Thursday, October 25, 2007

Travelog(ue) IX: Eyewitness to History


I will tread upon your kind indulgence for not much longer, readers. In fact, I have an old fashioned porn post ready to go after nothing more than a few final tweaks and tugs, but when I returned home yesterday evening, after a hellish commute, b&c called my attention to this story in the New York Times. It reminded me that I was there!

It was just after dusk when we first arrived at the Trevi Fountain last Friday evening. The water was decidedly red, but I assumed at first that it was a clever trick of the light. Then I realized that the police tape, government functionaries, and members of the press might indicate that something out of the way had happened. You can read the article and all the talk about artistic statements and what not. To me it was a childish act of vandalism and self-promotion. At least it was relatively harmless. Not long after we got there, they began draining the fountain. Then a man in a maintenance jump suit got out a pressure cleaner, but a woman in a business suit stopped him. Some sort of government protocol obviously needed to be followed.

The next day, we were back in the neighborhood, this time before sunset, so we decided to stop in again and see how the cleanup had gone. It had been a complete success.

I decided to follow tradition and make a wish. I pulled out a small coin, turned my back to the fountain, and tossed the coin in the water. I wished for wealth. Not great wealth, mind you, just financial security. A level of comfort, if you will. I wasn't being avaricious. Really.

Then we took a walk over to Largo Chigi, where we boarded a bus, and I had my wallet stolen. Apparently, I need to be more specific.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

It reminded me of pranks done by rival fans on the eve of a college homecoming football game.