Rome part 2

So, the problem still persist, how do i load my pictures on to my blog? What is blocking this from happening.? I hooked up my camera but it still says no camera detected. Anyone reading this and has the know how please share it with me as my blog story is not as interesting without the pics, thank you.

The Crowne Plaza Hotel at St. Peter's where my son had booked for me to stay was one of the best places I had ever had the opportunity to stay at and this was mostly because of the friendliness of the staff. I felt very much at home in all my four days staying there and made several friends especially the Maestro (The master) as everyone calls him, Mr. Nino Soprano the Piano Man. Every evening when I returned from my daily trips and sat at the bar writing, he would come over and greeted me and stroll off to the Piano to start of the evening performance with, "I left my heart in San Francisco", a song he said was specially for me. I told him about my ten years of living in the San Francisco, Bay Area and he was impressed by it. Nino later gave me a CD of his collections of songs and told me that he had played in many parts of the Middle East, including Tehran,Beirut,Morocco, and he was aslo in his younger days playing in the United States including LA and Chicago. Then there is the young bar tender, Alessandro, who does Yoga and does some drawing himself, a most charming young man who is going to visit Osaka, Japan, in March to do a short Zen meditation study. He kept the peanuts and ordurves replenished and the beer and conversation flowing all the time i was there always enthusiastic to learn all he could about my journeys.


Nino Sprapno, His brother and wife taking it easy at the lounge listening to the Maestro on his piano; Play it again Nino!



Jim and Alicia from Pennsalvania, they are waiting to get on their Cruise trip around the Mediteranean; a very charming couple.



Lord Paul Benson, the man who can make you laugh and whose life has been as exciting as his character.



Then there were the gentlemen serving at the restaurant who makes you want to sit and dine with as much comfort and hospitality as you would ever hope for in this day and age of, 'Iam just doing my job', attitude. Mr. Salvatore was one of those who I felt almost embarrassed to be treated so kindly by whenever he spot me at the dining table, I love this Italian gentleman. Ashamedly i must admit that i had my apprehensions and reservations when i first entered the hotel, that i would be treated with disdain for being a colored man or an Asian, but this gentleman put it to rest. I was pleasantly surprise for the four days and nights i was at the Hotel i had no cause for complain and I would recommend it to anyone; but then again being an artist has its charms. A word of advice to those who aspire to work in the Hospitality Industry; you kindness towards your guests rarely goes unnoticed and can make a great difference in whether one has a good time or not in being in your country.

An unforgettable character I met at the bar who was not an employee of the hotel was a bonnafide English lord by the name of Lord Paul Benson who happened to be stating at the hotel while waiting for his Mediterranean Cruise trip to happen. On the same evening he was joined by a young couple from Pennsylvania, USA and we had a great laugh together over Lord Benson's entertaining sense of humor. I did not know who he was in the beginning while we were the only two at the bar and so i chatted with him like any common man and as the night wore on I learned of the man who had his wife and two children killed in a car bomb and who had spent practically his entire life in serving the British Military, last spent in Afghanistan; he was also diagnosed with a cancer of the teeth? Showed me his missing teeth and a few war wounds in the process. Lord Benson ( told him I will never call him Lord), was no ordinary man even if he was not a Lord for he had a witty personality that made the rest of us rolled over with laughter.

The only disadvantage I found staying at the hotel was the fact that it was a little bit far from the City center where all the action were. Taking taxis back and forth can be costly if one stays for long, and it also means one cannot take strolls into the night to check out the night life.