As I write this, the first of many trips we’ll embark upon during our time in Europe is underway. We’re on a train en route to Zermatt, Switzerland, a mountain resort town in the shadow of the Matterhorn. It’ll be my first time in Switzerland, so I’m looking forward to checking out some new scenery.
The past week and change has been full of activity, mostly good, but keeping us on our toes. Emi’s been taking swim lessons through her preschool, which is awesome for both her and for us, and already in just two lessons she’s made some huge strides in getting over some fears that had held her back during her most recent attempt at swim lessons.
Last weekend, we headed to the Nuovo Mercato Esquilino, one of several permanent marketplaces in Rome for fresh produce, spices, flowers, meat, and fish. Our getting there was delayed by walking smack into the largest union march in Rome in over four years, but a few delays later, we made it.
After grabbing some veggies at the market, we headed to Villa Borghese for our first movie in Rome at the adorable Cinema dei Piccoli (“Cinema of the Little Ones”). It’s a tiny building that houses a single screen, about 60 seats, and a tiny little box office/concession stand. They have all the adults sit in a certain arrangement to minimize taller heads blocking kids’ view of the screen, and provide additional seat cushions for an extra boost as needed. We watched How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, which we all enjoyed. It’s apparently still not out in the US as of the writing, so I shall lord over most of you with my privileged information that most people probably could not care less about.
The following day, we set out to attend the local Chinese New Year celebration at Piazza Vittorio Emmanuele II to welcome the year of the pig. There was a dragon & lion dance, stage performances, and a group of people playing accordions and tambourines that I’m just going to assume got lost on their way to something more appropriate.
Thursday was our most adventurous outing to date. We left the apartment early to take Pancake to the vet, to finish getting her up to speed on her EU vaccination requirements. From there, we proceeded to a nearby Hertz to rent a car and brave the asphalt gauntlets that are Italy’s roadways. This was not my idea of a joyride. We needed to visit the place we plan on boarding Pancake when we’re traveling without her; problem is, it’s almost an hour away from here, and we don’t have a car. A cab or Uber (they only have Uber Black here, which is pricier) would’ve been absurdly more expensive, and Car2Go wasn’t an option for me, so we had to opt for a one-day rental.
As we made our way an hour north of Rome to a sparsely populated area to meet the owners of the dog boarding place, we would occasionally see lone, nondescript women sitting by the side of the road in the middle of nowhere in a plastic chair or whatever was handy. A friend later explained to us that they were prostitutes, and they just go off to the fields with whatever john (would an Italian john be a giovanni?) comes along, and do their thang. When we asked another friend to verify this, she told us there’s a local saying along the lines of, “Go to the fields!” which is roughly equivalent to “Get a room!” Fascinating, but weird stuff. The things you never really expected to learn about life in another country.
The upside of having a car for the day was that we had the freedom to explore a bit. We chose to trek another 15 minutes north to visit Orte, a tiny town atop a hill, originally founded as a 6th century B.C. Etruscan village. The quaintness was on point, but I must say, navigating your tiny rental car through barely less tiny, glorified alleyways in a historic Italian village is not for the faint of heart.
By the time we turned in the keys, I’d logged well over three hours behind the wheel, been honked at on three occasions, and not been responsible for the loss of any life or property. One honk per hour? I’ll take it.
Time to go check out Switzerland. In the meantime, here’s a ton more photos as I clear out the backlog.
