A Russian carpenter that I worked with told
me this. He had grown up within fifty miles of Chernobyl and was still in the
area at the time of the meltdown. He knew better than I that things don’t
always go as planned.
“If you don’t want it to rain, always pack an
umbrella.” I said that.
I am
fully aware that I am being very self centered, complaining about vacation
plans gone astray when people are struggling with basic essentials like putting
food on the table or worrying if they have a job to go back to. I therefore
apologize in advance for insulting anyone’s sensibilities and consider this an
inconvenience not to be confused with a serious problem. I hope to find you in
good health and staying as safe as possible under the circumstances. I also
hope that you are better at planning vacations than I am.
There was the Caribbean cruise during a
monsoon and the voyage where Norovirus broke out on the ship! The ocean spray
and sumptuous meals were not the overriding aroma on board! I decided to try
planning a land lover’s vacation, no ship required.
Currently I have a
reservation at La Residenza Paolo VI for
May 15,2020, an old Gregorian monastery
in Vatican City, a stones throw from St Peters Basilica with a view that you
would die for. Literally! I am currently in negotiations to try to get my money
back. If I lived in the fourteenth century I probably would have booked a tour
of Rome during the Plague. What are the odds of picking the worst possible time
to travel to Italy in seven hundred years excepting world wars of course? Romulus
and Remus would have stopped suckling at the shewolf just long enough to shake
their heads at me in disbelief.
From
everything I have been told and seen, it is a beautiful city with wonderful
food, piazzas, fountains, The Spanish Stairs, the Forum, Coliseum, and Vatican
City with St. Peter’s Basilica and The Sistine Chapel. The Vatican Museum’s endless collection of
masterpieces crowns this bountiful resource. This is a city with wonderful architecture and
sculptures around every corner.
Oh well, there is always the Roman Art
collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and afterwards a trip to Little
Italy for dinner! No, I forgot they’re
closed also. If I manage to get my money back maybe I’ll take a cruise to
Alaska. I always wanted to see it. I’ll pack a bathing suit just in case they
have a heat wave and a falling glacier crushes my ship. But you don’t need to
hear me moan, groan and grumble, you have your own problems.
Stay well,
JIM
March 2020
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