ferrari vs autobus

Anyone who has been to Rome can tell you how hectic the roads are. I have seen some pretty amusing things since I landed – endless examples of cars parked into ridiculously impossibly small spaces, rows of scooters fallen over. But this incident takes the cake. Yesterday I witnessed a huge coach wedged into a popular tourist piazza by not 1 but 2 brand new Ferrari. The owners of the Ferrari were nowhere to be seen (I’m pretty sure they were watching the drama unfold from the adjacent restaurant), whilst the coach blocked peak hour traffic for half an hour as it made multiple attempts unsuccessfully, armed with “welcome” advice from the crowd of onlookers, to outmaneuver the prancing horses. I’ll let the photos fill you in on the logistics.

big mama

Rome can be a lonely place at night if you are here alone. Thousands of people around you but no one to talk to or hold you at night. So I thought I would pay Big Mama a little visit. No this isn’t heading where you think it is.

Big Mama is a blues and jazz club located in a cramped basement in Trastevere. Picture me sitting at the end of the bar, no job, no friends, nowhere to go, doing shots of grappa and listening to Italy’s answer to John Lee Hooker. It wasn’t quite like that. The band were Italian but I didn’t do any shots and they belted out, very well I must add, the best of The Beatles. Ferris Bueller would have been envious. I’m pretty sure they learned the lyrics by ear and didn’t quite understand what they were singing. But then I didn’t understand the support band’s explanations in between each Beatles song that they covered. And the explanations went on longer than the songs themselves. How the lyrics “Baby you can drive my car” requires a 10 minute explanation is beyond me. Italians like to talk.

Anyway…for 15 Euro you can buy an annual membership to Big Mama, and the drinks are quite reasonable. You can also buy a novel one of the guitarists has written, from the cloakroom. Italians also love a plug. So far I have only been once but I will be working that membership card ’til there’s nothing left.