It's all about Service

 Today was appointment day at the Embassy to organise a replacement passport. As we approached the front gate we could identify it by the group of people milling around waiting for opening time. 

Sadly robberies happen all too often and waiting were a real cross section of people; a middle aged man, three young men (two of whom had lost their passports when their vehicle window had been broken), a man with two young children (all passports stolen) and our 'senior citizen'. Interestingly, all male but for one small child.

Security is tight and required ID, individually passing through a double security door, no possessions taken inside and security passes to be worn. A delightful young Italian woman dealt with all the people in a friendly and efficient manner and even suggested where we could safely get a coffee when we were sent off to get passport size photos. We opted for gelato! 

At the photo shop the man had a sense of humour, when Kel expressed a certain dislike for the photo, he looked at me and said ' Mr Australia.'  He told one of the others that he was the tenth Australian today.

Returning with the photos, the next step was signing an agreement and paying the fee for this temporary passport. There is a forty eight hour wait, but we made an appointment for much later when we are in Naples and able to make a day trip by train to collect it.

What could have been a stressful and unpleasant experience was made so much better by friendly service and a certain cameraderie between the victims.

Walking back from the Embassy we had time to appreciate the treed area with a wide boulevard lined with palazzi, very large, ornate and attractive houses. 

We did a 'warm down' walk of only 6 kms today. We are not feeling any ill effects from the big walk so that is very pleasing. I looked at the RAW Travel website this morning, a plan is germinating.

Today's eating experiences were a far call from what we have become used to. After walking back from the Embassy we stopped at a shaded bar for a cool drink and snack. No Aperol Spritz, no spina (tap) beer, so we settled for a Coke Zero and a prosecco. Both were hot, but at least the suppli were nice.

We had heavy rain and thunder storms again this evening and when we went out for dinner we found many of the restaurants only had limited indoor areas in operation. We finally got a table but were then asked to move to a little table jammed between the pizza oven, the stairs down to the toilets, the kitchen and the till. The owner/waiter was a better version of Fawlty Towers Manuel and what a riot of a night it was. It was a forty five minute wait for our pasta but at least we had entertainment, from clearing tables to delivery of food, even paying the bills were a masterclass in chaos. It seemed that no-one actually paid the correct price for their meals.