- Saturday morning we were strolling down Via dell’Obelisco discovering the wonders of Villa Borghese when a young couple approached us and asked, in English, the way to the Borghese Palace. Thinking they wanted the Galleria Borghese we gave them directions. Misunderstanding the next question Laurent assured them that indeed this was the same Borghese family who had been the movers, shakers, Popes, Princes and Politicos of Roman history. “Yeah, kewl” said the young man “but is that the place where they filmed The Bachelor?”*
Sic Transit Gloria!
- Our friend Stephen was in an Italian hospital waiting for surgery. His Surgeon explained the procedure to him then asked him to sign the waiver prior to going under anesthetic. The good Doctor explained that he had two versions: the hospital’s version in Italian and an English version he had downloaded from an Australian website. He urged Stephen to sign the Italian one because he thought the Australian one “really too dramatic!”
“Why they even talk about death,” he said with some astonishment! Stephen figured why tempt fate and signed the Italian one.
- Many of the streets in the centre of the city are still paved with cobblestone which looks romantic but is hell on suspension systems – of the automotive variety and those supported by high- heeled shoes. In wet weather those smooth black stones become slick, slippery and treacherous for anyone to walk on and bloody dangerous for moto drivers. In the more heavily traveled areas they are being removed – by machines that peel them off the surface in a matter of minutes – and replaced by asphalt. As cobblestone is becoming impossible to find these days the old cobblestones are being recycled in the more historic, pedestrian areas of the city. When new cobblestone is needed it is being brought in from…… China!
*And before anybody jumps to conclusions they were, I blush to admit, Canadians.
19 agosto – San Italo
1 comment:
rome just sounds so lovely. i adore cobblestones and think it's a shame that they're being removed.
the street in front of my father's house is ancient red brick. it's terribly uneven and wavy and it will tear up a car if you go very fast. the city's steadily removing these grand old bricks and replacing with concrete, which simply ruins the aesthetic of the neighborhood. boo! i am increasingly curmudgeon-like in my wish for things to stay the same.
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