Tuesday 8 April: I visit the police in the rain

Rain today. During the day it was a light sprinkle, which I barely noticed. The Romans, of course, were bundled up in heavy coats under rain gear with umbrellas. The sky was a luminous blue-grey, which made the greenery and the many colors of the ever-present flowers even more vivid than they are in sunlight. After research at the AAR, I went to the police station. Italy requires all non-EU foreigners to register with the Polizia di Stato within eight days of arrival. If you stay in a hotel, they always do it for you (that’s why the hotel asks for your passport when you check in). Since I’m a tenant, I had to do it myself. I’ve heard many horror stories of the Italian bureaucracy, and dreaded the visit to the central office near Termini station. However, the friendly folks at the tourist information kiosk around the corner advised me to go to the local Trastevere office of the Questura, the state police, instead of the main headquarters. Since it was on my way back from the Academy, I stopped in to register. The police were friendly, laid back, and indulged me in my Italian. They made a copy of my passport, had me fill out a form, gave me a stamped copy, and bam! I’m now a straniero legittimo, a legal alien with permission to live in Italy until the date of my return flight. The whole process took five minutes. I’m glad I went to the local branch, also because I discovered a laundry right next door, with Internet access to surf while washing. This will come in handy, and soon. I got online and saw Gary’s pics of the kitties and our new screen door on Flickr. Make sure you see the one of Xander stoned on catnip! Spent the afternoon in a preliminary investigation of the epigraphic collection at the Museo Nazionale Romano Terme di Diocleziano, one of the world’s great collections of historical documents. Good thing the Romans liked to write on stone and bronze; it’s a lot more durable than paper. I will be back there a lot.