The hair cut

We are leaving for Firenze and Milano today (Florence and Milan) to see a few friends. Before the trip Demetrio decided to get a quick haircut. The streets in Roma are so lined with shops you can get anything and enjoy almost any service just a hop, skip and a jump from your front door.

We walked to the dessert shop to get some desserts for after dinner and then off to the barber. This was no Great Clips or SuperCuts, the two young men that worked in this shop did everything the old fashioned way. The only electrical appliance was a hair dryer. Demetrio's hair was spritzed until the right dampness was achieved and then combed and cut very quickly but not sloppily. I was impressed. Next came the trimming of all the scraggly hairs that grow on the back of most men's necks. The young barber reached into a drawer and pulled out what looked like an 18th century straight razor and fitted it with a new blade. Part of me gasped silently because I had never seen a a real straight razor being used and I kept having flashbacks to Whoppie Goldberg and Danny Glover on the front porch of his house in "The Color Purple". She was at her wits end and he wanted a shave, determined and angry at the same time she holds the straight razor to his neck and before her trembling hand has a chance to nick him, she is stopped by Shug Avery. The best way to keep from fainting was to delve into a lewd Italian fashion magazine, and to watch the Italian version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire". After the neck shaving, I don't think I could of handled the sight of a full proper shave even though Demetrio has had it done many times before and swears by it, came the moustache trimming.

A pair of long and sharp scissors began a light but rapid clicking sound, every once in a while the scissors would actually touch his moustache and thus some hair would be trimmed. He opened his mouth, he closed it, they pulled his lip this way and that and after about 7 minutes, he was trimmed and ready. For all this we paid 13 Euros. What a deal!!!!

My week in Roma

So far nearly a week has passed and I have done the usual bit of walking to dessert shops, book stores, music stores and the like...... One thing I can claim still and maybe will be able to claim forever is that I never get jet lag. We arrived in Rome at 2 pm on Monday, that's 5am Sunday Pacific time and with only a short nap on the plane I was about to fall over standing up. After a quick car ride into the city I was revived and stay up until 3 am Rome time, all in all I had been without a good nights sleep for over 30 hours I think. We had a busy afternoon, lunch with Demetrio's mom and step dad and his nephew, then dinner at 10 pm at the restaurant of a friend of my husband's. We ate, drank and she gasped audibly when she saw the ring on his finger. When he called her earlier that day to ask if we could drop by (for three hours) she swore and cursed at him over th phone for staying out of touch for over five months, then she welcomed us with open arms.

The next day was lunch again at 2:30pm with the family, a leisurely walk (I am given the royal tour of Rome such as Demetrio's old high school, with 20 year old graffiti and worn political posters falling away from the walls) and another night out with friends. Italians have a different sense of time altogether and when I get hungry at 6 pm everyone tells me not to eat because I will ruin my dinner at 8 or 9 pm. All the while, my stomach does somersaults, now I have little snacks whenever I can. We stay out once again and I tell myself I better get used to this.

Details of the Hitch

Finally I have a free minute to jot down the details of my "quickie" marriage to Demetrio. My week has been hectic. I arrived back from Las Vegas with a slight "airplane virus" that has kept my throat raw for about three days. While I am trying to pack, clean, work, have dinner with friends who want to say "goodbye" I am plagued with a hacking cough and the sniffles. My worst fear is being sick on the plane ride to Rome, first we connect in Amsterdam, a nine hour flight, then to Rome. I had the urge to double-up on my blood pressure medication this week.

Back to the wedding, yes it was in the back of a large, van style taxi. I arrive home Friday evening and see he had "Googled" Las Vegas on Expedia on our home computer, he does not say anything definite when I question him. After a trip to Home Depot and Lowes for a dryer and packing supplies, Demetrio "presents" the idea to me in the KFC drive-thru on 130th and Aurora in Seattle, not very romantic.....There was no proposal here. We get back home and after 2 hours I press "Book It" and we are on our way.

Our flight leaves Seattle on the 4th of December at noon and we land in Vegas at 5 pm. After freshening up and changing we catch a cab and are off, first to the courthouse, then to pawn shop #1 (which is closed), then to pawn shop #2 (the owner is a spliting image of the assain in Kill Bill Vol.II, the one who buries Uma Thurman alive in a wooden coffin.) He has 2 rings that are simple and Demetrio's fits him and mine has to be sized. The chapel is the last stop, the cab driver recommends one that he like and we are all trusting. At first we went into the chapel but there were two parites ahead of one, one was a petite, pregnant bride in a strapless white gown and the other was a blonde with a large entourage. We know we had a dinner reservation to make @ 10pm, so we opt for the "in" an "out" wedding, the DRIVE-UP!!!! We laughed at the idea but if one is to be married in Las Vegas, I guess the Drive-Up or an Elvis Wedding are as Vegas as you can get. We did not leave the taxi, the pastor never left the sliding window, we said our vows, exchanged rings, said "I do" and kissed all without every leaving the vehicle. The Taxi driver Dennis, grabbed my digital camera and started snapping away, with no coersion from us at all. He said he had done this hundreds of times before and was not shy at all. Demetrio thinks he got a small comission by taking us to this chapel, but how much of a commission can you make on a $25 ceremony. They offered us music but we declined. Our last stop was the Bellagio Hotel and Le Cirque, they told us they were full for the night but we decided to stop my and press our luck and since I have always been lucky and we got in.