Roma

Narrow streets, great food, great Cappuccino, amazing number of churches. Subways all over. Taxis honest, prompt. Lira at 1725 to the dollar. Weather in early October in the 70's (mid twenties for you Celsius thinkers). No rain. City is "eminently walkable", wear nice shoes and be prepared to ask the friendly locals when you need help.

Our room at the Holiday Inn Minerva (really) was a couple of million lira for three days; great place. Right by the Pantheon. Where else can you buy official pope socks, suck down a world class cappuccino, and visit a 2000 year old massively impressive edifice within five minutes?

Pictures taken in and around Roma

Well, it just doesn't get any better than this... Molly and I asked (she translated for the Italians, George worked the Japanese) all the hundreds of other people at the Trevi Fountain to clear out. Thanks to all of you, fellow tourists (we'd do the same for you!) What a picture we got! This is an amazing fountain at the back of a house. Interestingly, the front of the house is not much to look at. What you are seeing in this picture is Neptune leading some horses out of the depths with a couple of maritime squires holding their reins and basically enjoying the surf. This is an amazingly romantic setting; thanks Moll Doll. To see more... Trevi Fountain, Roma
	Another view of the Navarre piazza in early morning light. If you can, get out early in the morning when Roma is still rubbing its collective eyes. The air is nice(er), the streets less crowded, and for some reasons, the meandering paths you take through the city are just that much more magical. Here you can see the church which has been about to fall in the fountain for some 300+ years... Note also, no people, pigeons, no smog. Navarre Piazza, Roma
Ahh, the Tiber in the early morning! We got up early (when your are jetlagged by 9 hours, it's easy!) to be the first into St. Peters. Walking along the Tiber in the morning is pretty beautiful. This is the fortress guarding the pilgrims bridge (Ponte ??).
	Here is another image captured while in Roma. This one is more of a riddle. Note the olde building near the center of the image. Note the nice gardens. Note the Shadow. Hey, where the heck was this picture taken from?
Spelunking in Roma? Well not quite. After taking the previous picture, we scampered down, down, down the spiral thing we had just gone up, up up. This was taken in that little dark passagway between the two St. Peters domes (one inside the other). 5000 lira to climb it yourself, 6000 for the lift... but be sure you have correct change! I tried to tilt the picture to illustrate the tilt of the passageway (the dome tilts, right?) But, as they say, pictures don't do it justice.
This picture is a little dim... You can tell that the guy is handsome... but where was he when this picture was taken? Ugly Americans have been replaced by herds of amazingly self-absorbed, irreverent and ultimately destructive Ugry Japanese. Ugh. No excuse for not being able to read the signs when the signs are a picture of what not to do. (You are NOT supposed to flash, the bright light irreparably bleaches the pigments). "Tsk, tsking" is ineffective. Smash a camera, save some art. But, be polite!	<<Original Enhanced>>
	Here is a picture in the Sistene Chapel & Vatican Museum that you don't see very often. It actually is a nice picture of Molly in her most common pose, "Let's see what Access Rome has to say about this thing". She is wearing her florescent green T and her cute blue vest (so that you don't lose her in crowds). The Walkway you see is called "The Snail". Lots of big olde European buildings had these spiral, step free walkways. In France we were told it is for horses; hard to imagine similar motivations here. The track is of herringbone brick supported by granite pillars, each lower pillar slightly larger than the ones above (note the perfection of the design from the picture).
Anne's gonna kill me. This is actually a picture of the fountain at Navarre piazza. It has an interesting story (as does most surviving art in Italy). The guy in the background is expressing his concern that the church facade (off picture to the right) is about to fall on him. Yes, the fountain was produced by one artist and the church by his principle rival. Makes a good story, but there's more. The other three major figures in the fountain are also humorously expressing their panic at the poor design and construction of the church facade... so powerful is the imagery, that, after a bit, you too start to get a little nervous about falling plaster.
Ever gotten something at a restaurant and taken a bite and... then... just put down your fork and chewed slowly so that the taste would last as long as possible? Try Ernestinas baked artichoke. Highly recommended; price reasonable. No one ever mistook us for natives when I wore my Hawaiian shirts...