Victory Lap
The km is so small for the ride today, it’s almost like the last day of the Tour De France where the result is already known, but it tradition to make a grand entrance. Well, I had no grand entrance to make, but for me this would still be “sweet victory”. For added bonus, I was treated to sunshine and warm temps, which was a good things since the only riding jersey I had left was a sleeveless one. After going over final direction notes, we headed out along the lake.
In what seemed like just enough time to take our first morning break, I saw my first sign for “centro” next to Rome. I knew I was a long way off from the actual center of Rome, but it meant I was probably already in the suburb where I would be staying. At the next “official” Rome sign, I stopped to take the obligatory “see, I made it” photo in front of the sign, and then checked the GPS for distance to the apartment. I was less than 4 km away. Once I got within 3 block of correct street, I got a flat when I stopped to check the GPS. That’s two flats while standing still, none while moving – for me, it’s a subtle reminder that my (and others) prayers for protection on this trip do not go unanswered.
It was barely 1pm, and I was in Rome – only 3km from the Olympic Stadium where the tennis tournament (The Rome Open – Equivalent to the US Open in the states) will be held. Suzanna (I’ve changed her name since she is a very private person) gave me the keys to the apartment and showed me where everything was located. This is when the first sign of “trouble” appeared. Everything about the apartment was perfect as agreed to, except for the one most important thing – internet connectivity. When she confirmed to me that she has high speed internet, she meant that SHE had high speed internet for her computer, not that I’d have access on mine. She said I could use her computer, but knowing how all my email is on my computer, and my web updates need to be made from my computer’s own web development environment, this was not sufficient. I called my “lifeline” in Italy (Maria Paola) for some help. She researched for me the location of the “closest” Apple dealer where I could pick up an airport wireless base station, and try to create a mini-wireless network. Address in hand, I left to find a taxi to take me there.
By now, the sun was tired of shining already (it hadn’t been working out lately, so it was out of shape) so it was raining again. I found a taxi stand and as we pulled away and I told him where I wanted to go, the driver seemed quite alarmed. He told me (in excited Italian only) that this was quite far away, and that was I sure I wanted to go there, etc. The problem was, he kept turning around to face me as he was talking, so naturally he couldn’t stay focused on the road – within 3 minutes, he clipped something with his side mirror while he was naturally facing me and driving forward at the same time. Within 2 minutes, the owner of the car he had clipped caught up with him and was beeping quite fiercely. The typical agitated Italian argument ensued – with me in the cab, and those two going at it in the rain outside the car. I got to see a good demonstration of the various hand motions I learned a couple of years ago from one of our cycling guides. I especially like the praying hand placed at the belly button and shaking up and down and pointing strait to the person you are talking to, with a facial expression that says “you gotta give me a break here!”
After getting into the car (the meter was running the whole time during the “conversation” of course), he started to complain about how it was going to cost him 150 euro (about $200), and that the car was new, etc. This was an excellent time for me to use the “I don’t speak Italian” very well routine. He thought I didn’t understand what he was saying, but he was basically saying it was my fault that this happened, and that it was going to cost me at least 180 euro to do a round trip to this market place I wanted to go to. I tried to negotiate the price, but I got a very bad feeling about the whole thing, and eventually just had him stop the car and let me out with a fare of about 11 euro.
The beautiful thing about Rome though, is that no matter where you are, there are interesting things to see. He happened to drop me off in the fashion district (only of interest because I have daughters of course), but besides seeing every well known name in Italian fashion, it was also the location of a variety of architectural buildings and statues of interest. I hadn’t had dinner yet, and the dinner hour was approaching, so I toured the area, took photos, called home to “share the moment” with Lorraine, and simply enjoyed the rest of the evening. After another taxi ride back to the apartment, my plan was to ride my bike to secure said base station before the tennis got underway in the morning.
