Dateline – Rome, Italy
If you had asked me ten days ago where I would be this week, I would have told you all about my trip to the Balkans and Mittel Europa which I had booked some eighteen months ago. That was before that trip was cancelled five days prior to departure (and checking the tour company’s website shows that they are not offering that itinerary again in the next few years, so I have a feeling that there were multiple factors at work there). My travel agent, working overtime, found a replacement trip to Turkyie which fit my dates and that was quickly booked, only to be cancelled two days prior to departure. My travel agent pulled another rabbit out of a hat and found a cruise to Greece and Turkyie, quickly rebooked everything and so here I am in the Eternal City, with plans to board the Celebrity Ascent at Cittavecchia on Monday. It wasn’t the trip I had planned, but it is taking me to places I have not yet visited and, as a double stateroom was only a little more than a single stateroom with single supplement, it allowed me to bring my young friend, Thomas, the budding archeologist/evolutionary biologist along. Those who keep up remember that I met him in Rome six months ago prior to his spending part of his summer digging away at Hadrian’s Villa in Tivoli. I recall us having a conversation that trip, as we discovered that we are fairly compatible travel companions, that we should just chuck responsibilities and head east to Greece and Istanbul. Well, here we are doing just that so perhaps this is what was meant to be and we’re doing our part in completing some grand design for the universe.
Given the craziness of this past week, it would be too much to ask for an uneventful trans-Atlantic crossing. We left Birmingham late afternoon yesterday without incident and arrived in Atlanta. There was a layover of a few hours so we had a meal, found our departure gate for our Rome flight, and boarded without incident. The plane being full and the appointed hour reached, we pushed back from the gate and headed down the taxiway. Ding ding ding… ‘This is your captain speaking’… never a good thing to hear over the PA system at this point in a journey. Some mechanical problem which needed attention so reverse course and back to the gate. Mechanics and maintenance swarm the plane. What ever the issue is, it’s not a quick fix. Everybody up and off the plane and over to the next terminal as our plane isn’t going anywhere. Fortunately, we are in Atlanta, the Delta hub, so an alternate plane is found and brought into service within an hour. Everyone back on the new plane and off we go, three or so hours late. The rest of the flight was without incident although I’m pretty sure Delta has shaved another four inches off each row in economy as I had to take on some rather creative yoga poses to get myself into my seat. I did get some sleep. The delay meant we were taking off past my bedtime in terms of my internal body clock.
We touched down in Rome late afternoon Rome time to find clear skies, and absolutely gorgeous weather in the mid 70s without a trace of humidity. The usual hurry up and wait for baggage claim, passport control (which is now pretty much automated – I do miss that satisfying thunk of a bored border control agent bringing down the stamp on your passport booklet letting you know you have truly arrived), and a taxi into town. Our hotel, near the main train station, is clean, comfortable, and has a lovely private terrace overlooking the quiet street below. We cleaned up, changed clothes, and headed out into the gorgeous late afternoon light of golden hour in search of a decent meal, ending up dining on pasta and prosecco at a little trattoria close to Piazza Vittorio Emmanuele II. A walk to settle the digestion, and then off to bed at a relatively early hour as we try to get rid of the jet lag so we can have a nice full day tomorrow. We went most places in Rome together back in May so we’re looking for some off the beaten track options. I’m letting him be the logistics coordinator. He actually speaks some Italian not gleaned from the operas of Verdi and Puccini.
I am trying to leave the rest of the crazy stateside for the next couple of weeks. I don’t know if I shall succeed. The latest doings in Trump World have penetrated the local news cycles and in these days of electronic reminders of the state of the world everywhere, I’m fairly abreast of the rapid career rise and fall of the newest press secretary, the threats of Kimberly Guilfoyle against the Trump family (and she, more than most will know exactly where the bodies are buried having been courtesan to Don Junior for years), and the president and Elon Musk trying to help Putin and Russia through manipulation of Starlink and related systems (potentially treasonable actions). Then there’s his attempts to overturn duly passed and signed legislation through executive orders which strikes me as a major violation of separation of powers. If it all collapses in the next few weeks, I’ll just stay abroad until the dust settles. Someone please adopt the cats.
Word of the events of todays No Kings demonstrations and rallies has not yet reached Italian shores. I’ll have to look and do some digging to see if anything of real interest came of those. Not a lot of pictures today as I wasn’t out and about all that much and photographs of the interior of airports is not what y’all want to see. I plan to report in every day while traveling so expect continued travelogue for the next two weeks. I’m due back in Birmingham Halloween night.
