After our interesting encounter with the protesters and the Victor Emmanuel Monument we head by Trajan’s Column and head West…… Always looking out for the crazy Italian scooter drivers.
We walk for awhile and come upon ANOTHER refugee protest group holed up on the first floor of a building.
The police have both ends of the street blocked off with cars, barricades and yellow police tape but people are just walking down the street/sidewalk like it’s no big deal. As we get to the far end of the street the police are outfitted in riot gear and we have to kind of squeeze through the barricades to go by. I was tempted to pull out my phone to get a picture of Nana going through a police barricade but I thought better of it. As bored as the riot police looked I figure pointing a camera at them could provoke a “police response”. Arbor: Nana, why is Papa’s arm in a sling?
A few more blocks and we turn the corner:
There are a LOT of people at the Trevi Fountain! They must have been at least 20 deep in most places.
After walking down a few other streets packed with tourists and vendors we retreated to a restaurant we saw earlier in our walk.
While sitting there eating Lasagna and drinking Chianti a universal truth emerged. Italian food and Italian wine tastes better in Italy. Seriously better. As we sat there eating dinner we looked up the street and there is this huge government building. A quick search and it’s the Italian “Ministry of Culture”. Of course it is.
After dinner we head back down to Trevi and the crowd has thinned out some. It’s still crazy but you can actually make your way to the fountain.
One thing my Dad loved to do was save old coins. When we emptied the safety deposit box a year or so ago he had a number of old film canisters filled with coins. One canister was filled with 1973 Kennedy Half Dollars. Due to the large number in circulation a Kennedy half dollar is worth exactly……. 50 cents.
We brought that film canister to Italy with us and threw coins in for my Mom and Dad, Granny and Grandpa, Granny Howse and even Jiggsy, Barkley, Snickers, Cisco and Roxanne.
We miss you all.
The Traveling Hippogators 