When in Rome…

Tuesday, September 09, 2008

…do as the Romans!



And that includes a visit to the Ristorante Sabatini in Trastevere. And not just for us, apparently. When we came to the ‘quaint little cobblestone square’ we found that, although in a pedestrian zone, it was filled with numerous shiny black cars, and even more numerous shiny black sunglasses and bodyguards.

I guess someone had been brushing up on his TravelBuddy reading? Let’s see, who could it be? Washington license plates?
A big sticker on the car saying “The Vice President of the United States”. Wasn’t too hard: Yep, Richard Bruce "Dick" Cheney hitting some hot spots as part of his European farewell tour.


Being in PR, I’ve had my fair share of dealing with VIP’s that needed to be escorted from one meeting to the next, on tight schedules. So it was kind of fun to finally be able to take on a different role and to act as a true paparazzo.


Camera ready to take some pictures, without wanting the bodyguards to take offense. Personally I think it turned out really good. As for the resale value of the picture: limited I’m afraid. it wasn’t exactly as if he was there completely incognito, so I’m afraid there was no scoop. But I can now imagine the kick it gives to be able to shoot such pictures.

As the seven car convoy left the square, we went back to our pasta. “I’m having what he was having…”

Excellent food, by the way. Truly ‘La Dolce Vita’, and as that movie was responsible for giving us the term ‘Paparazzo’ in the first place, it came nicely together…

On second thoughts...
Actually, I might have been able to sell the picture...
To, say, la Repubblica, or maybe Adnkronos, or to Padovanews, or Roma Metropolisinfo, or even Il Messaggero...

posted by Ward @ 10:58