Il lampione dell'amore

Oh, the weight of love.
Last week the lamp of Ponte Milvio fell down! Literally broke in two due to all the weight of the locks.
You can read more about it from Shelley over at At Home in Rome who recently wrote a nice post about the locks of Ponte Milvio. Or check out the article on corriere della sera.
I guess all of Rome decided to put a lock on the lamp after the movie "Ho Voglio di Te" came out. I think the movie single-handedly revived the interest of declaring your love by placing a lock on the lamp and tossing the key into the Tevere.
That's a lot of love (and a ton of locks).

La bici vs. il motorino

In the past week since my other half broke his arm in a bicycling accident there have been at least 15 people (and I'm not exaggerating) who offered their advice that a motorino is way more safe than a bicycle. This includes 3 people from my work, the owners of my other half's work, the pet store owner, the vetrinarian, the neighborhood motorino mechanic, our friendly supermarket check-out girl and various friends and neighbors.
It's nice that they offer their condolences and put in their two cents worth (mainly that the motorists of Rome don't respect the bicyclists on the street... yeah, duh!) but I just can't quite agree with them. Am I wrong? Should I break down and buy a motorino and become a true Roman?
Like I mentioned in the previous post I have seen so many scooter accidents since I've moved to Rome and a few months ago a friend of a friend's father died in one. Is it really safer than a bike?
What do you think?

Osso Rotto

This morning my husband broke his arm.
His "radio" (radius) near the elbow is fractured. We spent a good part of the day at the emergency room fixing him up in gesso. The x-ray technitian even said it was a "bella frattura".
What happened? Well, he was riding his bike when a car cut him off. He braked and went head first over the handle bars landing on his elbow. He wasn't wearing a helmut but he wasn't going too fast either. The white fiat didn't even stop to see if he was okay. Let's just say Romans are crazy drivers. This is a given. And everyone chastises us for riding a bike in the city but honestly, if he was on a motorino it could have been a lot worse. I cannot tell you how many bad (and I mean BAD, lots of blood and gorey details kinda bad) motorino accidents I've seen in Rome in the past year and a half that I've lived here.
The bike has a minor scratch which is good but this is the THIRD bike we've had involved in an incident. Maybe someone's trying to tell us something. The first one was stolen. The second was badly vandalized by kids in the neighborhood who jumped on the frame and tires one night when I left it outside overnight. My mistake. I just hate hauling the bike up 5 flights of stairs. And I hate the autobus even worse. They say things happen in three's and this is the third so maybe we're okay right?
Right?
Isn't there some sort of hex symbol I'm supposed to do to ward off the bad luck? Something involving the index and pinky finger?
Okay enough of my whinging, my husband has a broken arm. I've never broken a bone in my life so I can't fully relate but(madonna!) he was in excrutiating pain. There was also a dislocated shoulder involved and he pretty much admitted it was the most painful thing he's experienced in his life.
Well, to make a long story short we spent a long time in the emergency room where they took loads of x-rays. The doctors were great and very professional despite the long wait. We walked out and went to the farmacia to buy some pain medicine. The whole thing cost us 7euro.
I'm still trying to wrap my brain around this one. !!!!7 EURO!!!!! x-rays, cast, medicine and all. This would never be possible in the US. Even if we had had insurance this would not be possible. It just doesn't happen in the united states.
I love free health care. But I love my hubby even more and I hope he has a speedy recovery.

Italian sport fanatics

Roma lost 7 to 1 against Manchester last night in the nationals league. I'm not a huge soccer (ahem, football) fan but the city was certainly drab today despite the beautiful sunshine. If Rome had won 7-1 the atmosphere would have been more along the lines of horn honking and bellowing out the windows. Apparently this is the first time in history for a nationals team to lose by so much. Way to go Roma!
And why is it that every Italian I know is absolutely fanatical about soccer, oops, sorry...football. I know every country has their fans and devotees but it seems Italy is way more obsessed than the others. Am I wrong here? In fact, I've only met one Italian in my life that didn't care for football. My husband's friend whom I'll call Mr. C. And just for the record, Mr. C doesn't like the moto GP either. Unheard of for any male Italian over the age of 12. Every Sunday you can walk into any house in Rome and find no less than 5 males huddled around the tv cheering for Valentino Rossi. Or Melandri. Or both. Valentino who has the phrase "viva la fica!" plastered across the neck of his uniform. (yes, fica in this case is vulgar and yes it refers to a female body part). That's how cool the moto GP is.
Mr. C I really respect you.
Other news today that I want to share is how much I love my dog. yeah, yeah, how boring and sophmoric to post about my dog but I just can't help it. Anyone who owns a pet can probably relate.