One time while I was in Rome, I was busy admiring the ruins and not paying attention to signage, got lost, and ended up in some kind of archaeological dig or restoration. Not knowing it was off-limits (having missed all signage, as previously stated), I started peeking around all the stone stuff, wandering off the path, and most importantly (to this story), poking around in a hole that had been dug into the ground. I was careful not to touch anything, but still, clearly (to anyone who wasnāt as oblivious as me) this was not a place a tourist was meant to be.
I finally attracted the notice of someone who was meant to be part of this restoration project when I came back up from the hole. He quickly came over to ask me, in Italian, what Iām sure were the very normal questions ofĀ āWho are you?ā, āWhat are you doing here??ā, etc.
Problem: I do not speak Italian.
My brainās solution: Quick, what language do we speak thatās close?!Ā
And that is how I wandered up out of a hole in a Roman ruin without warning and began speaking ancient Latin to an archaeologist.
This manās face went through 15 different absolutely floored expressions in ten seconds, like you could physically see him going through the thought process ofĀ āHave I encountered a ghost from ancient Rome? No, ghosts arenāt real. But if ghosts not real, how Latin??? Fellow researcher??? Supposed to be here???ā
So this is the story of how I was allowed to walk away without issue at all after blatantly trespassing upon the ruins of ancient Rome, because if you speak Latin, where else would you belong?
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