Thursday, June 01, 2006

A Frenchman, an Italian and two Argentinians are on a train...

After a short (5 hour) stay in paris, we caught the overnight train to Rome. We were assigned to a 6 bed "couchette" which we shared with an Argentinian couple (Pilar and Henrique) on their honeymoon, a older Frenchman and an older Italian woman. Pilar spoke French, Henrique spoke English, and the Italian woman spoke Spanish, so between the 6 of us we were able to cobble together some decent conversation (with frequent breaks for translation from English to Spanish, French to Spanish, and French to English made by the appropriate bi-linguist). Our subject matter ranged from George W Bush to the price of a nice meal in our respective countries. At some point during the conversation a love connection was made, and the Frenchman and Italian woman (who was an extremely good looking woman in her late 40's) exchanged cell phone numbers.

Pilar, Henrique, and the Italian woman got off the train in Florence and in the spirit of global unity, we bid our farewells in each others' language - Bon Voyage, Arrividerci,Hasta Luego, Goodbye. We arrived in Rome about 2 hours later (10:00 am local), and after locating the giant Nèstea ad on the floor of roma termini where we will meet Uncle Rob at 1:30, we grabbed a couple Peronis and a panini and went in search of an Internet Cafe (which we obviously found).