Day
13 – June 11, 1981:
Today, we’re headed for Rome,
Italy! We took off for Rome this morning
at about 7:30 am. It was getting hotter
and hotter as we proceeded south throughout the day. We were all feeling the effects of the
intense heat.
We stopped in Florence, Italy at about
11-11:30 am to shop in a leather shop and I bought a pair of nice, beige
leather sandals for 39,000 Lire ($45.00 CDN). We then went on further for a while until we
reached the hotel in Florence where we would have lunch that day, and also stay
overnight on our way back from Rome.
It’s very hot travelling by now, and I’ve been wearing shorts (nothing
revealing though!) . This has been
getting me some attention from Italian men, but I’m too hot to care much.
Finally, we reached the Rome Airport Palace Hotel and checked in. This was a
very nice hotel! After dinner was the
“Rome By Night” excursion, which Gloria and I had signed up for earlier. During the day, we had stopped near a main
square (piazza) where we could see and hear live music playing. We walked around a little in the piazza and
found an ice cream shop there, so we bought ice cream treats for ourselves and
sat down to eat them. I had asked for
something called “tartufo” and got this almost-black lump of dark chocolate
with chocolate ice cream and whipped cream on top. I wasn’t too crazy it. Gloria ordered some “real” ice cream
(whatever that is) and this is what I would have preferred instead of what I
did order. After that, we stopped at a
wishing fountain to throw a coin in and make a wish. Finally, we stopped at a restaurant cafe
where we had a glass of wine and got a serenade by the Italians. That was really nice! Then, we returned to the hotel. Voni joined us and we all had a drink
together and then called it a day around 12:00 midnight.
Day
14 – June 12, 1981:
Today, we took off for Rome around 8:30
am (our hotel was actually in Ostia, Italy).
We were going to be going on a tour of the Vatican City (where the Pope
lives), the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica. I thought that St. Peter’s Basilica was the
largest and the loveliest of the churches we had seen so far, and I took
several pictures. After that, we went
briefly to a souvenir shop and then to lunch at the Hotel Columbus.
After lunch, we went on the city
sight-seeing tour with Giorgio, our guide, and saw the Pantheon. We also saw the Town Hall with the many steps
leading up to it and then saw the Ancient Ruins of Rome (behind the Town
Hall). Finally, we went to see the
Coliseum, which was half new (reconstructed) and half old (19 centuries
old!). By this time, we’re all
practically dead from heat exhaustion and my feet were just aching from wearing
the new leather sandals that I had just bought.
After the city tour was over, we were
brought to the Piazza Del Popelo where we were allowed to shop until about 6:00
pm. Some of the older ladies did not
want to leave the bus because it was so hot and we were all tired, but I needed
to buy some practical items. I needed a
new bag to hold my souvenirs and I needed to buy a leather strap for my
suitcase, which was falling apart due to the locks on it not working
anymore! So, Gloria, Voni and I went
shopping. Gloria bought a pair of shoes
and I bought the bag I needed, but no leather strap (I couldn’t find
one!).
After getting back to our hotel, I went
with Zarene (another “gal-pal”) and Rachel to another, nearby hotel to go
swimming in their pool and it was just full of young, virile Italian men. They were very nice to us, and we went into
the pool to swim with them.
After dinner, we wanted to go to the
beach nearby, but it was locked up and guarded by a dog, so we couldn’t get in
(you have to pay to use the beach!).
When we came back from our walk, we went into the bar to drink some beer
and didn’t come out again until after 12:00 midnight. While in the bar, we talked to some of our
other friends on the tour and watch some Italian TV, but I don’t understand
Italian, so it was very difficult to follow it.
Apparently, one of the ladies on the
tour, Mrs. Ironside, had her purse snatched in Rome, earlier in the day. Purse-snatching and pick-pocketing happens
frequently in Rome, and you have to be very careful about protecting your
personal possessions while walking along.
That is, if you don’t absolutely need something on your person, have it
locked up in the hotel’s safe, and don’t trust anyone!
We got 2 phone calls very early in the
morning (2:00 am). One was anonymous and
one was from the hotel clerk downstairs about the overseas call that Gloria had
been trying to place to her family earlier today, but could not get
through.
Our hotel looks very nice, but things
aren’t perfect here either. The rooms
are all supposed to have radio, TV and air conditioning. But, the radio and air conditioning don’t
work and the TV is non-existent! All in
all, Rome is a lovely city to visit, but you must beware of thieves at all
times.
Day
15 – June 13, 1981:
Today, Gloria and I are planning to have
a very lovely to ourselves because some of our tour people are going on a trip
to Pompeii, Italy, including Voni, Irene and Bea.
We slept in late (after giving some of
our valuables to Lillian to keep for us) and that was really nice! We didn’t usually get a treat like that! Then, we did our laundry, by hand, and hung
it out to dry on our hotel balcony.
After that, we went over to the Satellite Hotel nearby to have lunch in
the dining room. After lunch, we went up
to the swimming pool deck on the roof to sunbathe and swim for the
afternoon. While there, we saw a young
man sitting there reading a dirty magazine (full of porno pics) and touching
himself inappropriately, so we left that place rather early. After an afternoon siesta, we got up and got
dressed for dinner, which was a disappointment of a dinner, and later, we went
for a few drinks in the hotel bar with Voni.
John, our driver, came into the bar too
and sat down to talk with us, but then left the bar. Lillian was there too, with a guy named Aldo
Barone (an Italian shoe businessman in his mid-forties or so) and we were
introduced to him. He offered to take
Gloria and I dancing and we did because Lillian said he was a good guy. First, we went to an Italian restaurant with
Aldo and had scampi, wine, Anisette liqueur and cappuccino. After dinner, we were taken on a brief tour
of his shoe business and then preceded on to Marilyn’s Disco, where we danced
till about 3:00 am, finally getting home at 3:30 am.
Gloria got paired up with Tony, the
bartender at our hotel, and I was with Aldo.
However, Gloria didn’t like Tony that much; I, however, liked Aldo just
fine! He was very attractive and
sexy. He was also a very nice and warm
person who was very affectionate with me (you could say he was “coming on” to
me!) and I didn’t mind that at all – I responded to him in kind. It was a very lovely day and evening!
Day
16 – June 14, 1981:
Today is our last day in Rome, Italy and
this morning, we took off again for Florence, Italy to spend the night. We got to Florence at about lunch-time,
checked into our hotel, and then had lunch (which was not all that good).
After lunch, we went on the Florence
city tour to see the sights. I forgot
again that women in shorts are not allowed in churches, so Gloria and I sat
outside of a church with John and some others, and did not go inside to see
this one or another (apparently nicer) church.
At the end of the tour, we were all hot and sweaty, as it’s hot today,
but we were told that our bus wouldn’t be leaving until 6:00 pm and it was only
5:00 pm then. None of us felt like
shopping, so we just sat around eating ice cream until we got back on the bus
again.
When we got back to our hotel (in Signa,
Italy), we all took showers and then went to dinner (which, again, wasn’t all
that good). After dinner, I went for a
swim and then joined Voni and Gloria and Tom’s group to play cards and drink
beer.
Later on, in the hotel, we had
cappuccinos and, while there, Gloria, Voni and I met up with some fellows: Josef (who was French) and Enzo (who is
Italian). Neither of them spoke English,
so I spoke French to Josef and we got along just fine. Both of these guys were drivers of Cosmos
tour buses and Enzo took us for a short drive into town where we stopped for an
espresso (coffee). But, Enzo’s “wild”
driving and the espresso made Gloria sick and she threw up all over the place
when we got back to the hotel, so I was really sorry that we had gone with
these fellows even though they had seemed nice.
copyright 2014, Anne Shier. All rights reserved.
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