Roman Holidays- Worth the Wait(ing)

Arrival in Fiumicino Airport

December 24 at four o’clock in the afternoon was the scheduled time of arrival for Dave and Lori, friends who came to visit Beth and Rob over the Christmas holidays. Rob waited patiently in terminal 1 of Rome’s Fiumicino Airport while Beth stayed at the apartment that was rented for ten days preparing soup and straightening up. Sitting in the airport Rob waited as patiently as he could muster for their friends to walk out from the security area. The Air France flight that the Broads boarded had arrived as scheduled, but Rob watched for 50 minutes as only strangers emerged through the secure double doors. Some were greeted by waiting family members while others by drivers from hotels and pensions that displayed signs with various surnames on them. Rob created the game ‘Match the Emerging Passengers to the Surname Cards’ to entertain himself while he waited.

When the guessing was finished and the crowd had thinned to a few individuals, Rob watched as a tired and slightly worn looking David, followed shortly by Lori, emerged out of the security area. Although they were tired from the long flight and the associated time change, they were both excited to finally be in Rome!

Rob suggested they take a taxi directly to the apartment in lieu of hauling bags on a train to catch a subway followed by a transfer to a bus that stopped 400m from their destination.  Although the taxi charge for the three of them was 48€ (20€ more than the alternative) Rob who was familiar with the alternative, felt that it was the best decision.

Elevator for four...Going down.

At the residence, Beth showed the guests the features of the apartment, with a focus on the kitchen, in hopes that Dave, who has excellent culinary skills, would make some meals during their stay.  By this time, Rob and Beth had become familiar with the features of European dwellings, but they recalled their first experiences as they watched Lori and Dave discover some of the unfamiliar features of the apartment. The tiny elevator space, the door and window shutters, the bidet, the tiling of the floors, the kitchen gadgets, the ornate furniture all seemed to catch some of Lori’s attention.

Christmas Eve in Rome

To encourage their guests to avoid the six-hour jet lag, it was suggested that all four take public transit to downtown Rome for a few hours keeping them awake until a reasonable hour. The 35 minutes it took to reach the metro stop Colosseo seemed short in retrospect, as they were able to discuss topics such as Lori and Dave’s flight experience, work gossip, and, of course, families.

A spectacular sight greets all who emerge from the Colosseo metro stop – especially at Christmas time. As they walked out onto the street they were struck by the inviting night view of the warmly lit Roman Coliseum - a structure so immense that they had to completely exit the metro station to take in its full scale. Beside the Coliseum stood a Christmas tree with lights raining down its length that, despite its 70ft height, paled in comparison to the ancient monument. After taking a few photos the four spent the next two hours of Christmas Eve walking among the popular tourist attractions that were with in walking distance.

Fountain of the
Four Rivers

View of Parliament

First, they meandered past the overpriced tourist street vendors that line the old Roman Acropolis then continued past the majestic Italian parliament for a few photos. Turning, they ventured down Via Argentina where they looked upon some ruins that housed a colony of well cared for feral cats before walking north making their way to the Pantheon only to find it closed. They next veered down narrowing side streets, some of which were draped with Christmas lights, en route to Piazza Nanova which, at Christmas, is filled with a toy market. In the middle of the square Dave and Rob sat with beer in hand watching the furry of activity surrounding the famous Bernini fountain Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi while Lori and Beth looked about at the many restaurants to find a reasonably price pizzeria. As they sat, gypsy vendors walked by with cheap gimmicky toys trying to entice pedestrians. At one point a short gypsy held out his hand with a glowing ball to David to which he replied “No thanks”. When the gypsy continued holding his hand out, not taking no for an answer, Rob responded with a stern, “Go away” as his patience with the persistent peddlers was wearing thin. This in turn incited the short little man to respond with several loud angry “%#@ you’s”.  Afterward, they realized that the man was likely not offended by Rob’s curtness but rather was employing guilt as yet another tactic to pressure them to purchase. 

Church View

Before heading back, the four entered one of Rome’s many lavishly decorated churches to catch the end of a Christmas Eve mass before walking the two kilometres back to the metro that soon would be closing.

Rome's Festive Decorations

Riding the metro line B six stops took only about twelve minutes. From there the four walked across traffic to join the crowd waiting for the evening bus that would take them the last stage to the apartment. The crowd was somber as it waited for the bus that was running less frequently because of the holiday schedule. Although they passed the time sharing one beer and one bottle of wine, they along with the rest of the crowd, began to grow inpatient. Lori, who was now exhausted from her long day and had previously been overjoyed by the warmth of the daytime temperatures, voiced her opinion along with Beth on the growing chill of the night.  Perhaps it was her exhaustion that caused her to call out “Bus” a couple times convinced that she saw one in the distance. Both times all of the people waiting alongside them jumped up with anticipation only to be disappointed when they realized her mistake.  Soon Lori became the target of incessant heckling by Rob, Beth, and especially Dave.  “Bus” he would whisper so that only the four of them would hear.  “Oh, sorry… It’s only two mopeds driving down the road.”  Or, as the wait continued, “Bus.” followed by “Nope, sorry, just a pair of fireflies.”

9 PM Lori

As the one-hour mark approached Rob gave in and flagged down a sole passing taxi but became dismayed as before it reached them, two other opportunistic bus stop waiters jumped into the cab and rode off. At that point Rob took it upon himself to approach an army service vehicle and police cruiser to ask the officer about the bus service. The Carabinieri, informed Rob that the buses had stopped running for the night but look unconcerned that foreign tourists on Christmas Eve were left stranded at a bus stop. It took some convincing by Rob before the officer called dispatch to hail a taxi, which thankfully arrived within minutes. As the four made a move to climb into the cab, the Carabininera who was  

reluctant to call the taxi at first, requested a passport or picture ID from the tourists. Beth was concerned at the request as she had read information that clearly warned tourists from handing over passports to police in the street as this is a scam by people dressed as officers but are thieves looking for passports.  However, as they been the ones to approach the officers, and he assured them that it was required for his paperwork, they complied. The taxi driver, who took the detainment as an opportunity, started the meter of the cab while the officer filled out his report papers. It would be 10€ on the taxi meter before Elizabeth, the sole traveller with a photocopy of her passport, would receive her papers and the taxi would be on its way.