Have you ever wondered if there was a connection between Rome, Hilary Clinton and bagels? I hadn’t until today. A very nice friend shared the name and contact information for the “New York Bagels in Rome” , a small business run by one woman. Of course, I quickly put in an order, which she kindly let me know could be picked up at FAO on Friday at the front entrance.
So, Friday comes along, and the whole family is looking forward to a weekend filled with bagels. In fact, we’ve promised the kids bagels and eggs for dinner. While my Friday morning had become hectic, I didn’t loose sight of the 10:30am time to pick up our bagels. At 10:15 I was in my car, on the way to FAO to pick up the bagels. Parking was difficult, strange on a Friday, and as the helicopters flew overhead, a fleeting thought crossed my mind……what the heck is going on? Another strike? Someone important must be traveling around these parts today….
My mind focuses on the task at hand, finding parking. Finally, I find a legal spot, not to far from FAO. I run down the hill, into the building (another fleeting thought as I ran through the empty parking lot…..where is everyone today?), get some cash to pay for the bagels, and straight into the line of FAO security – blocking me from going out the front entrance, where I was supposed to meet the bagel lady in one minute. Naïve soul......you would think having been here over a year would teach me to be worried about time!
I slink away from the FAO security, again wondering who might be in the building as that entrance is closed periodically for ministers and other VIPs. I run out the same entrance I came in….and staring at Carbineri and snipers on the building in front of FAO I realize my fleeting thoughts should not have fleeted so fast! Oh dear…..I walk up the sidewalk amongst heavily armed Polizia Nazionale, Carbineri and plain clothes cops….as I hadn’t been turned away, I didn’t turn around. I kept walking, noting the traffic being diverted, the helicopters above, and was finally turned away by someone wearing a secret service pin. That should have been a hint….but, no….not for me (even after being through RSO training, and living in DC for 8 years….). I turn around, walk back towards the entrance I had just came out….thinking….now what? I want bagels! I probably looked like I was stalking the place, as I soon snapped out of my thoughts to two Carbineri asking me for identification…..eeek!
I hand them my FAO badge, and my Italian residency card…they review it and ask me where I was going, and why I was walking past more than once….I had no idea how to explain in Italian that I was looking for the bagel lady! I was laughing so hard at how ridiculous I must’ve seen, they took pitty on me, and let me go.
So, by this point I decide to go into my office, and get the woman’s number. I storm into my office, surprising my office mate, asking who was visiting…..with a big smile she says “Hilary Clinton”! So, I guess I wouldn’t be getting bagels?
I get the woman’s name and number and give her a call. She tells me she is running late (really?) and would be there in 20 minutes (really?). I try to explain that she wouldn’t make it to the entrance, and suggest another….though she seems flustered, and therefore doesn’t quite get it….even after I say “Hilary Clinton is at FAO”! Instead, she said she’ll call when closer….about 20 minutes later I get a call….Sarah, I can’t get to the front entrance, so can we meet on the side? The best part about her, though, is she’s laughing at herself, saying “I now understand what you were saying!”….I like her already.
I walk down to meet her….and out of the back of her car (which is full of hundreds of bagels in buckets!) I buy 12 plain and 12 cinnamon raisin! I give her a big tip, and we laugh about the delivery…and in true Italian fashion, I get a hug and kiss as if we are old friends!!!
On the way home, the 10 minute trip turns into a one hour ordeal….but, for the first time since being in Rome, I don’t care! I have a full tank of gas, good music, 4 hours until I have to pick up the kids….and the best of all 24 bagels to eat!!!!
