Back In Rome

Tuesday morning, January-11-11.

Yesterday was a total travel day. The flight from Cairo to Rome is just 3 ½ hours but from hotel to hotel it took ten. All the usual stop and go stuff. But we are back and more or less settled into a more pleasant room at the Marco Polo hotel near the train station. Just before we left for Cairo we found a good grocery store just two blocks from here. We went over there last night and got a few staple items for the next couple of days. The Canadian dollar is worth about 5.7 Egyptian pounds and about .77 Euros. When buying things we have to be aware of the math.

Wednesday, January-12-11

We had a pizza place, Gusto Pizza, recommended to us by Jon and Wendy while we were touring with them. It is in a square across from the mausoleum of Augustus Caesar. Yesterday morning we set out to find it. We took the subway to the Flaminio stop so that we could walk again through the wonderful Piazza del Popolo. We went through there and over to the Tiber to walk along its embankment. A couple of blocks along a car pulled up beside us in the heavy traffic. A well-dressed gentleman in a good car asked the way to the Piazza that we had just left. He waved his map saying, “Never rent a car in Rome!” We told him how to get to the piazza. He said that there was a gas station near there that he had been trying to find for almost an hour and feared running out of gas before he did. He asked where we were from.... Canada. Ah, my wife is from British Columbia. What work do you do (to Mark)? Ah, an architect! You must be interested in design. Look what I am doing. He pulled out a catalogue of beautifully designed clothing and said something about working with Armani. Lying on the seat beside him was a shopping bag with a garment in a wrapper. To Mark, “How tall are you?” Five feet six. “Oh, this is your lucky day. Look what I have here.” He pulled the garment part way out of the bag. It was a jacket. Feel the material. This jacket is worth 1400. Here, it is for you.” He gave the package to Mark. “Give me something for gas,” he said – this was after a few remarks about me being a special woman that Mark must be sure never to let go of. I pulled some cash out of my pocket and he took 60 Euros and was off. It was all hilarious. What this really was all about we puzzled at length. The guy was not a street pedlar. The jacket is a really good one though the label is not Armani. It is a couple of sizes too big for Mark so we’ll give it to someone else. For sure it’s worth more than 60 Euros – c. $78 Canadian, but we still don’t understand the whole episode. Just one more strange and funny tale from our travels.

It was amazing to walk along the embankment yesterday. The discrepancies between the places in Cairo where we had walked and this place were enormous. Across the river and its embankment are lofty, beautifully cared-for 18^th and 19^th century buildings. The river is wide but low during this season. Plane-trees line both sides; the air is cool and delicious even with the traffic at the left side. I kept thinking about the centuries of history along these shores. Rome is an amazing city. It never fails to captivate one with its beauty and diversity, its history poking out at one at every turn. Mark went into an arts’ museum which holds the actual tomb of Augustus but I stayed on the embankment, still having had my fill of tombs and monuments.

We found the Gusto Pizza place and discovered that it was even more than expected. Aside from their extensive menu of pizza possibilities, they offered a luncheon buffet, very good and quite reasonably priced. It was a charming restaurant with a most European flavour, not the fast-food-Americana spot we had envisioned. We will go back again to try the pizza.

From the restaurant we walked over to the Spanish Steps. Because of the chill in the air there were far fewer people milling about though there still were some young people on the steps, having fun together. I wanted a cup of tea to warm up so we examined the menu of a century-old tea shop next to the steps. It seems to specialize in arcane and expensive blends, however, when all that was desired was a hot cuppa. The first McDonald’s in Italy was just down the street. I suggested going there for tea but Mark was not inclined. Why not go to a nice restaurant, he said. But Elizabeth and I had eaten there, or certainly had used the facilities there in 1987, the year after they had opened and I wanted to see it again. A great deal has been done to make it ever so Italian. At the front is a McCafe, serving expresso, cappuccino, hot chocolate, tea, plus a terrific variety of beautiful and well-priced pastries. Mark was astonished. We ordered and took our tray with china pot and cups and our excellent chocolate soufflé to a cafe table, relaxed and enjoyed. Most impressed.

After a rest and nap at the hotel as well as supper purchased at the local grocery store, we went back to the Piazza del Popolo, taking a night walk the length of the Via del Corso, one of the streets radiating off the piazza. It runs down to the large monument to Victor Emmanuel, the first king of the united Italy. Few cars were on the street so it felt like a pedestrian mall. The Via del Corso is a major shopping area, all style, fashion, and money. I realized as we walked that in Cairo, away from the tourist areas, women would look at me because I was so exotic in their world. In Rome women look at me to see what I am wearing – as they look at every other woman, of course. Tres fashion conscious here! We turned off before reaching the monument to pay a visit to the Trevi Fountain, throwing our coins in over our backs. On our way back to the hotel we passed two movie theatres that are playing English-speaking movies. We might see one while we are here, though we have only three more days and Rome is such a wonderful place to walk about.

Chio!!