A few footnotes about Rome

There is so much to see and do in Rome and we only had three days there. The objective was to visit the daughter so seeing the sights took a backseat to our visit. So rather than spend a whole lot of time in lines at the various sights, we opted to spend a lot of time drinking the wonderful coffee (espresso) and watching the people go by as we sat at small cafes that could be found everywhere. First thing I observed... there are way too many Americans in Rome. And that’s not so bad... After all, we were there too! But I got the feeling that the Italians catered to Americans too much. English was spoken everywhere.

We were sitting at a café near Kate’s apartment enjoying the sunshine (which we hadn’t seen in months) and some musicians came by to play for us. Ahhh...I thought... what could be better than this... sipping an espresso in the sun and being serenaded by Italian musicians... and then he started to play “My Way” (an American classic). I tried really hard to make the connection.. oh, ok, Frank Sinatra was Italian, wasn’t he?

Sitting in a restaurant, enjoying a wonderful meal and the great atmosphere... listening to AMERICAN oldies... just didn’t quite hold the mood. Almost all of the restaurants and cafes played American music... kinda like the music you hear in the supermarket in America. What a shame.

Some interesting things... Paul went to buy a La Monde (French newspaper) at a newsstand. In France it costs 1,30 euros, but in Italy I guess it costs more... 1,80. Paul didn’t speak...he just put the 1,30 euros on the counter at the tabac stand and the person behind the counter said to him IN ENGLISH, “In Italy La Monde costs 1, 80 euros”. Now why did she say that in English? I supposed we scream American even though we try really hard not to.

But then, in another tabac shop, I stopped in to buy some birthday cards. It was time to send them to my sister and to my son who has ‘moved’ his birthday to February. We went to pay for the cards, and again... saying really nothing ... just waiting for her to ring up the purchase... it rang up and she said the price to us.... drum roll here... in French!