24. Goodbye Rome. Hello Proof That Tourist Scams Exist... and Venice!

Well, I managed to run all of the errands I hoped to this morning. I got up at 8:15am, got cleaned up, did some finishing touches on the apartment, and finished the packing that needed to wait until I did all the "get ready" stuff this morning (pjs, shampoo, clothes that had been hung to dry, etc.). 

Finally, I walked the two boxes to the post office, and sat for about 10 minutes waiting. When it was finally my turn (P004 this time, not P069, woot), a lovely woman with very big hair helped me. She spoke little English, and I speak little Italian, yet we had a great conversation. It involved her speaking all in Italian, and me picking up the obvious words, and hoping that those words were the main thing she was trying to say. We used Google translate at some points, and we also used gestures. It was all quite entertaining to be honest. 

One word we got caught on was "pelle", when talking about a pair of shoes I was sending back home (I didn't buy them in Rome, I just don't need them for my trip, seems I overpacked by one pair), and when I translated it, it said "skin" in English. It took us a few minutes of back and forth, and finally I clued in, she was asked if they were made of leather! Of course! Animal skin! They weren't.

We both had a giggle, as did her coworker who'd been trying to figure it out as well. 

Finally we got all of the paperwork done, I paid, and in total we spent 45 minutes together. I won't lie, I was worried about the language barrier, mostly because I am completely out of my elements, but the woman who helped me was wonderful, and made my morning more positive than I thought it would be.

I finished there, and walked back home. I went to the bakery around the corner and got a morning piece of pizza, lol, and a few little pastry treats for the train. 

I just had to take the garbage out, and make the bed, and I was good to go. The garbage situaiton is very specific in Rome, different bins for different things. In Toronto we have recycling, garbage and wet waste. Rome has paper, plastic, wet waste and garbage. Tin counts as garbage, which felt wrong, but it's the way it is.

I left, got the bus, landed at Roma Termini, and that's where I found out that I am truly a tourist. I got scammed. Not a bad one, but a scam nonetheless. 

I walked in and a woman came over, well-dressed, wearing a badge, and said, "Are you looking for a train, I am here to help." I said yes (I know... I didn't know!), so she takes me over to this board, takes a look at my ticket, tells me which terminal to go to, when to go to it, etc., all things I wouldn't know how to find myself. 

I said thank you, and went to walk away. She said, "No, you have to pay me."

Yeah. 

She said 20€, and that was clearly not going to happen. A woman somewhat near us caught my eye, looked at the woman and shook her head. She was clearly saying not to give the woman any money. I asked the info woman who she worked for, and that she should tell people before that they will have to pay. That's clearly the scam, duh Hayley, but I hadn't clued in at the beginning, stupid trusting people!

She said, "You have to pay me! I work for myself!" Guys, I gave her 5€... I know, but she did help me, and... I just wanted to be done with it. She wins, I lose, moving on.

So I walked away, felt a little stupid, but what can you do, and the woman who'd shook her head stopped me and said, "I saw what she was doing, and I knew what was going to happen. It's a scam, they can tell when people are tourists and they help you and then force you to pay. You shouldn't have given her any money, she's not a good person." She was quite kind, but was clearly annoyed with the fact that she keeps seeing it happen. 

Anyway, the fact that this is only the second tourist scam I've fallen for in 23 days makes me feel okay. The other was in Paris at the beginning of the trip, where a taxi driver had clearly fudged the meter, because it cost me twice as much as a ride from and to the same place the day after. 

All in all, can't complain, they both could have been much worse. 

Now I'm on a train to Venice, sitting across from a man who was clearly not pleased when I say down near him. Deal with it, buddy. We both paid an extra 20€ for fancy-seats, and I'm sorry if yours was bestowed upon your golden brain by the king of all of the land, but pull your head from wherever you've comfortable lodged it and join the rest of us out here. It's nice and sunny, and they just gave us all tea and cookies!

Rant over.

(This train is going suuuuuper fast, my ears are popping every 10 seconds! I might be travelling through time, so just a heads up, I'm a superhero!)

Alright, everything typed before this sentence was on the train, and now I'm in Venice, have been for a few hours, and here is what I've seen!

Wasn't sure anything could top Rome for beauty, and while this may be a different kind, Venice by night, absolutely stunning!

And of course, I would need something to eat! Of you look somewhat closely at the above image, you can see some umbrellas and table on the right. That is where I ate. No clue of the name of the place or what they served, but I sat down. 

(The woman who's also staying at the place I'm staying here... it seems like she's just only now had her first encounter with a lock and key. I think she took seven tries to get the front door open, then her door, then the bathroom door. It's like Stomp but with keys and no rhythm in this place right now!)

So, I ordered the caprese salad, and the lasagna. WOW, was I not disappointed! 

The caprese weirded me out a little, because they'd cooked the tomatoes, or something else that I don't understand, and they were soggy on purpose, a theory that I will never understand. However, it was very good, and I leaned into the texture that my mouth tells me it's not a fan of. 

It was mostly because of the bocconcini. Do you see that cord / string looking thing near the top of the cheese ball? Yeah, that's the strong that help the cheese ball up while it was aging. It's friggin' homemade bocconcini! You guys!

And then the lasagna came and all bets were off. And by bets, I mean the chance of any of it landing back home with me, as I absolutely demolished it, right after it stopped fighting back by burning my mouth with its hot cheese.

As I demolished the plate of dreams, I ended up chatting with a couple to my left, who'd asked if my fork was the one to have fallen on the ground. It was not, as my table had been cleared. It became a bit funny, because he had his fork, and mine was purposefully and long gone, yet one fell on the ground... okay, maybe "funny" wasn't the right word, but, you had to be there!

Anyhoo, they told me they're from Vienna, and that it only takes them two hours by car to get to Venice. Come on! Unfair! It would take me two hours and another 10,000 days plus never to get here by car, what with all of the I would die as I tried to drive across the ocean.

And there you have it. I will be posting some pictures of the place I stayed in Rome tomorrow, as well as whatever other adventures I get up to tomorrow.

Have a night to shame all other nights, everyone!