no sleep) we were a tad grumpy by the time we got checked in. 

A quick shower and a one hour nap later we were back on the street looking for dinner. 

 Rome seems to have a restaurant for every 100 feet of sidewalk so it wasn’t hard to find a place serving seafood- grilled squid, perfectly cooked along with a decent Pinot Grigiot to wash it down. And true to Roman fashion, the place was virtually empty when we arrived at 8 and full to breaking point when we left at 9:30.

Of course no night in Italy is complete without at least 2 scoops of gelato, so we found a likely spot where we had 5 scoops while visiting with, first one other Canadian couple ( from New Brunswick) and then, ultimately 2 more ( Cambridge and Montreal ) as we discussed our travels. 

 A quick walk brought us to the South exit of the Vatican, but at 10:15pm they were in the process of turfing out the last remaining visitors of the day. While I had previously commented, somewhat facetiously, that we were so close we could throw a rock at the Vatican from our B&B it turns out that, not only was I correct, but that I could do it underarm with my left hand! Tomorrow we have a Vatican tour planned for the afternoon but the morning will just be an old fart’s day of rest- or not!