When in Rome, do as the Romans do

The guide's story was that 400 years of bread and circuses habituated Romans to the easy life.  I'm  not so sure about that, but they do have a lot of  holidays.  I haven't really said a lot about the city or city life itself.  The traffic does not seem  nearly as chaotic as it did when I was here almost 30 years ago, although that could possibly be because I now have places like Bombay and Bangkok to compare it too.  The parking, however.....

Yes, those cars are all parked.

They park every which way, although, admittedly, not as many are parked on the sidewalks as there used to be.  There are, of course, thousands of motorcycles and Vespas, but they ofen seem to get damaged.  We have seen more than one lying on the ground with windows smashed, either blown over or hit by another vehicle.

The streets are incredibly lively in this neighborhood - we are several blocks from  the Vatican - with sidewalk stalls and trattorias open late, but by 9 o'clock, they are closing down.  We often stop for a beer (Hank) or wine (Nora) of an evening, and watch the people go by. 

There are enough people who can muddle through in English.  Between that, and my admittedly minimal Italian, we are getting by.  We have the Metro down cold by now, although it is not a pleasant experience.  There are only two lines - we have travelled both, and although one is worse in terms of grafitti, all are dirty (trash cans are not thick on the ground anywhere), in poor repair and always crowded, although they seem  to run often enough.  The only saving grace is that it is cheap - 1 Euro (about $1.30) per ride, or cheaper if you buy a pass.

We have generally been skipping lunch, and doing the B & B's breakfast (sweet rolls and yogurt and coffee) and dinner.  Yesterday, though, we were exhausted and unable to move a step further, so - Macdonald's it was.  I wanted to try it anyway, as I always like to see the local variations.  In this case, they have - wait for it - deep fried olives!  They were actually quite good.  My hamburger had spinach and onions on it, as well as a mustard sauce, and was also edible.  So, there you have it - a MacDonald Moment!

The people are, in generally, well dressed, as you might expect, but there is considerably more begging than I remembered, or than I would have expected.  And, in spite of the usual warning about pickpockets, we have generally felt very safe (mind you, we do not flaunt cash, and have all valuables safely tucked away anyway).

So, we are off to complete the Roman ruins today, and are taking the train to Florence tomorrow.  More anon.