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May 29, 2005The Pope RoomJoined some friends of mine for an Italian feast complete with multiple liters of cheap chianti last night at Buca di Beppo's. I'm not a big fan of the food, but the kitsch is to die for! We had just the right number of people to get seated in the Pope Room underneath a ceiling fresco of pre-pubescent cherubs. Oddly, it looked as though they were flying around with erections. Makes sense, perhaps the gentle breeze emitted by their wings would cause some kind of stimulation. Either way, I felt fortunate not to be seated under one. In the middle of the table, under a clear plastic box bolted to the lazy susan, was a painted wooden bust of John Paul. He functioned well as a conversational centerpiece, but made it difficult to speak to fellow diners across the table. You had to lean either to the right or left of the Pope, and it just seemed impolite. The walls were also covered with Vatican paraphernalia. A cheap, touristy tapestry of Vatican City, a couple Pope plates, the obligatory collectible spoon, and a mish-mash of other photos and postcards related to our long line of Catholic leaders. It's an experience, but definitely not somewhere you'd want to go on, say, a first date. All that Catholic pressure, and excitable cherubs, talk about mixed signals. Posted by carolyn at May 29, 2005 02:45 PM CommentsPost a comment |
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