The second morning we somewhat retraced our steps. We had the continental breakfast at the hotel, which was somewhat more substantial than I remember from my previous European experiences. Break, pastries, meat, tomatoes and mozzerella cheese, yogurt along with juice and coffee.

Italian coffee is not for the faint of heart, I can tell you that. It's quite good though, so you have to make sure you don't drink too much and get twitchy from the caffeine.

We walked to the Piazza de Popoli, where an ancient Egyptian obelisk is situated (see picture) and then worked our way down the Via Del Corsi, which is one of the prime shopping areas of Rome. We checked out all the brand name places and Pam ended up buying a suit at David Saddler, as they had plenty of options for tall women but few for men with broad shoulders. Even if I weighed less I'd not have had much luck, as my shoulder width is about a 52, and they just didn't have jackets that big.


We walked through the Piazza De Spagna again (see pics on previous post) and made our way to the Piazza Venezia where we had our first encounter with Gypsy pickpockets. We saw them a mile away and they were unsuccessful.

I wondered the whole time in Italy why the Gypsies are tolerated there. They don't appear to do anything productive or add anything of worth to society. Though I guess you can't just kick them out.

Our next stop was the Capitoline Hill with it's 13th century church and museums of Roman sculpture. Right behind this hill is the Imperial Forum, the Palantine Hill (which looks over the forum and is where the Imperial Palaces were built) and the Colloseum. It's amazing to think that you are walking through the Forum near the Rostra where Cicero gave his oratory against the Triumverate. The same Rostra where said Triumverate displayed his head and hands after they killed him for speaking out. The Rostra is also where Marc Antony gave Julius Caesar's funeral oration. Right behind it is the location where Caesar's body was cremated. The sense of history and age astonished me. I'm from a country where we consider a 400 year old building old. Here I was walking among ruins and buildings that were almost five times that age.

The Colloseum, even in its dilapidated state, gives the same impression. Especially after the movie Gladiator was released, it's very easy to visualize what the games must have been like.

After a day of exploring the ruins in the heat, we were pretty gasses so we took the bus back to the hotel and took a little siesta. Great thing, siestas. We had dinner reservations at 9pm so we were in no rush to get going. Rested, showered, dressed up and went out. Romans rarely wear shorts and appreciate it when tourists don't as well. Since this was a nicer restaurant we were eating at, we dressed up a bit and were well taken care of (though this was true everywhere in Italy, the people are friendly to a fault)

Dinner was very nice. I don't remember it all, but I remember Pam getting pumpkin stuffed raviolis that were outstanding. That's all for now!

Honeymoon review....

The first few posts here are going to be attempts to recall what the heck Pam and I did on the honeymoon before I completely forget it all. Forgive me if it is bare bones at first, I'll fill in more as I can.

We left on July 5th from Boston on a red-eye to Paris. Given that our otherwise brilliant travel agent left us 50 minutes for our connection to Rome, I was skeptical that we would actually be on the second plane. When Air France couldn't get the departure gate moving and we sat on the tarmac for 25 minutes while they fixed it, I knew we were cooked. The thirty minute line to get through customs only added to the comedy.

We got to the Air France ticket office and got a later flight, worked our way through security while listening to the airport police blow off their sirens and horns in anticipation of the pending announcement of Paris' hosting of the 2012 Summer Olympics. Oops.

I tried to figure out how to use the French phone (and I used to speak fluent French so translating the instructions wasn't that hard) and finally used the operator to get in touch with the people who were picking us up at the airport. I gave them our new info and hoped they hadn't charged my debit card $100 (or Euros, I should say)

The trip to Rome was uneventful as was our passage through Italian customs. It consisted of getting our bags and walking through the door to the taxi stand.

Our ride was waiting and took us quickly to the hotel, which was near the Vatican and hence about 30 minutes from the airport. He did so in typical Italian fashion, speaking on his cell phone and gesturing wildly with his other hand. Note that this leaves no hands available for steering.

He drove us through St Peter's Square so we could get a look at the Basilica (which is monstrously huge) and then dropped us at the hotel at about noon local time. Since neither of us sleeps particularly well on planes, we crashed until about seven then forced ourselves out the door to explore Rome at night. The first stop was the Piazza De Spagna and the Spanish Steps..




which is seen above in the daytime because this picture is much better than the nighttime ones.

Here are Pam and I with the Trevi Fountain in the background. Yes, we threw our pennies in!

This was it for night one. We walked back to the hotel and passed out.