16-19 November 2019
After the long, but reasonably comfortable flight on KLM (viewing many episodes of Sabrina the Teenage Witch downloaded from Netflix and hourly exercises to keep Bonnie’s broken elbow from swelling up), and a five-hour layover at the bustling Schiphol airport of Amsterdam, finally Roma. Cousin Adriana and Gino collected us at Fumicino, piloted through an hour of heavy rush hour traffic, and deposited us at the apartment of cousin Luciana and daughter, university-student Marta in the Montesacro neighborhood for Italian language immersion and major sleeps. Robert 12 hours. Bonnie, as always, the sleep queen, 21 hours.
The next day Marta, Luciana, and Robert set off to get SIM phone chips. For Bonnie a TIM chip and Robert a Vodafone chip to hedge our bets on reception throughout Italy. Vodaphone has a great offer of unlimited phone, text messaging in Europe, and 40 gigs of data usage but would not accept an American credit card! So off to get a Postale debit card. But this required a Codice Fiscale from the government office. Then back to the post office. Finally back to Vodaphone to discover we got the wrong debit card. At this point, Marta used her card to fund Robert’s phone.
Later during an afternoon walk in the leafy green Roman neighborhood, Marta steered us to the top-rated gelateria in the city—Gori. Black sesame for Marta, Triniterio soy chocolate for Bonnie, vanilla with mixed fruit for Robert.
Friday we picked up a Peugeot wagon. The rest of the afternoon was taken up with the confusion of registering our presence in Italy with the local police. A confusion of paperwork at the police station. For dinner, a true Montesacro pinsa. Less puffy than the ones sold at a restaurant near Sixth Street in San Francisco. Then a stop at the neighborhood cannabis shop—basically a large closet set up as an automat without a live person in sight. Only things to smoke. Quite pricey.
Style notes for women of all ages in this neighborhood: jeans, white sneakers, small down coat or light-weight black leather jacket. Gold accessories. Large bag. Add cigarette, dark glasses, and phone. Maybe a scarf.
