The crazy bus ride.

When in Rome, opt for a hotel in the city proper, preferably near one of the 2 subway lines if possible. As that Marriott was booked (at least for points redemption) we stayed at the Marriott Park hotel which is halfway between the airport and downtown. It was a very nice hotel, but a little bit out in the boonies as it were. There is, however, one bus (the 128 to be exact) that comes near the hotel which can get you to the subway. We rode this bus 2 or 4 times each day we were in Rome and it was, for the most part, uneventful.

Our trip would not be complete without some crazy Italian bus driving though would it? On said fateful trip, the driver took a lesson from the go-cart handbook and seemingly went hammer down the whole way. Being out in the boonies as we were, the roads are rough and uneven and the whole bus would shudder as our tires chirped around the corners. The best part was when the driver opened the doors for a few minutes between stops. You’d think there would be a safety interlock that would not allow the doors to open while the bus is in motion but the Italians apparently take a Darwinian approach (i.e. If you fall out of the bus, you shouldn’t have been leaning on the door).

Val and I happened to be sitting right behind the door when it opened and at first we were pleased by the added breeze but when the buss sideswiped some trees, we were a little less enthused as Val picked a few wayward branches out of her clothes.

Later, on the same ride, we stopped to pick up a half dozen people and one of them spilled her beer as she bent down to pick up her 3^rd purse. That, combined with the seemingly imminent loss of most of her teeth was, in retrospect, not a good sign. While I don’t speak Italian, once this lady was on the bus I was able to surmise (through the angry finger pointing and spittle laden shouts) that she had a beef with another lady and her ~4 year old son who got on at the same stop. The 2 yelled back and forth for several stops and the little boy spit on the first lady at least 3 times, not that it distracted her in the least. The rest of the passengers seemed to ignore the whole ordeal and just got out of the line of fire.

Eventually they both got off the bus (1 stop apart) and we finished our ride in relative peace. Just think, if we had stayed at a hotel in the city we would’ve missed out on that little gem of local culture.