Lost In Rome

Today I attended a watercolor class at church and it made me miss my old existence as an artist's wife.  A few years ago I mused about writing one of those books..."you know you're an artist's wife if...."  I regularly found paint in my freezer, glue in the fridge, and an entire potter's wheel, complete with the mud, in my back bedroom.  Remnants of that life, of course, still survive to this day.  We are inundated with art books, supplies, and of course art itself.... Everyone who has seen our apartment knows that we have little room to cram any more "art" things, yet we still search for and collect more.

To myself, this post sounds wistful and maybe I do find it somewhat sad...

So, I will tell you a funny and happy story that happened on one of our art adventures to make you smile:

Allen and I traveled to Rome when while we were in college.  We were married and Allen wanted to go with the art department.  I just tagged along, but of course enjoyed every second of it, maybe more than the art students.  So, we were there for a couple of days, and we were staying probably 5-6 miles away from the actual tourist destinations.  Every day we rode a streetcar to a station closer to whatever we wanted to visit and then we would either walk, or ride something else to our final destination.

This particular day we toured the Vatican.  It was amazing and beautiful, beginning with Raphael's painting of the Ascension of Christ and ending with Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel.  You can't imagine how large the collection of the Vatican and how much there is to take in, unless you experience it yourself.  It is breathtaking and exhausting.  

So, after spending probably 8 hours touring some of the greatest art of the world, Allen and I were ready to make the trip back to our hotel bed to eat some delicious Italian bread and cheese and to watch either the BBC or MTV (those were our only two channel options in English) ;)

We climbed aboard a bus and relaxed thinking that soon we would be back at our station, climb aboard our own streetcar, and find our way home.  Maybe we might even stop for some gelato!  So, as the bus started to drive away from the Vatican I began to recognize sites that we had already toured previously.

  We passed the Roman Forum                               

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The Colosseum

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And the Pyramid

When I saw the Pyramid I started to panic.  ALLEN WE'RE GOING THE WRONG WAY!!!  He agreed, but we were afraid to get off at that point because we didn't know that we would get back.  We were hoping that this bus would simply loop back to the Vatican and that we could find our bearings and  get on the CORRECT bus to take us home. 

So we rode, and we rode, and we rode, and we rode.

We crossed a train yard, which for the entire month that I was in Italy, I never saw again after this day.  We rode so far that all the other tourists were gone.  This was real Italy now.  Sink or swim, we were going to find out if we could make it.  

(Now: Let me interject into the story to tell any would be travelers who are getting worried and deciding that they better just stay in the states where they can ask directions in English, that we could have gotten off of this bus at ANY time and made it back to where we wanted to go.  Basically, all you have to do is find one destination that you recognize, such as the Pyramid, Colloseum, Vatican, etc...then get on a bus that stops by its sign.  It will take you straight there and those touristy places can always get you straightened out and on the right path again.  We simply did not know this yet because we had only been in Italy a couple of days and no one had explained it to us.)

So, back to the bus and me freaking out more and more.  Eventually, we came to a stop.  The bus didn't keep going in a circle like we hoped, it just STOPPED. EVERYONE, INCLUDING THE DRIVER! got off and abandoned us!!  D: D: D:

 I remember we were next to a small soccer field and there were kids playing.  It was probably completely safe and nice neighborhood, but I was at the point that I believed we would either be kidnapped or lost forever and I would never see home again.  I started crying and panicking and Allen told me in a whisper to stop or we would get mugged (alot of good that did ;)  Then he said here, draw. 

 We were drawing everything while we were there.  Sketchbooks were at a constant ready.  My sketch from that moment is hilarious and I will have to post it sometime because I was so freaked out that I simply drew exactly what was in front of me which was a pole that held the bus together.  Its really a funny drawing.

So...we sat on the completely empty bus, looking like idiots....hoping against hope that maybe possibly we hadn't ridden the last round of the day and were stuck where we were.  We sat there for quite a while (probably 15 minutes that felt like 2 hours) But, finally, the bus driver came back.  He had probably gone to eat dinner and came back wondering why the two crazy American tourists were still planted in his back seat with terror in their eyes. We started driving again, which was a comfort, although we could have been going to Timbuktu for all we knew.  Eventually, we again began to recognize sites and after a few hours after happily climbing onto the bus, we joyfully exited it back at the Vatican.  

Its funny how situations that seem horrible or scary can turn into wonderful adventures once you are looking back at them from the safety of your comfort zone.  Its good to have the memories.  

Although circumstances change, I am glad I'm still an artist's wife.  I'm also glad that the watercolor class reminded me of this today. :)  Its a happy existence, full of intrigue and uncertainity, but also full of stories and fun.