We had visited the Trevi Fountains in Rome then wandered around the little streets nearby, momentarily stopping off for good Italian ice-creams,(yum) and to buy some black and white post-cards that were on display, for sprog's Audrey Hepburn collection. These pictures of course, were La Hepburn pillion on a Vespa, or, perhaps a Lambretta, or looking elegant in some other setting.
Time, we thought, to go somewhere else. We walked aimlessly, arriving at some classic styled white steps that obviously arrived at a higher level than we were. We climbed them and at the top, found ourselves in a piazza, where, to the left of us was a decorative period mansion.
One or two policemen were casually walking around near the steps and in the piazza. I stopped one to ask in my best Italian, "Where are we please?"....quick as a flash the reply came....."You are in Italy!"
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4 comments:
ZACL,
I love the answer! You'll catch up Italian in no time. I wish I were there.
I thought it a wonderful answer in Italian, at the time Keiko.
However, I did continue the conversation, again in the Italian language, to explain, that yes, I knew I was in Italy. I loved the humour. More seriously, the policeman explained (in Italian) that we had arrived in the Piazza San Vittorio, and the period mansion was the Presidential Palace. He also kindly told me that the once a month changing of the guard would be taking place very soon. So, we waited with the other people at the edge of the Piazza and watched the performance.
Gee, you were lucky. If you didn't communicate with him, you could have missed the opportunity. It pays to communicate. I'm glad. I would have enjoyed the performance and checking the expression of the guards.
I returned to the U.S. And yesterday, a worker at the Starbucks here said she just returned from Italy. So, I told her my fellow blogger was also in Italy. She said her daughter got married at Vatican. I didn't know people could marry there.
The Vatican, as you probably know, Keiko, is a small State in its own right within a State (the State/country of Italy). It has it's own political, financial and ecumenical operations together with it's own religious edifices, the main one being St Peter's in Rome.
There have been ongoing scandals about the Vatican and it's financial probity. Murder was implicated in the late 1980's with 'God's Banker', as he was named, being found hanging, and very dead, from Blackfriars Bridge in London.
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