Day twenty, September 6, 2010

Once again, no internet access for days.
Day twenty, September 6, 2010

I wake up to the alarm at 7:40 (Didn't I say I did not want to do this anymore?!) The relatives are planning to go the Vatican museum this morning before they pick up their car at noon and since is the last chance I will be see able to see folks from home here in Roma, I decided let that abrudt awakening of the alarm bell happen again. I get ready and take the walk down the street to the museum. There is already a huge line at the Vatican museum. For those who do not know, the Vatican museum is where you see the Sistene chapel and it is at the end of the museum after FOUR miles of paintings and decorations galore (it is definitely museum overload so by the end you are kind of "yea, yea. okay" about Michaelango's great work because are so ready to be done and ready to see the light of day again). I figure the relatives may want to pay for a tour guide so we can get to the front of the museum crowd. I have not eaten

so I decide to go for a cappucinno and crossaint directly across from the entrance until my party shows up. I guess they are used to tourists in this spot. They give me a to go cup(a little plastic thing no lid, but still very unusual for here) and then I put my pastry in a bag. I ask if I can stand here at the counter( a very Italian of having your coffee), "Oh, you can sit down if you wish!", this they did not expect from the American turisto.

I hear from the relatives and I will meet them at the beginning of the line. Boy, there is a lot of people out here trying to sell you tours through the museum. Of course, if you do not take them up on their offer, it is about a two hour wait in line! The relatives are just interested in the Sistene Chapel and not the marthon art viewing or the guide but unfortunately they find that they are a lump sum deal. Randy and Vicky try to negotiate a decent price...normally its a 14 euro ticket plus a 45 euro expense for the guide..Ouch! Vicky wittles down the price for the tour to 32 euro plus the ticket, but that does not seem worth it to the crowd becuase they have such a short time. We stand in line a bit more just to see how it goes, but it is really moving slowly. Well they decide they will back some day (they did throw the coins in the Trevi fountain after all) and so this tour will wait for another time. We step out of line and decide to go for coffee. We find a caffe and put two tables together. Peggy wants some cookies so I go and point to the waiter her desire. The five cappucinni are ordered and we have enjoy a nice little slice of Italian life watching the droves heading their way to St Peters. Randy and Peggy try to get money, but the surrounding bank machines are still empty from the weekend! No stamps to found at the tobacco shops(this is wear you get bus tickets, stamps, phone cards and of course your tobacco fix) on Monday morning either. Seems crazy to us Americanos not to have things stocked up as the weekday begins. We then head into the back into St Peter'sm square, Peggy and Vicky get to send their postcards from the smallest country in the world!... they actually have stamps here in this small country even though it is Monday! Time to say arriverdirci to my relative crowd, we hug and we head off in our different directions. :(

I head towards the Metro and decide to do a little shopping along the way. I try to find a simple cross pendant for a necklace, which I would not think that this we be that difficult just outside the Vatican. The crosses are either crappy looking cheap things under 10 dollars or super expensive at over 100 dollars. I am not sure why there is no in between( I guess they figure that is how most people are about their faith, small/limited or grand worth all kinds of cash). I catch the Metro without difficulities. I decide to go see the location of my new hotel, which I will check-in there tommorrow. I did not receive a conformation email but I do have a confirmation number. I talk to the woman and the front desk and I do not like her attitude. She cannot find my reservation. She says my confirmation number has too many numbers and there are no rooms available until next week. She says I should call Hotels.com. They have computers here in the lobby area and I ask if I can use one so I can get the number for Hotels.com. She says, "Computers are only for the guests". Okay, this customer service is poor and I am getting upset because I have no where to stay. I do get a hold of rep at Hotels.com via my Iphone( I am writing Hotels.com for my money back from this phone call). They ask to talk to hotel front desk person. She seems so disgusted the whole time she is on the phone. Finally they fax her the reservation and then I guess I am a person again because she finally has a smile for me and will look me in the eye. Ugh!!!

I wander around now thinking of lunch. I am due to go watch Cinema Paradiso at the school at 1:30 so I have about 45 minutes. ( Do people remember this film back from 1989?!! I do but not the details and I am sure the kids at this school don't know it since it is older than most of them!). I am feeling upset now so I am not so hungry. I end buying a nectarine for lunch and calling it good. I go to the school and my new friend Leoni who has decided to come watch the movie with me even though she has seen it multiple times. We are the only ones to start watching it. We put on the English subtitles. Another gal comes in about 10 minutes late and we tell here we will start the movie again. She wants to have the flim with the Italian subtitles. We tell her that we will not understand the flim without them. She gets upset and says that we are here to learn Italian, which we know but we asked about this before the flim started and they said it was fine to have the english subtitles. She watches for awhile and then leaves in a huff. She then returns about five minutes and watches for another 10 minutes and then begs us to turn on the Italian subtitles once again but we stay firm and so she leaves after another 10 minutes. I feel bad but I would not have come to watch if only in Italian, I don't remember the film that well (plus you can listen to the Italian and learn). I feel upset again, too much strife for me today but I am happy to watch this lovely movie( and I pick up a few Italain words) and hang out with my new pal Leoni.

Leoni says this is one of her favorite movies, but this version ends differently than the Australian version. She says the Australian version is about an hour longer and has a more story book ending (strange but I guess us English movie-goers want the Hollywood ending so the Italain are willing to accommodate us). I just don't remember the film well enough to tell you how it ended so I will have to check it out when I get home. We head over to the Trevi fountain and get gelati. I have not had gelati in three days so I have to get three flavors. I try kiwi for the first time, its okay but I will leave this one for the birds(and the New Zealanders)! The limone and pistacchio flavors are good though! Things are quite hectic here at the fountain so we decide to move on after finishing up our ice cream. We wander and wonder. I get to see Piazza Navone for the first time, this is a another lovely square here in Roma! We decide we are in a movie watching mood so we ask about any movie theaters that show movies in English. We are sent down to the area of the Piazza Popolo down along the Via del Corso so a lot more walking is order to get there. We make our way down there, stopping in shops (Via Corso is a great shopping lane). We overhear one argument where a tourist feels he was shorted a 100 Euros and things are getting heated! We kind of want to know the outcome but who knows maybe the Mafia will show up..(the Sopranos has taught us this) so we decide to get out of the shop before anything starts flying. We find the movie theatre and there are several things playing in English. We buy tickets for "Letters to Juliet" at 8:15, which is in about 2 hours.

Time for dinner. We look at a few places and then finally make our decision. Leoni feels like meat so she gets lamb. I am ready for something besides pasta tonight so I go for the sea bass. We get bruscetta and smoked salmon for out antipasto and everything is deemed delisioso! I have wine( only one glass tonight...no relatives tonight to keep filling it up) and a cappucinno to top off the meal. Wow, they do have good food here!!! We have now have 10 minutes to our movie, perfecto.

We take our seats in the quiet theatre. The movie starts and the published time!...What, no 10 minutes of trailers! The movie is cute...very predictable but fun and set here in Italia! Andrea if you haven't seen this one, you should...Siena sparkles! Leoni and I walk to the Metro together. I take the walk back to the apartment...make it through the four locks...I am just getting this down and now it is time toleave. Too bad that no one has come to visit here, it is a very nice apartment. I did no cooking here and only did hand washing so the apartment was a bit of waste but it was nice to have a bigger space(I am American after all, used to wide open spaces). I end the night with working on my blog and watching "Pretty Woman" (it is my cinema day and know many of the lines for this one so its okay with no subtitles). Time for bed at midnight. I murmur" Ciao, Ciao" as I nod off to sleep for my last stay in the Vatican area.