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ROMAN HOLIDAY & TROUBLE
In Rome we took in all the sights and even explored the old catacombs
out along the old Apian Way, were early Christians had to hide from
persecution. The tunnels and caves were very quiet reminders to me how the love
of God could not be killed off. Thousands of those early believers were killed
in the Roman Coliseum for fun and sport. I wandered through those tunnels and
felt I was walking on holy ground. There were several early popes and saints
entombed in some of the ones I explored.
The city of Rome was full of things to see and do for all of us
and we saw everything over several days time. We had to stop at the Spanish
Steps and run up and down all 137 of them. The church, Trina dei Monti, at the
top of the steps was built about the time America was being discovered.
I went off to visit the Vatican City and to visit the pope if he
was home. I was young and not too smart on the ways of the world but I went into
the Sistine Chapel were the ceilings were painted by Michelangelo and proceeded
to explore the place.
I went back to the room were the College of Cardinals elect the
new popes and saw the pot belly stove in the middle of the floor that they burn
the ballots in. I next wandered down the halls and explored the other rooms and
buildings. I found the popes residence area and walked around unnoticed by
anyone. I spent several hours having fun and feeling at home until a guard
finally asked me what I was doing there. I was leaving so he just showed me the
way outside. Looking back, I do not understand how anyone could have just walked
around the Vatican like that. It was almost like no one could see me as I
wandered were I wanted to go without any concern.
We decided to pick up some women at the Rome airport and this
turned out to be a very big mistake for us. It seems taxi drivers the world over
have this competitive edge that makes them unwilling to let some young punk kids
take business away from them. We were parked at the airport when a group of
Australian flight stewardess called out to us for a ride. They thought it would
be fun to ride in a London Cab so they jumped in and we took them to their
hotel. When we got there we could see trouble was brewing for us. There were
about ten or more taxies following us and every street we passed there was more
joining the parade of cabs.
We began to drive faster but they were on our bumper and
pushing us. We turned the corners as fast as we could and headed out of the city
. They continued to follow us no matter how fast we went. The road got narrow
and there were big cliffs off to our right. We knew we were going to have to
stop and try to talk to these taxi drivers sooner or later before they forced us
off the cliff. We pulled over and they pulled up next to us blocking the entire
road with several dozen cabs.
They got out and quickly surrounded us. They looked angry and
mean and some had knifes in their hands. I knew it would take some fast talking
and some good old McDonald luck to get out of this mess.
We tried to explain that we were not charging money and that
we were just passing through Rome. We were told to not come back to Rome or we
would be killed. They sounded very serious about it and I was mildly concerned
when my English friend turned his taxi around and drove back into Rome. We tried
to be as invisible as possible with a London Taxi sign up on the car roof. We
managed to go to a party that evening and pick up several new passengers and
leave for the north up the coast of Italy.
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