ROME FOR THE NIGHT

October 30, 2019


Take about a culture shock!  After a week in Venice with the leisurely pace of the various water craft, and then to be hurtled like a projectile fired from a high powered weapon, I’ll take the water craft!  Rome is not quite as bad as Moscow where a 2 lane road became a 3 lane road, and a 3 became a 4 and on and on.  But this is aggressive driving at its best, or worst – your choice.  Our driver was a half an hour late meeting us in front of McDonalds at the Rome Termini train station, and made up for it in slalom style driving.  Oh my goodness!  But here we are, safe and sound, alive and well.

The train ride was very smooth.  Our water taxi got us to the station early, and a porter moved our luggage from the boat to inside the station – for a 20 euro fee, one that I was glad to pay.  We stopped in front of a set of empty tracks with no train information on the overhead sign and asked a clean up crew where #8427 for Rome would come in.  They checked an app on their phones, and said this one.  How about that for a blind hog?  One of the workers said the train would be 20 minutes late, but they must have made it up because it pulled up, we got on, and departed right on time.

Lisa at the Pisani Palace had booked our seats in first class, and we were in a single row facing each other.  Interestingly, going part of the way to Rome I was riding backwards and Mom was facing forwards.  We made that partway stop – the train only stopped four times from Venice to Rome – and then pulled out for Rome with me facing forwards and Mom facing backwards.  I never noticed a turn around, but we got here all the same.  A steward came through the car offering drinks and snacks.  The snacks were salty or sweet.  We chose salty and were given a kind of pretzel, good, but not really salty.

Both of us caught naps on our four hour journey, and enjoyed the scenery and read.  A few minutes ago we had supper here in the hotel – real hamburgers (we had one in Venice that was a microwaved meat patty) and french fries and washed it all down with still water (which runs deep).

Now back in our room we turned the TV on and flipped channels, catching a couple of game shows, NCIS dubbed into Italian, the Dukes of Hazzard dubbed into Italian, and BBC World News which would have been better if it had been dubbed into Italian.  Instead we learned that the democrats continue their attacks on Donald Trump, which started on inauguration day (or before) and continue to this time while they do nothing to run the country.

We will be picked up by a shuttle tomorrow and transported to Civitavecchia and the Koningsdam.  We will have internet on board, but after we sail we will not be able to text.  Until tomorrow night from somewhere in the Mediterranean then.

TTFN