Saturday, October 23, 2010

Family Reunion

I left the hotel after breakfast but didn’t make it very far.  I found a nearby market and bought a gorgeous vest.  Back to the hotel.  Dumped the bag.  No problem – I had a full bladder anyway!  Ha!  The Italian coffee works fast!  And I also go to switch my umbrella for my sunglasses.  Good deal.

Take 2: I wandered around to Santa Maria Maggione church where I saw tourists toting guidebooks, hawkers, and nuns in the square.  Yep – there must be something to see here.  Walking in I was quite impressed but just decided to soak in the beauty of the place.  I have long given up on knowing all the history and details of where I go; Rome of all places has so much history.  I saturate with information quickly and never retain it anyway!  Cool facts, maybe, but I’ve just accepted that I really prefer aesthetic value over all else.

1PM: I was waiting at the end of Track 10 in the Termini train station after the first of two possible trains from Orvieto pulled up.  I was so excited and actually tearing up as I waited to finally see Mom and Kari.  After about five minutes most people had cleared out so I started to keep an eye out down towards track 2 where the other train was due in.  I started to wonder what I’d do if I didn’t find them when I turned my head and saw Mom in a bright turquoise hoodie walking behind me.  Phew!  Good catch.  And now – let the weekend really begin.

We headed back to the hotel with Sue McLennan from the ride and got ourselves sorted in the hotel while Sue tracked down her hotel (her travel documents went missing – yikes).  After a bit of time, we wandered out for a pizza and a stroll down to Barberini Square and the Fontana del Tritone.  Then onward to the Spanish steps which I was very excited to see...until I saw all the people.  Oh...my...God!  There was an infestation of people.  They were everywhere!  We got a few pictures but didn’t stick around to see the beauty of the area, since we could hardly see it anyway.



 


Next was a wander to the Fontana di Trevi which was also beautiful and also PACKED with people.  A pick-pocket’s dream no doubt.  Afterward we headed to see a multi-media show on the history of Rome.  Why not?!  It was something different for sure.  We learned all about Romulus and Remus and the wolves and they did a good job with the reconstructions of the ruins.  Very interesting if not a bit cheesy.

My pasta baby-belly is starting to grow.  Nevermind the cream cheese icing that Kari brought me (she knows me so well), tonight’s pasta dinner was lekker!  We had a rude waiter and Kari and I got the giggles.  (Dinner table + Kari + me = giggles.  I don’t know why but I love it).

Friday, October 22, 2010

Roma - Made it!


Living in Europe (and I still pinch myself that I can say that) you get used to hearing different languages all the time.  So it was no wonder that it took me a while to start noticing that the dominant language around me on the train was Italian.  My hands were getting jumpy – they’re ready to play along too and start gesturing.  Phrases like “Ciao Bella” and “Grazi” were on the tip of my tongue.  Welcome to Rome.

I almost didn’t make it.  With all the travel under my belt I really reprised myself today.  I thought I was past stupid, rookie mistakes.  My toiletries were all set up in their travel sized containers in a clear plastic case days before the trip.  My travel outfit was chosen to minimize any necessary removal of clothing at security.  I’d printed out my boarding pass the night before.  Good to go.  So at 15:58, as the train started pulling out of Den Haag Centraal, I gasped.  My passport!  Instant panic.

At the time I was on the phone with Charlie.  He did his job and remained calm, contrasting my frayed nerves.  What to do?  Go on?  Take a chance?  Turn around and risk missing the plane?  Jocelyn.  Jocelyn knows about Schengen countries and the rules.  Call her.
My call for advice turned out to be a call into action.  ‘What would you do’ was met with a ‘Where are you?  Yeah – okay, go back.  What can I do?’  Maybe an excuse to leave work early on a Friday was just what she was itching for but bottom line, it was such a relief to have a friend jump to help like that.

So – I got off at Leiden, bought a new ticket (debated this but had time), caught a train back to Den Haag Centraal with 2 minutes to spare.  I waited 2 mintues for the #9 tram back to my place and checked in with Jocelyn.  She informed me that she was in my house (finally .... after a dash to her home without her house-keys and some back and forth to the office during my time on the train) and was upstairs looking for in my bedside table for my passport.  We had a near miss as I have 2 passports (one has my original Visa to live and work in the NL) and the expired one was in the black case I told her to grab.  She thought to double check and managed to find the valid one further back in the drawer with a little more searching.  Good God!

Then we both hopped into Gigi.  16:35.  Not bad.  Pretty impressive actually.  Light traffic because of school holidays meant that we made it to Schiphol by 17:15.  It was a nice opportunity to visit and catch up plus it calmed me down to talk about other things.

I made it through security with time to kill so I could grab some dinner.  Amazing!  Needless to say, the adrenaline spiked and ran its course and I was exhausted by the time I got to the Caravaggio hotel.  But at least I made it to Italy!