Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Old Haunts

Photographic evidence of the old haunts from yesterday:

16 Via dei Cimatori. The same. As I said yesterday, no dog poop.

The playground at Castel Sant'Angelo. The same.

Castel Sant'Angelo. Same.

Gelateria Teatro. Not the same. New digs, more space. Still great gelato.



Today, I went around town to check on some more old haunts. The Pantheon is still there (it has not mysteriously been replaced by an inflatable replica like in Despicable Me). Piazza Navona is still there (ditto), Trevi Fountain is still there, the column of Marcus Aurilius is still there, and Teatro Marcello is still there (ditto all). There are MORE all-natural, organic gelato places around town now than in 2011. I suppose that's a good thing.

Also, the primary mission of every Roman person seems to be to avoid giving coins as change. They REALLY don't want to. I ordered lunch today at Pizza Zaza. It was 7 Euros. I paid with a 10 Euro note. The counter attendant REALLY wanted me to cough up a 2 Euro coin so she could give me a 5 Euro note in change. What do they do with all the change they are accumulating? While shopping in a mini supermarket (I know) I got away with one. I bought my stuff from a trainee cashier (I saw them training him while standing in line) and he gave me coins as change without even trying to shake me down for coins. And it would have been totally easy for me to do...the bill was 16.45 Euros. So here's the quiz: if this was your bill what should you given the cashier?  If you answered "anything over that amount...like a 20, you'd be wrong in Rome." You should give the cashier 21.45 Euros so you can get back 5 Euros. I suppose something like 51.45 would be okay too.

All for today,

Steve

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