Day 1 - August 15, 1997
We arrived in Rome at around 1 PM. Because we have Italian citizenship and my brother is under 25, he is eligible for the Italian army, so to ensure that no one would take him off the tour and force him to enlist, we had to, at the airport visit the Carabinieri (police). I've learned that in Europe, the police go around with machine guns around their shoulders which can be quite frightening at times for those, like me, who obey the law and want to have nothing to do with the police.
So, since my sister's Italian is better than mine and because she is older, we elected her to go and talk to them and have them sign some papers we had filled out here in Canada. We were told by a friend of ours who works at the Italian consulate that all they had to do was stamp the paper and that would be it. Yeah right! Both Tina and my brother, Michael, were escorted to a holding cell in the airport. Nobody there had ever seen a paper like this and there was plenty of confusion. We have never had any incidents with the police, so to be surrounded by delinquents in a jail cell was scary and nerve-wracking for them La polizia were suspicious of my brother because he never once opened his mouth. They were wondering why he wasn't talking. My sister, who is ever so wise, told them that not only does he not speak any Italian but that he was also nervous. She told them to understand that "we like the police, we respect the police, but we want to keep our distance from the police." They had a little chuckle, and thank goodness they signed the damned thing. Meanwhile I was, along with my sister's boyfriend Angelo, gathering all our luggage. Try and get a luggage cart away from Italians. ItÕs impossible. You have to fight, shove your elbows in every direction to finally get a hold of one and once you do you'd better not let go, or look the other way, otherwise some old Italian woman will come and steal it away from you! We waited over a half an hour for my siblings and I was worried. I had no idea where the Carabinieri had taken them. I was wondering if they would come back and whether they would find us in the huge Leonardo Da Vinci Airport. I was so relieved when they finally showed up. They both looked ashen, drained from the flight and scared out of their wits.
We met up with our tour representative who brought us to our hotel "The Central Park". I was sharing a room with my sister while my brother and Angelo shared the other room. When we opened the door we were pleasantly surprised - it was so huge, almost like an apartment. We had never expected that. Last year when I went to Paris and opened our bedroom door, it only opened half-way because the door hit the bed - it was so small. We came back with bruises on our legs, we kept hitting the bed frame, there was absolutely no room to walk! This hotel was bigger and better, much to our happiness.
Every time I enter a hotel in Europe, I go directly to the bathroom for inspection on how to flush the toilet. Every place is different. There is either a button that must be held for at least a minute before the thing flushes or thereÕs a peddle to be pressed, anyway it's different from back home.
At 3 pm we met our tour organizer, Debra Strada. I have never heard of an Italian woman named Debra before, so when we saw her name we thought she was an American - we were wrong, she was definitely Italian - very arrogant, very pushy and with lots of attitude. There were two elderly Italo-Canadian couples from Toronto, the Festas and Di Lorenzos, who thought the tour would be in Italian, they were very upset and disappointed to learn from her that the tour was in English only with no Italian "subtitles". They wanted her to speak to them in Italian - she flat out told them that that was not possible, and that if their travel agent had not informed them that this was an English language tour then that was not her problem. She was very rude to them and I had an instant dislike to her.
At this point we were hungry and were ready for something to eat. We decided to get some pizza. An elderly American woman, Rita Goldman from New York, who was about 70 with jet black hair and a walked with a cane from her recent stroke invited herself along with us. She wasted no time in telling us that this was not her first trip to Italy, in fact she had visited the country 10 times before and had been on at least "30 trips with her now deceased husband who spoke 7 languages." She was nice but somewhat annoying and we wanted to be alone so we were happy to learn that the siesta was in motion, where basically the whole country takes a rest in the afternoon and everything closes down. The shops only reopen about 5 pm so we had to wait for supper and went back up to our rooms to rest before our first optional excursion: "Rome by night with dinner".
We visited the Trevi fountain and Piazza Novona. Two extremely beautiful places. I couldn't get over how many people were out in the squares. It was packed with gorgeous Italian men, one darker than the other. Unfortunately for us, Debbie, didnÕt let us stay long. We had about 15 minutes at Trevi - 15 lousy minutes! You canÕt savor the essence and glory of the fountain in 15 short minutes.
Our next stop was dinner. We were taken to an Italian restaurant geared for tour groups. There was music during our meal performed by a stunning singer. I can't remember his name, I think it was Dino, I'm not sure, but not only did he have a wonderful voice but a beautiful smile as well. I had my video camera ready and taped as he sang to our table. We had a four course meal, it was almost like a wedding without the bride and groom. In the next room was a group of Indian tourists who were laughing it up and drinking it up as well. They were so rowdy and crazy giving us a spectacle to watch as one man, came into our room and began dancing a tango all by himself. People lose all inhibitions while on a tour. I think its great! When dinner ended, each woman was offered a pink rose and a kiss, my only sorrow was that it was not by Dino. Too bad! Anyway, we left and headed back to the hotel to get some sleep before our first full day in Rome where we were going to visit the Vatican early the next morning.
Day 2 - August 16, 1997
We had an early wake-up call at 6:30 am because we had to rush to get to the Vatican. One thing I've learned is not to plan a trip to Italy on August 15 because its The Assumption of the Virgin. The Vatican was closed on Friday the 15th, and only opened from 7:30 am to 12 pm on the 16th and closed completely again on the 17th. Therefore, we had to hurry over to get in line and pray to God we would be let in before 8:45 am because that's when they close the doors for organized tour groups. If we didn't make it we would have to wait in the general line.
I turned the TV on and was happy to find G.I. Joe and He-Man on in Italian. I used to watch it with my brother when he was younger and found the translation quite comical. It's actually a terrific way to learn Italian, we couldn't stop laughing.
Our continental breakfast consisted of orange juice, a croissant, bread roll, butter, jam and coffee. We were hungry so it seemed good to us at the time. Little did we know that after two weeks of this breakfast we would be dying for bacon and eggs or cereal at least, or even a muffin, but no - this was it for two weeks. We had so much jam that our faces were breaking out by the time we got home.
We got on our air-conditioned motor coach and were introduced to our bus driver, Pino. Every morning as we left for our next destination, we would utter in unison: "Buon Giorno Pino." Never once would he reply but it was amusing for us to say. Later I learned he was 35 years old, married with one child and from Naples. Word spread on the bus of these facts after we heard that he had asked a girl from Queens, Yanna who was about 23, in his broken english "YouÉ.. meÉ..sex" Needless to say I and everyone else were quite shocked. She declined his offer but that didnÕt stop him from asking another two times before the tour was over. This little bit of information was provided by Nadia, 23, a terrific girl from Vancouver who came on the tour with her brother Anthony, 18 and her father Natale Pasqua (if you translate his name it means Christmas Easter) and mother Lisa. Nadia thought Yanna was exaggerating a bit because Nadia developed quite a rapport with Pino. This Canadian family from Vancouver made our trip. They were so delightful, outgoing, lively. The parents originate from Calabria so the kids spoke Calabrese (an italian dialect) with the locals and charmed everyone with it. In fact one night, Nadia was speaking to her father in Calabrese and the waiter at the hotel began laughing at her dialect. She said: "Well what do you want? That's how I speak, I speak Calabrese!" He smiled back at her and was enchanted when she told him he had "belli occhi blu" (beautiful blue eyes). I donÕt think he cared how that came out. In fact afterwards another waiter came over feeling a little bit left out so Nadia began flirting with him too. That girl was an original! I miss her so much already, she was so much fun!
Before we reached the Vatican, we had to pick up our local tour guide Amelia. What a delightful, charming, spirited woman she was compared to Debbie. Everyone wished she would stay on the tour with us instead but unfortunately we only had a few hours with her.
While waiting for Amelia, we were inspecting the other members of our group and were quite surprised to find some elderly people on board. There was a gentleman, Joseph from Pittsburgh, whom Angelo befriended since he's a Steelers fan. Joseph was incredibly sweet, 75 years old and walked with a cane after being hit by a drunk driver last year. My brother also noticed two elderly women from Australia, we never befriended them so I don't know their names, but because they were kind of large and somewhat "manly"-looking my brother assumed that they were lesbians. One of them kept coughing incessantly, it sounded like she had bronchitis and we were worried for her but once I saw her light up a cigarette at every stop, I began not to care. The other woman, was not that healthy either. In fact she came with a tripod-walker on wheels and was going to tour on the Italian cobble-stones streets with it. Anyway my brother's assumption was dead wrong. They were not lesbians but sisters.
At the Vatican, we first had to wait in the Courtyard of the Pine Cone, which is called that because of the huge bronze pine cone situated at the rear of the yard. There, all the tour groups were given information on the Sistine Chapel because no one is allowed to speak in the Chapel. I was utterly surprised when Amelia had us look at a picture of "The Creation of Adam" (there were boards full of pictures situated in the courtyard for us to view). She had us look at AdamÕs left bent leg and asked if we could discern anything different about it. No one had a clue what she was referring to, we kept looking but we didnÕt know what we were searching for. Anyway, she said that if you look carefully, you will notice that the muscles in his leg are shaped in the form of a female body. The knee represents the female breast and if you look down you can see her hips and legs. We were all flabbergasted. Michelangelo, what a genius! The more of his works I saw the more impressed and awed I was. I think he's my hero. I can't get over the creations he came up with. What a master!
Even though it was early morning, we were already frying, it was so hot in the Vatican. We walked through many hallways and corridors and saw so many pieces of art, beautiful ceilings, incredible sculptures that it was overwhelming. I think you need a week just to tour the Vatican and appreciate everything, there's so much to see. We were finally making our way to the Sistine Chapel where, at last there would be air conditioning, thankfully provided by the Art Lovers Society of California. No cameras or video is allowed so I decided to make my first purchase: a book on the Vatican. Money well spent in my opinion. The pictures are simply marvelous to look at.
We stayed in the Sistine Chapel for twenty minutes looking at the ceiling in utter admiration and amazement. I looked for another part of the Chapel Amelia told us to observe: "The Last Judgment" where Michelangelo has given us a self portrait in the features of the flaked skin of St. Bartholomew. I asked Amelia why a man with such passion and love for his work would portray himself as being skinned alive. She replied that Michelangelo was so exhausted after completing the fresco and tired of all the battles he had with the pope over the years that this was his way of exhibiting it to everyone. What a tortured soul.
Next we went to St. Peter's Basilica. Simply incredible! There's no way for me to describe it. The altar is spectacular, it almost makes you want to be a priest just to be able to stand there, it's that amazing. Touring the church, we reached the most beautiful piece of artwork ever created in my opinion: "The Pieta" by Michelangelo. I learned that it was carved out of a single piece of Carrara marble when he was only 21 years old. It took him two years to complete and this is his only signed work. If you look closely at a picture of it, you will notice his name on the Madonna's sash. Unbelievable, the manÕs ability was incomparable. Our last view inside the Vatican was the Bronze Statue of St. Peter. So many people have touched St.Peter's foot that it has changed color. Well needless to say, we contributed our part in the changing of the color by placing our hands there as well and taking a picture.
It was now lunch time. We were given only 25 minutes to eat. It was so bloody hot that everyone was purchasing litres of water. One thing I've learned is that there are two types of bottled water: "Aqua naturale senza gas" and "aqua frizzante" (natural water without gas and mineral water). Terms to remember because one time I got mineral water and thoroughly hated it.
Next we were off to a bus tour of the city, viewing the Forum, the Spanish Steps, Castel St. Angelo, Piazza Venezia before stopping at the Colosseum. It's stupendous. I can't comprehend how it only took 8 years to build. Apparently, itÕs built so well and has withstood all types of torrential weather that the Romans believe that if it should ever collapse then that would mean the end of the world. There we saw a rather gorgeously tanned man dressed up in gladiator garb posing for pictures with tourists. Well, I couldn't resist, I had to have a picture with this muscular soldier but I had to pay 5000 lira to get it. He posed in combatant stance, his leg muscles firmly pulled. Money well spent, that's for sure!
Next we were off to Tivoli Gardens with its main attraction Ville D'Este for its incredible fountains. I couldn't get over "The Road of One Hundred Fountains", where you walk along this avenue turned into a fantasy as water spits out of ships, obelisks, eagles and fleur-de-lis. The one fountain I found disgusting was of Diana as water was spurting out of at least 10 breasts. It wasnÕt a great sight to behold!
After Tivoli, we headed for dinner where we were once again accompanied by the same Indian tourists as the night before. They were drinking once again and having a grand old time. We ate well that night as a soprano singer entertained us with her melodious voice. She sang the basic songs everyone knows: Arrivederci Roma, Santa Lucia, O Sole Mio, Volare, Torna a Sorrento etc....We had a great time that night and reached our hotel about midnight. We had to pack our suitcases because the next morning we were headed to Pisa before arriving in Florence later in the day.
To be continued...?