Amore

Alex and I have been to Rome a couple of times. The last time we arranged a romantic long weekend seeing the sights and having candlelit dinners. We arranged and paid to be met by a limousine at the airport which is someway from the city itself.
All went well and we collected our baggage and went to the exit. we looked expectently at the uniformed drivers with name placards. No "Cox" there. Eventually we found a large man in a grubby shirt with a sheet of paper holding our name disinterestedly. We were tired hot and just wanted to get to our hotel. He took us out to the car park and got into a Transit van indicating we should put our own luggage in the back! Not the first time we had been in a van but hardly what we had ordered and paid for. Unfortunately we didn't speak Italian and he didn't speak.

 Not a great start to the weekend but we are pretty positive and laughed it off.
We were dropped off at our hotel and later had dinner on the roof garden overlooking the City.
The following day we saw the sights and walked miles which was fine by us. We like to explore on foot. The second night we stood outside the dining room door waiting for the dining room to open. A sign said it opened at 7pm. The door was in the reception area. and we nodded to the staff and smiled. At about 7.15pm I walked over to the reception desk and asked when the dining room was going to open. I was told it is not opening tonight with no explanation. We went out and found a street restaurant which was okay.

To sum up we enjoyed the rest of our stay and I got some sketches done. Come the day of departure we waited to be picked up as arranged, by our friendly Transit Van. The pick up time came and went. I asked the reception if they could phone for me. When I handed them 10 euros they did ring and confirmed the driver would be 5 minutes. 15 minutes later we were getting a little concerned our flight was now 2 hours away. I went to the reception desk again and with the passing of another 10 euros the receptionist agreed to phone again. With that the man arrived. The receptionist made no attempt to return my money and we ran outside and piled into a nice Mercedes. The driver spent the whole journey driving with one hand and talking on his mobile. He scared the living daylights out of me and I have been in high speed pursuits. Alex closed her eyes and hung on to me. We alternated between 90 mph and 0 mph when he had to stop for traffic. We got there and caught our flight. That is probably the most memorable and frightening car journey I have ever had in my life.

Yes I remember Rome. How could I forget.

Anyway the link is Amore  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnoDb0bMQuk