Pretty On the Inside

i couldn't think of what the empty streets of boston during the dnc reminded me of and then it dawned on me -- rome 1990 during the world cup.  the sound went around the world, avoid rome it will be crazy during world cup.  so my boyfriend at the time and i went to rome only because we had a place to stay (a lithuanian monastery) because everyone kept saying that the whole city would be booked and hotel rooms would be impossible to find. 

well, it was a ghost town.  everyone got the message and avoided rome like the plague.  and their economy suffered tremendously.  we got off the train and were barraged by pensioners begging for our business at huge discounts.  it was pretty sad really. 

the only good news is that we got to go to the audience with the pope and the u.s. - italy match where the u.s. wasn't humiliated with a 1-0 loss.