Monday, June 2
Meetings all day, followed by a dinner offered by our Italian hosts – the Italian Society of Authors and Publishers (SIAE) – on the rooftop on the Raphael Hotel – La Terrazza Bramante – near Piazza Navona (http://www.raphaelhotel.com/) . Great view again – it looks like each hotel has a rooftop terrace in Rome, and for a good reason! Very elegant food, prepared by Chef Jean-François Daridon, a Breton who came out to say hello.
We also had our “Roman moment” in the morning when the concierge picked a verbal fight with a taxi driver who was pretending he could not take us where our meeting was taking place, on the account that the streets were closed because of the National Day parade, Everything was there: the gesticulations, the pleadings for understanding, the shouting, that all too telling gesture of the arm, etc.. Could not understand a word but what a spectacle!
Tuesday, June 3
More meetings all day. Lunch at Ciampini with the Germans, just beyond the top of the Spanish Steps. A few purchases on my way back to the hotel: hard to resist some of what’s on offering and the prices (that is not to say that Rome is cheap, especially with the Euro at $Can 1.63, but you just don’t let yourself tempted by what you can’t afford!)
Dinner at the Trattoria Tritone (http://www.trattoriatritone.com/), with Sylvia and André, a recommendation from the concierge, not too far from the hotel. Outside on the front terrace, complete with the visit of an itinerant singer, he and his accompanying guitarist, who was all too happy to go beyond the customary repertoire (Volare! Arrivederci Roma!) when I asked him to sing for us E Lucevan le Stelle, the better known aria from La Tosca. To add to the local character of the place, started with a bottle of Frascati, a very fresh, almost pétillant, white wine that the Romans consider as theirs (it comes from the neighboring regions).
Meetings all day, followed by a dinner offered by our Italian hosts – the Italian Society of Authors and Publishers (SIAE) – on the rooftop on the Raphael Hotel – La Terrazza Bramante – near Piazza Navona (http://www.raphaelhotel.com/) . Great view again – it looks like each hotel has a rooftop terrace in Rome, and for a good reason! Very elegant food, prepared by Chef Jean-François Daridon, a Breton who came out to say hello.
We also had our “Roman moment” in the morning when the concierge picked a verbal fight with a taxi driver who was pretending he could not take us where our meeting was taking place, on the account that the streets were closed because of the National Day parade, Everything was there: the gesticulations, the pleadings for understanding, the shouting, that all too telling gesture of the arm, etc.. Could not understand a word but what a spectacle!
Tuesday, June 3
More meetings all day. Lunch at Ciampini with the Germans, just beyond the top of the Spanish Steps. A few purchases on my way back to the hotel: hard to resist some of what’s on offering and the prices (that is not to say that Rome is cheap, especially with the Euro at $Can 1.63, but you just don’t let yourself tempted by what you can’t afford!)
Dinner at the Trattoria Tritone (http://www.trattoriatritone.com/), with Sylvia and André, a recommendation from the concierge, not too far from the hotel. Outside on the front terrace, complete with the visit of an itinerant singer, he and his accompanying guitarist, who was all too happy to go beyond the customary repertoire (Volare! Arrivederci Roma!) when I asked him to sing for us E Lucevan le Stelle, the better known aria from La Tosca. To add to the local character of the place, started with a bottle of Frascati, a very fresh, almost pétillant, white wine that the Romans consider as theirs (it comes from the neighboring regions).
