Commenter bystander is in Rome (Italy) for a few weeks and was wondering if there are any readers in the area who’d like to have a meetup?
I’m happy to coordinate so just drop me a line [email protected]
And yes, I’ll be posting this during better hours for any European readers, but some folks here might be heading out so I wanted to mention it for all timezones.
hovercraft
I would like to tell the BJ community about my story.
I am a regular commentor here, and I would love to travel to Rome for a Balloon Juice meetup, but I can’t afford it. This would be a wonderful opportunity for me to travel to Italy, I have not been there since the early nineties. A trip like this would do wonders for my spirits, so please set up a GoFundMe page to send me to Rome. We can’t have Bystander all alone in a strange city with no jackals nearby, I’m willing to make this sacrifice for him/her.
Desperate in Jersey.
Thank you for your prompt attention.
Omnes Omnibus
@hovercraft: Well played.
Mnemosyne
@hovercraft:
Wait, I’m the one with an Italian name, and I still remember a small amount of Italian from college. I should get to go! ?
Mnemosyne
Much closer to home (my home, anyway), I might be in SLO for a couple of hours next weekend, depending on if I can get my book outline done. But it literally will be from, like, 1 pm to 3:30 pm on a Saturday.
Iowa Old Lady
I’m leaving for Europe a week from Thursday but sadly won’t be anywhere near Rome. It’s a great city.
ruemara
Sorry, flying out to Philly soon, which has pizza, so it’s sorta like Rome.
Yutsano
I’m just going to a convention in Seattle in two weeks. No time for a meet-up unfortunately.
Barbara
Honestly, bystander, if I were in Rome I would try to use it as an opportunity to forget everything about our current domestic woes for just a little while. But if you do get someone to meet up with you, I would definitely meet them at the Borghese Gallery, my hands down favorite place in Rome. But the Piazza Navona could work as well. Or in the square across from the Pantheon. Or near the Spanish Steps.
You lucky dog!
SFBayAreaGal
@Barbara: Yes to the Borghese Gallery. It is an amazing place. Yes to all the other places. If you want to people watch, I loved the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps.
otmar
@Iowa Old Lady: where are you going?
Mnemosyne
I am now picturing HelenInEire catching a train to Rome and how epic that would be. It would probably be pretty costly, tho. ?
schrodingers_cat
@ruemara: Which hotel did you book? Go to Reading Market, if you like old style markets, lots of good food there.
ruemara
@schrodingers_cat: No hotel. AirBnB. I’ll make a note of that. I’m gonna need a lot of salads.
MomSense
Rome sounds delightful. Right now I’m having a tuna salad sandwich and coffee waiting for my mom to get it of surgery. It seems silly to eat a hospital sandwich in Chinatown but that’s the way it goes.
Any news from greennotGreen today?
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
Last year in Rome, I stayed at the Hassler, atop the Spanish steps.
No, you don’t want to know the price…
MikeinArlington
Just got back from 2 hrs south of Rome in Naples visiting family. Rome is great.
Iowa Old Lady
@otmar: We’re taking one of those Viking River cruises on the Danube. Budapest to Prague.
Quinerly
Poco’s chauffeur is escorting him (not to be confused with the band “Poco”)to NC. He has delayed the trip by a few days. Another vet visit before we launch to check this lump which is in a very inconvenient and embarrassing area (he doesn’t want it discussed in detail on the interwebs). He would love to tour Italy, though and knows he would look great whether he was visiting the Pope, touring the countryside, or in a gondola. (Poco likes all boat rides).? He can change his plans in a heartbeat.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Rome is the pretty much the top of my bucket list these days– also Venice and Ravenna and Naples and Pompeii and… but Rome is first
Barbara
@ruemara: The last time I was in Philly, my aunt and uncle asked if we could eat at a Mexican restaurant called xochitl. It was really good. http://www.xochitlphilly.com/
Felonius Monk
I’m about an hour away from Rome, New York. Does that work? There are a couple of good pizza joints there, but I don’t think they have any indoor seating, so we’d have to meet in the parking lot.
Barbara
@Quinerly: My beagle used to get lumps in an inconvenient and embarrassing area and it turned out to be swollen anal glands, which are mostly benign. Good luck to Poco.
Quinerly
@Barbara:
That’s what we are hoping. Never has been a problem before. He’s on antibiotics and a steroid for swelling. She wants to check one side before we leave because there may be a growth. Don’t tell him I have shared this much info. It’s not the kind of stuff he wants discussed with his fans.? He’s really looking forward to sending Alain some beach pics. His ego is still out of control from his SW trip and Alain sharing his picture on a NATIONAL BLOG.? Thanks for your kind words.
Mnemosyne
@Quinerly:
Pope Francis seems to love dogs, as befits his chosen namesake. Here he is getting photobombed by one.
Brachiator
@hovercraft:
Beat me to it. ;)
laura
@Quinerly: here’s a hug for Poco (((bighug))).
laura
@hovercraft: I can spot you a Mortadella sammich.
NotMax
@hovercraft
Redundant.
;)
Alain the site fixer
Just to clarify, it’s Rome in Italy. I’m hoping for at least one or two such international meetups, especially if we can get folks who are all travelling to meet up somewhere!
Anyway, this was to let US residents know; it runs again after midnight so that Europeans see it, and perhaps we’ll arrange something neat.
Quinerly
@Mnemosyne: @laura:
❤???
quakerinabasement
@Alain the site fixer: NOT the one in Georgia? Well, forget it!
Comrade Colette Collaboratrice
@ruemara: @Barbara: Some friends of mine have an awesome restaurant in Philadelphia: Russet. I haven’t made it there yet, but I’ve eaten lots of their cooking at their previous restaurants in San Francisco and at their home and was a tester for some of their recipes. They’re amazing chefs. I love Philly – not quite as much as Rome, but it’s still a great city.
Steve in the ATL
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
Remind me what type of law you practice…
J R in WV
I like Philly, will be in Italy, but Florence is a long way from Rome, and we’re going to be with friends. Mostly in Chianti, last 3 days in Florence to see the ART.
Liked Spain and France, hoping Italy is as sweet. Rome would be cool, Roman ruins in France were cool. I like Ancient stuff a lot. How did they do that? Without hydraulics, or diamond bits, or, well anything like that!
bystander
@SFBayAreaGal: We have tickets to Borghese later this week.
We did a tour of the Colosseum, the Forum and the surrounding ruins yesterday morning. Then I had a 6 hour emergency root canal by a pro Trump dentist. You can’t make this crap up. She complained about all the “Romanians” which is code for the gypsies (aka Roma).