The priest and the tourist
Trip Start
Nov 16, 1987
1
4
7
Trip End
Ongoing
Vatican City, Lazio, Italy
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
On my second day in Rome I had the great misfortune loosing most of my possessions. I say "loosing", even though they were all stolen, because the theft could easily have been averted had I been more vigilant. After putting my valuables in a backpack I left the backpack by my knees at a cafe. When getting up to leave it was gone. Misfortune complete! Fortunately, that was the end of my bad luck.
Sad and frustrated I went to sit down in Piazza San Pietro (St. Peter's Square) while I thought about what to do next. With no money I had little or nothing to do in Rome until I went home apart from eat, sleep and walk around (not to bad actually).
However, while sitting in the middle of the square, I became aware of the priest sitting right next to me not looking particularly Italian, so I initiated a conversation with him. It turned out he was an American catholic priest who has moved to Rome to be closer to the Vatican and who now did services in Basilica di San Pietro. Not only that - he had a tremendous interest in the history of the place and knew an incredible amount of brilliant stories. Fortunately for me, he was kind enough to share them with me.
For the next few days I met the priest daily and he showed me around in the Cappella Sistina, Basilica de San Pietro and the Vatican Museum. Eagerly, I took notes and tried to remember as much as possible of what he told me. Then, after a few days, I had the courage to put up a sign that said "Vatican - Free tours!".
In the beginning of the day, my free tours were a limited success. A few people had come along, but most people assumed it was some kind of hustle and stayed away. But it was no hustle! I genuinely gave free tours and then asked for tips from those who liked it afterwards. As I knew the tour was good, I felt confident that if enough people came along I would make enough money to enjoy my last few days in Rome.
And I was right! After trying a few different angles to get people to come along, I started improving my numbers, and by the end of the day I had between 10 and 30 people on my tours - each tipping an average of about 5€. When evening came I had enough money to enjoy myself and some extra on the side.
Needless to say I continued this ritual until I went home. Making money in the daytime and wasting money at nighttime. It is true what they say - for someone who has never seen Rome it is hard to appreciate how beautiful life can be!
