Freaky weekend in Rome

Two freaky episodes during a nice, albeit not entirely sunny, weekend in Rome...

1) I was driving in the car with my two daughters (13 and 12 year old), looking for a parking spot near our favourite pizzeria. Right next to it there is a rather mysterious nightclub.... well, that's what seemed to me, anyway!!! Parked our car, as we walk right past it I said "That's a strange nightclub, isn't it? No sign, no nothing...". My eldest daughter's only reply is a major sigh, the ultimate putdown like only teenage relations can do. My youngest one, sounding rather irritated by my ignorance (!!!), said: "Dad, can't you keep up?? It's a swingers club...".

WH.... WHAT?!?!?!I don't know what shocked me most.... was it the fact that there is a swingers club so close to my Italian doorstep?! Or that my daughters knew about it?!? I stopped very short of asking them if they knew what a swingers club is.... as I dreaded a positive answer (as well as the obligatory hugh sigh).

I really didn't know what to say!! For the next five minutes I was a bumbling buffoon of Boris Johnson-esque proportions, although some of you may argue that I am one 24/7....

2) We have all come across funny signs and posters when travelling abroad. So far the funniest I had seen was a sign in Thailand advertising a burger bar. However the hapless owner made a spelling error and - in between the U and the G - he wrote another G (rather than a R). And then they complain that their country has a dodgy reputation!! Although I suppose that even ladyboys need a proper job....

Before choosing a foreign name for their restaurant, owners should do their homework and check if the chosen name has a particular meaning. I have to assume that the owner of this particular venue in Rome is not planning to rely on the custom of local ethnic minorities!! Just have a look at this advertising board in the picture below - I am not even thinking of writing the restaurant's name down as I don't want a lifelong Google ban on my blog!!