All of the goodwill that Germany has been banking thanks to the World Cup 2006 (A Time to Make Friends)has been drawn against by zombielike hordes of young flagwaving German ubercatholics that descended on the city two days ago and have since been wondering around in a religious stupor, yelling, singing songs, acting pious, carrying crosses, and sporting matching hats, and/or shirts and/or bandanas.
I’m done with them.
Sitting on the metro today after work (and it’s fucking hot and gross here) we stopped at Spagna. That’s what the metro does. Then just before leaving the station (in our airconditioned subway train) a whole entire gaggle of these churchy German kids got on. The train didn’t leave the station and we were all forced to get off the train and get onto the already crowded platform to wait for the next one. While on the train, waiting for the enxt one, and on the next one I tried to correct their behaviour by the sour disdainful expression on my face. To no avail.
You might think: “But Ryan you live in Rome! The seat of Catholicism, the home of the Pope.” I know. But does everybody need to come at the same time? It’s not just one big group? Or a bunch of groups. It’s an overwhelming biblical-proportion-sized flood of really BIG C Catholic youths. And that sucks.
“But Ryan, aren’t you a tour guide? Aren’t tourists your bread and butter?”
Yes. But pilgrims are not tourists.
“Were they really all Germans?”
Probably not, but enough of them are to blame it all on Germany. And the German Pope.
“Aren’t you just scared, fearing what you don’t understand?” Yeah. Really Christian people creep me out. If they were soccer fans, or just here for the Billy Joel/Bryan Adams concert on the 31st, it would be a different story. A little. I’d still hate them. But less so.
Anyway, they’re leaving soon, one must expect, and i’ll be happy to have the city back.
