Also at the Pantheon

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,25503970-5001021,00.html

Reading this it made me chuckle, because my "Australian experience" at the Pantheon was quite a contrast, but not less exciting. At the time I was too busy day-dreaming and didn't blog it, but it is too good of a story to not tell.

Ro (as in Rowena), my Australian travel companion at the time, and I, spent quite a busy day roaming through Rome, as you do, sight seeing, eating pizza, speg-bog and what not, and totally forgot that the Pantheon had a closing time. After negotiating tiny medieval corners and surviving the July sun, we finally managed to get there. Unfortunately, the gate had closed a few minutes before we got there. It was obviously time for another slice of gorgeous and plump and cheap and melting Porcini mushroom pizza. As we ate at the square in front of the Pantheon, we could not help but look at the closed gate with lament.

A group of homeless people had gathered infront of the Pantheon in the meantime and made their beds for the evening. Some of them pretty much fell sleep almost immediately. One of the men somehow started to crawl on top of the woman next to him, and started fumbling about. She started protesting and trying to push him off, with no avail. This alarmed me and my companion in a very very disturbing way. It seemed like no one else either noticed or cared, and it looked like we have had to take the matter into our own hands.

Kiwi chick and Aussie chick with pizza in hand marched up and confronted the scene in our very blatant Antipodean accents.
"s'cuuuuz us but arh yew or-ryght?" we enquired, ready to tear the would be rapist apart.

At this, the woman promptly pushes the man off her (he fell back on his back and went straight to sleep too) and struggled up, and screamed in delight:

"Yaah! Ium or-ryght! He's mee-boyfreend, wyr juz foolin around heey? ... yew guys Aussies?"

Looking at her boofed out hair and broken front tooth, we were actually speechless.

"Yew got any ceegarettes?" She piped.
"No sorry, but you can have my pizza." One of us offered.
"Ffank yew daarlin. Its so hard meeting another Aussie here - I been in Rome seex years juz muck'in around cos I lost mee passport, good aye?"
"Sorry mate we gotta go." We said.

As we fled, she yelled out at us:
"Aussie Aussie Aussie!"

And we replied as quietly as possible:
"Oy oy oy..."