After the end of the cruise we took a bus to the hotel where
many of us were staying. We stored luggage then immediately did the obvious –
went geocaching with a group of friends. The hotel was near Villa Doria Pamphili
which is the largest landscaped park in the city and, not surprisingly, has
several caches. We also got to see and photograph an interesting green bird
that my nephew identified as a monk parakeet from my picture.
At one point six of us decided to change from searching for
caches to searching for lunch. We meandered our way to a Pasticceria which we initially misinterpreted as being “pasta shop” but turned out to mean “pastry shop.” The proprietor
graciously directed us to a nearby restaurant where we seemed to be the only
customers. We had a wee bit of a language barrier with the woman we assumed was
the owner, though she was most gracious and helpful. I amused myself reading
the blurb about the restaurant and seem to have gotten the gist of the meaning
when compared to what someone else got through google translate. The food was molto
delizioso!
After lunch we returned to check into the hotel. Jana wisely
declared that one 3-hour walk was sufficient exercise for the day. Some of us who
shall remain nameless were not so wise joined an adventure to the Vatican later
that afternoon. It was remarkable to be on St. Peter Square and run into several
other groups of caching friends – how cosmopolitan of us! (admittedly, the
nearby cache event might have had some influence on this, but we saw two other groups
away from the event)
When we decided to get dinner we noticed 4 friends at a
restaurant. We asked whether they recommended it and they emphatically did not
so we continued on our merry way. We found a restaurant that seemed acceptable.
But things are not always as they seem, and after the waiter/cook/owner tried
to upsell us an unwanted appetizer and then retreated to the kitchen to tend to
the cooking and somehow there was fire in the kitchen (which was difficult to
see from my vantage point). Needless to
say, we quickly paid for our beer and water and beat a hasty retreat. We tried another
restaurant but it was closing, so we ended up at the un-recommended location
after all. Unfortunately we validated the un-recommendation with what was probably the
worst meal of the trip. This was followed by hilarity in an attempt to secure an
Uber van (failure), a taxi van (initially a failure), and finally success when
the taxi driver returned, drove us safely back up the hill to our lodging, and
charged us considerably less than Uber would have.
The problem with 6am flights is how early they are. We had a
2:30am pick-up at the hotel so we set alarms for 2am. The Rome airport was,
shall we say, rather inefficient but we made our flight and our tight transfer in
Amsterdam. The trick in Amsterdam is to look for the “please let me cut in line
because I have a tight connection” location which worked and we made that flight, too.
Now that I’m home I’m smiling as I reminisce about an
amazing vacation with a fantastic group of people. I’ve described it as “summer
camp for adults” and “a family reunion with cousins you didn’t know you had.”
Today at work I was asked what my favorite location was (Malta) and why (it was
colorful and felt both unique and familiar). I’ve also been asked what I won’t
miss, to which I respond that I won’t miss paying for drinking water or for using
the toilet.
Quick summary: 70 cachers, 70 caches found, 8 new countries (bringing my caching total to 39 and my grand total to 42),
many new friends, and lots of pictures to sort through. Saluti!
No comments:
Post a Comment