Ergife Palace Hotel, Rome, Italy

August 31, 2006 7pm (Europe time)

Right now, right this very moment, I sit poolside (no bathing suit) at my hotel. Hotel Ergife Palace. A lovely place! I am dining (for 5 Euros) on a foccia sandwich with fresh moz. cheese and prosuitto (forgive my spelling). Simple. Tasty. Perfect for my arrival meal. My group doesnt meet until tomorrow evening. I am the first to arrive.... a day early.

The view is great. We are somewhat outside the main area of Rome, but close enough to take a bus, taxi or metro. The most amazing part is hearing the bells of St. Peters Cathedral playing Ave Marie from a distance. I imagine this occurs daily because the waiter doesnt even hear it as he ssings his own tune while cleaning the table next to me.

Again he sings from behind the bar, casually forgetting whatever Italian word went with the tune he hums. The waitress behind the bar casually chats in Italian with a gentleman. Its hard to tell if he is hitting on her or they are just idly chatting about nothing. I came to this country with certain expectations of Italians sticking their nose up at us Americanos. I have this image of the Italian waitress enjoying dinner with her family and laughing at those silly Americans.

You can tell this hotel caters to its crowd with its large palm trees creating a fake illusion of some tropical oasis, which i know only exists somewhere in the Tahitian Islands, far far away. I find this sort of thing amusing. The waiter continues his own rendition of the Italian song (occasionally spitting out a few Simon and Garfunkel songs in English). It makes me smile, sitting here, cool breeze, setting sun glimmering on the pool.