I’m writing this on Sunday afternoon but need to go back to Friday to do a bit of catching up. First of all, the weather has definitely decided to embrace Spring and for the last few days I have discarded my coat for the first time in a few months. It actually feels weird without it as it has been constantly on my back since before I left Bologna. The sunshine is just wonderful, it just warms your bones and you realise how much you have missed it.
Chris is going away for the weekend and she has suggested that I stay at her place on Saturday as she has set up this wiz bang home theatre thingo as per Hammy and on Hammy’s advice. I thought this was a good idea as I do want to catch up on a few films but also want to get a load of ‘heavy’ washing done like my jeans etc that are too hard to do by hand. So this entailed going over to her place again to learn how to use the home theatre gizmo. So I set off on Friday morning and walked over to Via Monserrat again. It is about 3 kms and takes me about 45 mins, so (for me) its a good bit of exercise for the morning. We had a coffee and then I had a lesson in how to use the very delicate home theatre system as well as how not to electrocute myself using the washing machine etc. I also borrowed a Europe/ UK adapter so I can use the kitchen wizz I got for Christmas. Chris had a couple of errands to do so she suggested I tag along. One was trying to get an appointment to get into the second largest amphitheatre in Rome that isn’t open to the public, so that was really interesting. The other was delivering signatures for a petition to stop horse drawn carriages in Rome because of the poor treatment of the animals. So it was an interesting tag along! Back to her place and I then went and enquired about Italian lessons at the school near Chris and then got on the bus to return to my area.
I did a good shop on the way home to stock up a bit on food, wine etc. I spent the afternoon wandering around, having a gelato and sitting in the sun reading. I come back to the apartment in between and try to do a bit of Italian study as well as planning places to go in the days to come.
Chris was supposed to leave in the AM on Saturday but her plans changed and she didn’t go until the afternoon. So she rang me to say she was going to the market in the morning and did I want to come. So I packed up my washing and enough gear for the night and set off to catch the bus over to her place. But I waited and waited and no busses came, so with all this gear I once again started to walk. Chris said sh’e pick me up half way but when I got down to where we were to meet it became clear why the busses weren’t running. There was a massive demonstration and all of Piazza Venezia was cut off. So…nothing for it but to keep walking. Living on the other side of town to Chris is good for my fitness!! Anyway, all fine, we went to the market and I bought stuff for tea and veggies to make my first soup.
Chris finally set off and I indulged myself in 3 movies. I saw ‘Boyhood’, ‘Gone Girl’ and ‘Whiplash’. I saw Whiplash because I couldn’t get ‘Birdman’ to work which was a disappointment and I wasn’t enthralled with Whiplash. That was just so indulgent but I enjoyed doing it. I got up this morning, collected all my gear and headed off back to my apartment, praying that the busses were running because with laundry still damp and stuff bought at the market, I was buckling under the weight of my load. Fortunately they were running and I only had to stagger from the bus-stop…phew. I dumped all my stuff and went for a coffee, a walk around down to the Forum area to people watch a bit. I then decided to go to my new-found friends at the ravioli shop to eat there. It is just so delicious I can’t tell you!! That was divine, then a lounge about in the local piazza and a read of my book. Now I’m back to try and wrap my head around trying to learn a bit more Italian and have a quiet afternoon.
It is definitely the challenge of stopping in places for a long time, trying to stop being a tourist and then what do you do? I need to feel more comfortable doing mundane things like at home, but somehow it’s different. But having Chris here in Rome makes all the difference. Although I don’t see her all that often (or for too long) I don’t feel so totally alone in a big city.