Sciopero Generale...

May 5, 2015

Hello!

Well, hopefully doing this post on the actual day it happens will get me all caught up moving forward … hence the two posts per day (although I have no idea when the Feedburner service delivers)…

Really crashed and burned last night; don’t even remember closing my eyes, but the next thing I knew, it was 7:05 a.m.  – wow!  (I’m working on restoring my sleep bank and building it back up.)  As we hadn’t gone for groceries yesterday, there was nothing in the apartment to eat, and we figured we could eat at Villa Guilia, the Etruscan museum in Borghese gardens.  But first, one needs to get there.

I should probably mention that I read that there was a “sciopero generale” scheduled for today.  For anyone unfamiliar with the term, it means “general strike” – but with Italians you never know exactly what, if anything, will be affected. 

Strikers at Barberini; note fountain

Out the door about 8 a.m. and saw right away that the buses were moving, as well as taxis.  Walked over to St. John Lateran church and their next-door bus depot, and caught a bus heading for Piazza del Popolo.  It actually took us two buses with a walk in between to reach the Piazza.  And, voila! They were setting up music speakers and a rock band was playing, supposedly in support of the sciopero generale – and this is now about 9 a.m.  What they lacked in quality, they made up in volume.  (Fortunately, I always carry ear plugs in my purse for moment such as this, but Robert just had to put his fingers in his ears.) 

We crossed the Piazza and got on the tram on the other side.  As it turns out, we needed two trams (1 and 19, I believe) to get to the Villa Guilia. 

I remember several years ago, that in taking Mom to a soccer game at the Olympic Stadium, we really got caught short by not allowing enough time to get there. 

Ceiling of Villa Guilia

Basically, in that instance, the bus driver sat in a traffic jam for as long as he was going to, then opened the doors and told us all to get out and walk!  And again, while I had hoped to get to Villa Guilia earlier, that just didn’t happen.

Courtyard of Villa Guilia

The Etruscan collection is absolutely superb, and I am gradually becoming more interested in these ancient people.  (Certainly not in the same way that I feel about my Hittites, but they’re a good subject for study.)  We spent several good hours wandering the museum, and I have decided that as soon as I can get my hands on some books about Etruscans and their architecture, etc. I will add them to my reading list. 

Detail of rare double sarcophagus

There is a really lovely trip in our future (several years out, though, as it has to get in line…) exploring the Etruscan Italian sites – and it is possible (according to Herodotus)

that they may actually have been from Lydia – which just happens to be in Turkey!

Finished up at the museum about 11:15 and decided to make our way to Armando al Pantheon, our favorite Rome restaurant, where we had a 12:30 p.m. reservation.  (Note: I tried to make a dinner booking several weeks ago, and it came back for lunch – they are full for every evening that we’re here apparently!) And this is when the strike caught us up, as streets all over town were blocked – and bus routes disrupted - because of the strikers parade!  Grrrrr…..we ended up taking a tram through the Borghese gardens, and getting off right before the Roman walls at Via Veneto. 

As Robert says, he had forgotten how long Via Veneto actually is – but fortunately it was heading downhill, which made it a little better.  I should probably point out here that the weather is REALLY heating up – supposed to be in the low 80’s…and it certainly felt like it!  We were hoping to catch the little 116 mini-bus, but the police had the Via Veneto blocked off.  When we got to Barberini, we actually caught up with the strikers, who were peacefully walking in a group in the direction of Piazza del Popolo (which makes sense, as it means “people’s square” in Italian.)  We really have no idea what the problem is, but from some of the signage we could read, it sounded something like “Good education – but according to who?”  We walked through them, and down Tritone past Via del Corso … by which time there were no more buses to take, so we ended up walking all the way to the Pantheon and the restaurant, which is right next door.

Even with all that walking, we were still 15 minutes early, as they don’t open until 12:30.  We poked our heads into the Pantheon, which was its usual overcrowded self, and then sat on the wall in the shade and waited for lunch.

Finally got in about 12:40 or so … and, while we were the first ones in line (surprise!) the place is really popular and filled up quickly.  We were SO ready for sparkling water!  By the time we finally cooled down, and the specials recited to us (in English, but we also heard them in French and Spanish…) we were definitely ready for some wine. 

For starters, R had their carciofi and I had their carciofi (which are artichokes, by the way) with fresh mozzarella.  R doesn’t usually like really young mozzarella, but this was absolutely amazing, as were the artichokes…would do that again in a heart-beat!  From there, Robert had penne arrabiata (yes, I know he had it last night, but he likes it!) and I had their spaghetti tartufo – with black truffles and lots of butter – wow…amazing. 

Oh, I do love truffles...

We washed everything down with a lovely bottle of Frascati, a lovely, young and fresh white wine made just a few miles outside of Rome.  We finished off the meal with fruit (featuring frutti di bosco, some super-sweet small strawberries) – R had his with sugar and lemon, and I had some vanilla gelato with mine.  Whew!  So happy and full that we decided to splurge on a cab back to the apartment, which got us home earlier than expected (about 3 p.m.) for much needed naps.  (So much for sightseeing this afternoon!)  Both out for the count. (Although I did finish up and post our first blog posting before napping; strong sense of duty, I expect.)

I finally got up around 5 p.m. (desiring to hopefully sleep tonight!) and R about half an hour later.  We decided that groceries were the first priority, so out again we went.  There is a very nice Punto supermarket about 3 blocks away.  We decided on some basic European breakfast supplies – French bread (or Italian, in this case), some provolone and gorgonzola cheeses, some salami and prosciutto – we will eat tomorrow!  And, while it’s actually 7:37 p.m. at the moment, neither of us is feeling at all hungry after our wonderful lunch.  So, I expect that I will go out on a gelato hunt, and we may nibble a bit on cheese and bread, but other than that, no need for additional nourishment.

Tomorrow we’ve got our reservations at the Colosseo to see the new underground chambers as well as the third tier on top, but that’s not until 12:30 p.m.  I’m thinking the National Museum of Rome first…so will close now!

Lots of love,

m

xxx