Friday & Saturday, traveling from Toronto to Rome 20111014-15

20111015. One slow drive to Pearson in friday night traffic, long lines with gnarly security people, seven hours of grinding flight on a lufthansa flight in an economy class strait jacket that is possibly smaller than what air Canada offers. blinding morning in Frankfurt waiting for a connection, bad coffee breath, offset by the huge cardio benefits of walking five miles across a terminal with a fully loaded knapsack, all while cursing the Italy guide book which was half the load. Another flight, over the alps, along the coast, nodding out, and being startled back to consciousness by dirty stories (with hand and cheek gestures) told in some guttural serbo-Italian dialect accompanied by the loud cackling of a menage of hip middle age Euro chicks. Land. Find the train. Buy the rail ticket into the city. This is Italy. I stumble a bit to get my big bag up the steps of the train, but i easily find a seat, and pick up and understand most of the Italian newspaper. Train leaves the station, out come my big sunglasses. The competent traveller returns. Trying desperately to stay awake. I notice gardens, and every balcony is verdant with vines and leafy things. If a real measure of a city is it's parking lots, I love the disarray of Italian parking, and the clever tucked in spaces where you find them. The closer to the city centre, the crumblier the walls, and remnants of "antiquarian" seem like the norm. Termini station. Instead of clanging my bag down a huge staircase all sweaty like, I find the elevator. Capable me. I glide right out of that train station into the taxi of my first hustler. Handsome, charming. Kind of know it's happening, but I don't want to shark out in my first hour in Rome. I ask the right questions about fares and meters. I wasnt entirely gaga. There are two huge protests in the centre of the city. Riot police are out. Handsome men, strangely with many variations of facial hair. If French police are blue, Italian police are green. Same jackboots, same congregation of men at each corner. Bubble dome riot shields. Same batons The choppers are hovering. Taxi guy will get me to the Majestic. I don't know how he did it, but a 15euro cab ride cost 40euros, and somehow in all the changing of the cash he got 100euros off me. Ack. And he left me a good block from the hotel. And its some hotel, rather MAj
JESTIC. Nice people at the desk. Very helpful. Small room, looking out at garden and a wall. And a marble bathroom, with tub! So if i forgive myself losing 85euros, it's a delicious start. Except I don't know if I can fall asleep now.