Partenone Rome

I went to Rome for Turkey Day. Italians don't know about Thanksgiving, but the Xmas decorations sprung out on Friday, right on time. Santa Claus and Baroque architecture, childish to ancient, profane to sanctimonious. In Rome, a city where nothing is new, the opposites don’t attract, they just tolerate each other in a stand-off. Lingerie ads on the churches.

Rome is the eternal city, 2765 years old, according to the ...

... a drain on the street, and that is where you can fill up your water bottle for free, plus it's ICE COLD (and safe!). It's sad how amazing that little thing was to me... can you imagine getting unlimited free ANYTHING in our area?! ... yeah, not so much.

We had a local Italian old guy give us a tour of the Forum, and then the Colosseum. The Forum was crazy... completely in ruins (redundant, I know, but it's incredible the story about how it got destroyed in the first place ...

... send it on to your hotel for you free of charge. Next it was off to the Colosseum. It was very impressive and interesting to see. We had a very interesting guide. Then tonight we went to dinner at 'Tanagra' where they have a cameo opera show while you eat. Nice meal and the staff were lovely. Back to the hotel where we had a drink at the bar to farewell the people on the 'Meditterean tour' :(

... out, me and jes split up, she wanted to take the tour bus to all the major rome sights, and i decided to save my 20 euros and walk to all the sites. it wasnt too bad, it was a full day, and a beautiful day. first i took the metro to the other end of town so i could walk back upwards towards to hostel. started at the colosseum, built in ad72. it once seated 55 thousand ppl and could be cleared in 20 minutes, but its missing some of the building because later on they used the building as ...

... level where the trains were. And when we did, trying to get on a train was the subway version of Titanic. You had to push and pull your way to the door and hope that you don't get separated from your party, or even from the rest of your body when the door shuts. We watched a few trains go by before we were close to getting on one and when it was our turn, Keith and I linked arms and basically shoved our way into a train. You had to. It was madness. But ...

... me yet. I don't speak ANY Italian, so the most entertaining part of the night was when an Italian guys would come up to talk and only knows how to say "Where you from?" Makes for a very short conversation, but happened alot. They all seem to know St. Louis and Nelly though....best recognize! Actually I'm always suprised that many people even know that. So on to this morning, as I welcomed my sister to Rome around 11am. We went to get her a much needed ...

... tears are wiped away, it's getting late, and we decide to take a walk with the remaining daylight. through the streets of Rome and winding eventually to the Pantheon. What an incredible structure, built around 2000 years ago, and up until the 20th Century, the dome was the world's largest pile of concrete. I wasn't aware that it was actually a church until we went inside, but there were religious statues in the alcoves all around the walls. We ...

... me kind of of the Serenata Yucateca in Merida or Cancun's fairs), where we finally found positions up on a hill to watch the Indian dancer with her drummers. We missed the fire eater, due to the press of people around. Hundreds, at least. After all of this, I practically fell asleep getting ready for bed. We really, really like Rome. Possibly even more than London. (ETA: London pics are up both here and flickr.) ETA: Pics up! Samples here, full set at flickr, see link below.

... He was commenting on how warm it seemed. He had just left a snowstorm in Minnesota. It took them two hours to get to the airport through eight inches of snow. We had a huge market between our hotel and the Vatican museum. We spent quite a while meandering around and savoring the sights and sounds. We got a kick out of seeing the huge proscuitto hams on stands outside the butcher stalls. Everything looked so good that we decided to buy some bread, meat, cheese, lettuce, tomato, mayo ...

... its the Italian Riveriera. Absolutely beautiful!! Lots of walking and train riding. We will be here at least 1 more night, and then moving on to PIsa, Floirence, and Rome. Hopefully I will be able to get online and give you details of those places. I will be home in 12 days!! July 20th. Cant wait to see you all again! I love you and miss you!