Janiculum

We made it to Rome, in the Lazio Region! And, once again, we did not take the easy route.

We left our little Assisi albergo early enough to make sure that we could catch a bus to the Assisi train station. We planned on taking the veloce train, which means we’d be on a fast train without any changes (it’s the getting off one train and getting onto another, different, train that seems to be a tough task for us) all the way to Rome. While waiting at the bus stop, an older gentleman came up and asked if we were waiting to go to the train station on the 10:15 bus. We were. And, in very basic Italian, we explained to him that we were heading by train to Rome.

We got on the bus with this man, another older gentleman and a young couple. We shared with the couple that we were heading to Rome directly by train. “E così sei tu? (and so are you?)” we asked. “Si! Si!” they affirmatively shouted.

Phew.

This should be easy! We were all on the same bus, on time, heading to the same train station, and then all boarding the same train to Rome.

“What could possibly go wrong?” we dared to wonder. You would think we would have learned our lesson about that question a few wrong turns ago.

Nope.

The bus pulled up to a building and one of the men kept saying over and over again a word we were sure meant “church “ in Italian. He seemed to be saying it more towards the couple. Which, was confusing, since the couple had just told us by saying, “Si! Si!” that they, too, were heading to Rome.

The bus driver then parked and turned off the bus in front of the building. The two old men motioned frantically to all of us to get off the bus and follow them. So, everyone got off the bus and ran to another bus with an engine already running. The same driver of our first bus jumped on board and whisked us away to our next destination. We could hardly believe our luck with how helpful these men had been! How would we have known to change buses so quickly?

As the bus pulled away from where it had stopped and left the first bus, we looked a little more closely at the building fading into the distance; it had tracks and rail cars and, well frankly, train-y stuff.

About six minutes later our second bus stopped and the 2 men were gesturing at us again, but this time to get OFF the bus. The couple jumped out. We followed. And the bus, with the driver and our 2 helpers, took off.

As the bus pulled away, much like a curtain opening, we looked up and saw the most magnificent Chiesa Santa Croce of Assisi (there’s that word we heard!). Here we were, in 95 degree heat, not standing in front of a train station and definitely not in the mood to tour another church. The couple happily waved at us, while speaking in a language that was definitely not Italian, as they walked away merrily taking pictures.

We now had only 20 minutes to make it to our train departing for Rome…

So, we ran nearly a mile (okay, maybe it was less than that, but still…) back to the place where we’d been uomo-splained (yes, even in Italy, men man-splain, apparently). Sweaty and tired (sorry, but you needed that mental visual), we arrived in time for our train to Rome.

And, then with 5 minutes before our train’s arrival, the screen started blinking, “cancelled.” One of us let out a cuss word a bit louder than expected. A young man nearby repeated the word and we all had a laugh (it beats crying at this point). We then walked together to the ticket machine, because there was no train employee around to explain what we should do next. We found another woman at the ticket machine in the same predicament.

That young (26!) man’s name is Vincent.
He is a 1/2 Italian and 1/2 Croatian German seminary student (to become a Dominican priest) studying in Rome. Vince shared with us that he was on his way to being a professional basketball player in Italy, until an injury changed the course of his life. Side note: he’s also a huge Damian Lillard fan.

Rita is an incredibly kind Italian woman still living in Switzerland after the death of her husband. After figuring out the train situation, which would now include a transfer to get to Rome, we joked about being “Team Roma” (although it wasn’t a joke to us as we were now in trauma-bond mode with these 2 humans). We made sure to all sit together on the 2 trains to Rome, and spent the entire 3+ hours talking and asking questions about our families and our lives. Vince was the translator, tour guide, and absolute joyful and calming presence for all of us.

We made it to Rome, exchanged contact information with our new friends, and set off to see the final stop on our abbreviated itinerary. And why not finish with pizza in the Vatican Piazza?

Although this trip is shorter than we’d originally planned, we have had months of experiences in these past 2 weeks. Every situation that seemed unfixable or impossible became fixed for the better, leaving us with a reminder that there is a lot more good in the world than the news or social media, or even our own negative thinking, would have us believe. How lucky are we to get this mid-life lesson - and in Italy, too?!

It’s worth repeating… La vita e’ bella!

Thanks for coming along on this little adventure with us. It’s been fun to share these moments with you.

💚🤍❤️

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