We got an early start today, dumping Diesel with Maggie before 6 am, and then drove all the way into downtown Boston. We hit just the tiniest bit of rush hour traffic inside 128 and then we were there. The Italian Consulate is in the Boston Federal Reserve Building about 100 yards from the South Station subway stop. We parked in an (expensive) underground garage less than a block away and then frittered away the hour plus that we needed to wait while Amy sipped iced coffee in the South Station Train Terminal. When the appointed time arrived we made it through the security check and up to the 17th floor to discover that they only accepted cash and we weren't carrying the nearly $300 we needed for our visas. Amy sorted paperwork in the waiting area while I scurried back to the lobby to hit up a favorably placed ATM. It was a good thing I rushed since I was the second or third person called to the window from a room full of close to 30 people.
As it turns out, the advice we had gotten from everybody paid off. While there were definitely a few things that were returned to us as unnecessary, there were several papers which they felt we needed which were not listed on the website as required for the class of visa we were applying for. Namely, a statement from our bank declaring our solvency and copies of our contract letters. Fortunately, we had all the things they wanted in all of the multiples they needed and so we were successful in navigating the torturous pathway of Italian officialdom on the first try! I was reluctant to trust our passports to the mail so at least one of us (me) will have to return to the consulate to pick them up. They were unable to provide a date for them to be available so I will make the trip as close as possible to our departure in the hopes that they will be ready - probably on Amy's birthday.
As Amy said in a Facebook status update, "The secret to navigating the petty bureaucrats? Copies of every possible document issued to you within your lifetime, formal attire & smiling obsequiousness."
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