I have had some great stories from my travels. I was in Rome in 2003 when George W. Bush was President of the United States, and Berlusconi was running Italy, and the Pope was Pope John Paul II, we were at war over 9/11 and Italy was on our team, and Bush was in Italy meeting with Berlusconi, I have an Italian newspaper with Bush on the front page. We smoked hashish from Turkey, and we drank coffee from Colombia, and we smoked American cigarettes, and we drank Peroni Beer from Italy.
On my first day in Rome in my neighborhood, I went into the hostel and went to sleep, and when I came out the next morning someone had plastered the walls of our neighborhood with communist propaganda posters, so I walked down the street tearing down the posters and throwing them into the trash cans. As I was tearing down the posters the shop owners were watching me and they all started clapping, and all of the people started clapping, and I had this whole crowd cheering me on as I tore down the communist propaganda posters and threw them in the trash cans. The shop owners all loved me, and I was there for 6 weeks and the restaurants treated me to free meals, and pubs gave me free beers, and I had roommates who were soldiers from Sicily who all bought me beers, they treated me like a King. It was great.
I tried to meet Pope John Paul II when I was in Rome, but he was not feeling well at the time, he had been in the hospital. But I did get to visit the Vatican, it is beautiful.
And I tried to get work with the Italian Cinema at Cinecitta, but I could not get hired. And Scorsese had just been there making "The Gangs of New York."
Rome is an amazing place, I plan to return someday, it would be a great place to own a night club, maybe on Via Cavour, or in that area. When I was there a shop owner on Via Cavour played guitar for Peter Gabriel, and he did a show at the Roman Forum every Sunday afternoon. We also had the Saint Louis College of Music in our neighborhood, and they all smoked hash all night and day in front of the music school, and drank beer at Gianni's coffee shop on the corner at night, the neighborhood was full of musicians and artists, and there is a subway that goes to Cinecitta, Rome is great.
And Breakfast here at Norm's is about between $8 to $14 depending, you can get a nice omelette for about $8 or a T-Bone Steak and Eggs with Pancakes and Hash Browns for $14, and the prices are about the same at Denny's.
The Mediterranean Diet is still a winner on prices for home cooking, a pot of pasta is always a winner, etc. I could cook enough pasta to feed 8 people for $20.
For the desperate, starving people, the Mexicans here have chickens for eggs, even in the cities they have chickens in their yards for eggs, and they grow prickly pear cactus, and they eat the cactus with scrambled eggs and with salsa and tortillas, etc. They live on scrambled eggs and cactus that they raise themselves. You can hear the roosters crowing in the mornings, even in the cities. These Mexicans in California are strong people, and they all help each other to survive, they have 10 people in a 1 bedroom apartment, and they do hard back-breaking labor, the women work as maids at the hotels by Disneyland, etc, and the men are Landscapers, and construction workers, etc. I had a neighbor who had chickens on the balcony of his apartment for eggs. They all drink beer and eat tacos at the bodega at night, and they celebrate the good life of being employed as Landscapers, etc. They love carne asada, but if they have to then they can survive on cactus and scrambled eggs with salsa and tortillas.
We also have a Salvation Army Food Bank for whoever needs it, no questions asked for a free box of food.
Salute,
Tony V.
