Agriturismo Cavendo Tutus Rome

... government since the last real King of Italy abdicated in 1943. Silvio is king now, owns the largest private broadcasting companies and controls all the public ones. Soccer and game shows with big breasted women account for most of the TV programming. News is for Albanians.

The place can be so profound and so trivial. Piazza Navona, an oval laid out 2000 years ago as an arena, and occasionally flooded for battle re ...

... my bed searching franticly for my eye drops (I had contacts in) while Jyles watched amusingly. His exact words, 'I hate to tell you this, but you have an eye infection.' He noticed the night before but didn't say anything. So we pryed my open and washed it under the tap. We spent the morning looking for an English-speaking pharmacy. Sorry if that's nasty, but trust me when I say reading about it is much better tahn having it. So ...

... hotels you write in on the landing card. 'Happy House' indeed! Then the room they found me was the one I stayed in long term anyway. That's the nice thing about the slow season- rooms are easier to find and cheaper. Of course this slow season may last a few years. We'll see how gas prices respond in the next few months. If the speculators get over-anxious they may kill the coming summer season in its infancy. It's not entirely coincidence that huge ...

... anything we saw in Egypt, we noted). We were in awe of the beautiful Stanze de Raffaello (Raphael's Rooms), actually the apartment of Pope Julius II (1503-1513) who didn't want to occupy the same rooms as his predecessor. Raph's master, Perugine, had already worked on decorating the new rooms for the fussy pope, but in the end Raph, just 25-years-old, was given complete licence and all of Perugine's work was erased. Way harsh ...

... ask for? Off to the Vatican tomorrow and then hopefully we'll have enough time to spare in the afternoon to do some shopping...I saw the cutest pair of shoes today...not sure how I'll fit them in my backpack, but dammit I will try. I would update you all with photos, but unfortunately, being the idiot I am, I left my camera cable in Germany. Luckily I'll be back there in just over a week and will hopefully have a chance to do it then. Off to Florence on Tuesday...

... and maybe a pastry, usually suffices. They stand at the counter of the bar (always a brightly lit place, with a chrome counter, a Gaggia coffee machine and a picture of the local football team on the wall), throw back the espresso and take off. Just like that. We kind of linger a bit longer, enjoying our cappuccino and pastry. · Hold it You're as likely to find a public toilet in Rome as you are to see the Pope on the subway. We spent ages walking around ...

... I had no idea that it was so huge! Not only that, but it was also the most ornately decorated church that I have every seen. Not even the constant crowds mulling around the church could diminish the power of its beauty. Of course being in the "capital" of my baptized religion I spent a few minutes in prayer in one of the side chapels. Then it was off to see the crypts of several of the late popes. It was pretty clear when we were coming up on Pope John Paul II ...

... old Olympic village. Really good dinner and it was very fun to meet Father Salvatore (the founder) and some of the others who happened to be there. Today I went to St. Paul's Outside the Walls...one of the four major basilicas of Rome. And then...dreams came true. I got free gelato. How, Carolyn, how did you get free gelato in Rome (free anything, in Italy is really the question to ponder)?? I visited Flavio. That's right ...

... is huge! We decided to take a tour so we could have the full effect...plus, for only 18 euro, we got a tour of the Colosseum, Roman Forum, and the entrance to Palatine Hill. So, yes, I am a geek, and took notes on the tour. The Colosseum originally was called the Amphitheatrum Flavium, and was given the nicknames of Colosseum and Arena. It is three concentric rings, and originally held 50,000 people, and has 80 entrances/exits. Tickets were given out with numbers ...

... of the Temple of the Vesta, alongside the House of the Vestal Virgins. She explained "Caligular was kind of like Bill Clinton, he regarded the vestal virgins much the same as the Bill regarded the "interns". They were there for his picking. As an emperor, he had complete power to deflower the virgins, as a demi-god, he could walk through the temple the next day, single out the girl he had deflowered, and declare her a non-virgin, and expel her from the temple ...