My friend Chuck and I took a short trip to Italy to visit Rome and Venice in late March/early April. Our 4 nights in Rome and 5 nights in Venice included Easter Sunday in Rome.
Chuck had been to Italy twice prior to this trip – a week in Rome a few years ago and Milan & Florence last year. He had a few more things he wanted to see in Rome, plus he wanted to see Venice. He had had a little trouble finding someone to make the trip with him, but he knew his friend Dave is always up for a trip to Europe. This was just my second trip to Italy. I did a 3-week trip in 2015 with another friend that included Orvieto, Siena, Florence, Lake Garda, Venice, the Amalfi Coast, and Rome. That was a great trip! I had no real agenda for this trip.
Mr Grabby Hands
Flight story! Yay! We were on a Delta A350-900 in a 3-3-3 seat configuration. We had Comfort + bulkhead seats with great leg room. Chuck was by the window; I was in the middle seat; and a guy maybe in his 60’s – let’s call him Mr. Grabby Hands – was in the aisle seat. Mr Grabby Hands’ wife was across the aisle from Mr Grabby Hands.
During the plane’s ascent after takeoff, I had my cellophane-wrapped blanket and pillow in my lap. I looked down to see Mr Grabby Hands making circles with his index finger on my pillow. I looked over at him. His eyes were open looking at his finger making circles on and poking at my pillow. The gears in my brain turned as I tried to figure out how to address this. I said, “May I help you?” (Maybe not the best choice of words, but I was trying to be polite). He looked at me and said, “What?” I said, “You have your hand on my pillow and I thought maybe you needed something.” His response was, “C’mon, man! I was sleeping!” Happily, he withdrew his hand.
We had our dinner service. Mr Grabby Hands knocked back a couple of “doubles” of something and tonic before the flight attendant cut him down to singles. Dinner service ended, and it was time to sleep. After I dozed off, I felt Mr Grabby Hands’ elbow hit my elbow, and he started rubbing my upper thigh. I told him I would stab his hand with a fork if it crossed the arm rest again. Actually, I didn’t tell him that (but I thought about it). Instead, I moved as far away from him as I could… at least as far away as an 18” seat will allow. After I did that, he muttered “sorry” and thereafter periodically delivered a sharp blow to the right side of my ribcage with his left elbow… until I pointed a fork at his elbow. Actually, I didn’t do that either, though it seemed like a good idea.
I put this story up on Facebook at the time. One person commented something like, “I’m sorry that guy ruined your flight.” My feeling, though, is this… is anything really ruined if you get a great story out of it?
Rome Sites
Our Rome sites were an eclectic collection of places to visit. As mentioned above, they were largely things Chuck wanted to see that he missed on his first visit.
- Bascilica of St Paul Outside the Walls. Grand on the inside. Does not look so grand from the outside. Really nice courtyard. Built over the apostle Paul’s body (or so they say).
- Mamertine Prison. An ancient prison that by legend held Peter and Paul at one time (or so they say).
- Borghese Gallery. The ground floor is stunning. The first floor? Closed for restoration… most of the paintings have been moved to another museum in town so that they can still be seen.