We landed at 9:30 am local time and after bidding adieu to my babyfriend and collecting my luggage I walked out to see my new friend Giuseppe Giacobazzi holding up a “STRANGE” sign. Giuseppe is the owner of the livery service we contract with when the private clients want car service instead of using public transportation or taxicabs. It's all in the billing; do whatever you want, people.
Giuseppe had made himself known to me before I left. We had a phone meeting so he could introduce himself. Joo-SEP-ee Jah-ko-BAT-zee he repeatedly told me. What a hoot this guy is going to be. He told me he has a number of luxury vehicles, including the luxury Mercedes Sprinter van for 8 people, and likened it to having sex on a cloud. With him. That and the bulletproof glass and siding of the vehicle means if we are in some kind of ambush, the sex on a cloud with him is also protected. Fantastic.
Needless to say, he is going to be a character. Frank assures me he is very professional with the clients and not to worry. Giuseppe was picking me up at no charge so that I could see the van we will be using for the first tour, and for a later tour in March.
The exterior of the Mercedes Sprinter looks like a cross between a minivan and shuttle bus for the car rental places at an airport. But it is plush. The inside is like a stretch limousine including a minibar, not your standard two rows of bench seats and the bucket seats in the front. Sweet. There is also plenty of room in a separate rear section for luggage. Hopefully everyone doesn't bring four suitcases each with them, otherwise we are okay.
Giuseppe brought me to my mentor and senior colleague Frank. We are staying until Wednesday morning at the Hotel Eden, then I transfer across the street to The Excelsior when my tour arrives. Frank has his own tour starting on Friday. We will be able to meet in a conference room as needed for going over things and finishing up my getting started documents for the home office. Last minute training and setting the ground rules and then I am all set. Most importantly, he will be presenting me with a corporate credit card to use from now on. Whoo!
It was a very happy reunion with Frank. I want to be him when I grow up, except I would like to remain a female. He's wonderful.
We went over the ground rules about the differences in expectations as a leader for private tours vs. group tours. We had gone over them before during a web meeting with the home office, but repeating it was okay. The most impact for me is pictures. I won't be able to take photos during work time, unless it's a photo with the client's camera. It's really not such a big deal, but there will be a few new things for me on these tours, specifically cooking lessons and wine education sessions. I asked Frank what he thought of me proposing to my clients that I take video or photos of them during the sessions, since I won't be actively participating but on the sidelines watching, and then email them or give them to the clients via a jumpdrive or something on that order. Frank brightened up and told me I'm brilliant for thinking of that. But of course, get the client's okay for any filming beforehand. It's purely in my own self-interest; I have been wanting to meet the instructors giving the cooking lessons for years and now I get my chance. Even if I'm not the one actually cooking with these fabulous ladies, I will be there for the experience taking copious notes. Hopefully, my Flip camera will be getting a workout. Whoo!
Why do I keep saying whoo?
Finished up my paperwork, but there is a question on some of the documents. I understand needing to sign non-disclosure statements (so all my clients will remain nameless, my dear readers) but there is an additional form even Frank has never seen, specific to a tour in March, and it is for the use of my image in filming, broadcast and publication. More on that later.
Frank and I went for lunch over by the Termini train station to a place I have been dying to see and to eat something I have been dying to try. To “Er Buchetto” for porchetta! Porchetta are sandwiches of roasted pork that are local to the Lazio region. Whole pigs are gutted and deboned, then layered with pork fat, garlic, rosemary, fennel, salt & pepper. The pig is rolled up tightly and trussed then roasted over wood. It is savory, it is not fat-free, and it is delicious. They slap slabs of the meat between fresh bread and you eat it up quick. There are vans that go to festivals or the day markets throughout Rome that serve porchetta but I am never there are the same time. There are salumi (delicatessens, essentially) that serve it, but I have never had the opportunity as yet to try it.
This place, Er Buchetto, has been serving porchetta since 1890 out of their tiny little hole in the wall establishment. All they serve is porchetta. There are three tiny tables but people line up around the block to take it away in a lovely paper-wrapped package. They are open from 11AM until they run out of pork for the day. Get there after 1pm and you are taking your chances. It was phenomenal! And it was definitely a good way to start off my stay here.
Rome is pretty damned cold. I expect it to be cold this time of year in Venice, since it's up in the north, but Rome is usually like being in LA. This is c-c-cold weather these days. I have gloves, but still feel like I could lose my fingers if I'm not careful. I am seriously rethinking not bringing my giant coat.
I also feel like I've been beat up with a bag of nickles. But a good night of sleep should mitigate that.
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