Non Parla Italiano

I feel crap. I want to know more Italian but it’s such a quick trip, and I did it on the spur of the moment, so I don’t have a phrasebook and I’m blundering my way through the Italian language – pillaging and borrowing – and every time I try to think of the word, either a French or German one pops in to my head instead. Grrr. Yesterday, I dropped into a charming-looking cafe in the Villa Borghese – which is a giant park at the top of Roma – near where I’m staying. I’ve been warned off walking through that park at night by my concierge, so I wanted to ask if this place did dinner. I thought if I ate there, there would be other patrons around and safer to walk back to the hotel. Bongiourno! I declare to the barista. Parla Inglese? (Do you speak English?). No. Oh. He says: Parla Italiano? No. An impasse. I smile but that doesn't work. Then he has a little spurt to me about why should I speak English, you don’t speak Italian! Anyway, I push on, asking if they open for dinner...and one of the other guys helps out and says no only lunch. So, I leave. However, I feel like shit because I really wish I did speak better Italian. However, this guy is in the service industry in the tourist trade. Rome has millions of tourists. This is a very popular place for tourists. I am here for 6 days. If I were here for longer, I would deffo learn the language – it’s a nice rhythmic one. I shed a little tear of “poor me”. Then get over myself! Maybe he was just having a bad day.