I’m in Rome, Italy today scouting locations for The Life of Apostle Peter with Rick Steves. It is a documentary for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. With me is my 17-year old daughter and key grip, Emily Frakes. Her mother and I thought it would be ok to pull her from school for a week to see the Eternal City and help with this production.
Our Untied flight arrived early Friday morning at Rome’s Leonardo Da Vinci International Airport. Running to catch a train into the city, we made the platform just as the doors to the car closed. A woman trying to catch the same train, thrust her arm into the closing doors. Instead of reopening, the door remained closed and the train started to pull away. For a few horrifying seconds we watched, helpless as the woman tried to pull her arm back. On the other side of the glass, a conductor waved frantic instructions. Finally, as she trotted along side the rapidly accelerating train, her arm popped out and disaster was averted.
Without further incident, we made it into the city and the Hotel Aberdeen near the Termini station. One of Rick Steve’s travel guide friends, Sean O’Sallaigh, met us at the hotel and accompanied us over to the Vatican where we picked up a pre arranged permit for shooting in St. Peter’s Square. Sean filled us with tour guide stories of Bernini’s fantastic architectural achievements. I think Emily was impressed.
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