Each morning we would all file through a very good breakfast buffet they had for the Viking people. Each evening, after our adventures, Don and I would share a drink in the elegant bar. I was fascinated by the frescoes that adorned the walls. They reminded me a little bit of the murals on the walls in our apartment in Chicago. The second night I asked if there was any information about them and the manager brought me an eight page print out written in broken English. As I was focused on reading the copy I did not notice that a file folder I held and its contents had been set alight by the little votive candle on our table. I kept thinking I smelled smoke, but just went back to reading. When my papers were quit in flames we all noticed and the waiter kindly doused it with his water pitcher. He kept apologizing, as though it was he, and not me, who had tried to burn down the elegant hotel.
The frescoes were painted by an artist named Guido Cadorin in 1926 when the hotel was built and opened. They depict a performance of a thinly-veiled dancer and her audience. The men in the crowd are very attentive. The women are more aware of themselves and how they appear to others, posing, primping, and laying out their fabulous fur coats. The faces in the crowd are portraits of the hotel owner's influential friends and the upper crust of Roman society.
The hotel was renovated and updated in 2004. It was very comfortable and had a great location.
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