6. Get Out of Town

Soldiers, I'm getting out of Rome.
~ Giuseppe Garibaldi from Giuseppe Guerzoni Garibaldi (1882), vol.1.

I'm getting married in the morning! Ding dong!
The bells are gonna chime. Pull out the stopper!
Let's have a whopper! But get me to the church on time!
~ Alan Jay Lerner from My Fair Lady

June 19: Get Outta Town ... There Is A Wedding! And It Is Big

I did not realize this when I made the reservations but our hotel was ~ four blocks away from the most happening event in Rome this summer. There is a sport called soccer that EVERYONE loves here. One of their famous soccer players was getting married today. The police were already taping off the streets when we left for church this morning.

P.S. The soccer player was Francesco Totti, the captain of the Serie A club Roma. He has been dubbed The Golden Boy, The King of Rome, The Big Baby and The Gladiator by the sports media. Totti, who has played his entire career for Roma, is the top active Serie A goalscorer with 235 goals. Totti married Ilay Blasi at the Basilica of Santa Maria in Aracoeli in Rome on June 19, 2005. Their wedding was aired on television and the proceeds were donated to charity. Susan and I saw footage of the wedding party arriving after we were in Florence.

Services. We made it to via Sannio 69 just in time for services. The lesson today was from Acts and was about Edification. I actually recognized some of the songs. Hopefully my singing did not make anyone else not focus on the service (since I didn't know what I was singing and maybe pronounced half of the words correctly). The lesson was a continuation on a series about the Catholic sacraments ... today was about last rites.

Make Your Escape. Our "land lady" let us store our luggage at the hotel. After services were over, we picked up the bags and hurried to Termini. We hoped to escape the huge crowds gathering near the Forum to catch a glimpse of the groom or his bride. We ate lunch at the train station and called our fathers (it is Father’s Day after all, even in Italia).

In Paris, you learn wit, 

in London you learn to crush your social rivals,

and in Florence you learn poise.”
~ Virgil Thomson

Firenze. We arrived in Florence. The end of this week is the big fashion show. I think the crowds have already started coming into town. I arranged for us to stay in a B&B near the Boboli Gardens. Our suite was BIG: bedroom & kitchen & eating area are in the same room. The bathroom with a tub is in a separate room. Plush digs.

The Ponte Vecchio spans the Arno River in Firenze (Florence).

Tim O'Banion Moments of the Day & Night:

TOBMD #3

Place: Acena Cafe on Via Cavour (about a block from our hotel in Rome)

The Players: Susan and a host of Acena employees (OK, only 3 out of the 5)

What Happened: The day before Susan had successfully ordered and consumed a specialty pizza that had pepperoni and peppers on it. The next day, she had a hankering (that is a Texas term for you) for the same thing sans the peppers. So, Susan saunters up to the counter and with panache says "medio pepperoni pizza." She says to me as we wait "do you think it comes with cheese?" Me: Surely it will. 5 euro and 10 minutes later .... viola! out comes her pizza. Being the cautious consumer that she is, Susan opens the pizza box. Staring back at her is her pizza composed entirely of cheese (hurrah!) and peppers (huh?). Pointing at the pizza, Susan said several times "pepperoni?" with a grin. The staff said "Si! Pepperoni!" Ahhhhhhh.... pepperoni is actually PEPPER and what she WANTED is called SALAMI.

TOBMD #4

Place: Hotel Paba, our room in Rome

Time: Last night about 12:10

Players: Stacy and Susan

The Event: Susan was blissfully snoozing. I was trying to go to sleep. All of a sudden the lights went OUT. No fan. No air conditioning.
Me (prods Susan lightly): Hey, I think the lights just went out.
Susan: There is an emergency light by the door.
Me: OK (stumbles out of bed to the vicinity of the emergency light).
I found it but didn't know how to turn it on (OK, I know, why did Susan send Stacy to do something 1. mechanical, and 2. involved walking in the dark? I'm the aunt, I do those things). Susan is smart. She had already noticed the emergency light (all right, so I'm not observant) and tested it out for functionality (I'm not prepared, but I THOUGHT about it, does that count? Susan: No!) Thankfully, Susan was able to come to my rescue and make the thing work. Then, she pulled out GLOW STICKS - three different kinds (long lasting ones, bright ones, and little bitty ones). The lights came back on about 30 minutes later.
Susan: Wait a second! That's not the end ... as soon as the lights came back YOU (meaning Stacy) jumped straight out of bed.