Jul. 21, 2005

Thanks to having Internet Access at our Hotel in Rome, I wrote a detailed (well, sort of) post about the trip to the Vatican here. I already posted a photo of judiang and me at the Vatican in this post. However, I forgot to mention that we saw a “gypsy marching band” perform that evening in the streets near the Pantheon. Knowing nought about gypsy bands, however, I reserve judgment. They were lively and fun, however, and that’s all that matters with a marching band. (Oh, and don’t go picturing trombones & stuff – strictly percussion.)

Jul. 22, 2005

I only had 9 minutes, however, to write about our day exploring the Roman ruins and Colosseum. And there is very little in my hand-written journal about the day, so I’ll see if I can expand upon the day some.

Our main goal of the day was to see the Forum and the Colosseum. We stopped at a cafe for lunch where I had a small sandwich and some of Judi’s Gatorade. People at our table felt so guilty that the sandwich was small they kept giving me more food. I certainly won’t complain about that! Gosh, I’m trying to remember what the gelato of the day was. I know I had some after supper, but was there afternoon stuff? I seem to recall a gelato shake made of chocolate ice cream – I’ll bet that was it.

Rather than going off to St. John Lateran and another basilica, Judi and I headed back to the hotel with a few others. I did some shopping while Judi napped (or did I do that the day before?) Anyhoo, at some point either Thursday or Friday, I bought a cute little wooden clock that was shaped & painted like a kitty cat. I also got a wine cork for mom & dad with the same kitty design. Only €17 for it all. Oh, with regards to the cat, the tail is the pendulum of the clock. (Like my plastic Kit Kat clock, but without the moving eyes.) I think it’ll be good in my Reading Room once I have the floor to ceiling bookshelves in place.

I actually wrote about the supper that night in my paper journal. So I’ll reprint that here:

…We finally found a non-tourist trap restaurant. Las Maddalen (which I think was a Zio Ciro restaurant) was just off the square where the Pantheon was located. I ordered too much – brushetta and a pizza, when the pizza would suffice. They let us sit inside together while they got tables together outside. They brought out two €25 bottles of sparkling white wine for all of us to drink while we waited, gratis. Very friendly, very accomodating. BTW, I rather liked that sparkling wine – go figure!

For gelato that evening, I got half crema and half ferrero rochere (chocolate hazelnut). The crema had a slight lemon flavor, as did the one I had at another gelateria the night before. So I’m guessing crema must have slight lemon flavor… Will not be tempted to order that again, I think.

The best news of the day, however, was the arrival of Judi’s luggage that night! Yes, the night before we were to leave the hotel, the luggage finally arrived! Yay!

The gypsy marching band. Or something. Whatever it was, it was lively and fun! And had a great cadence.

Bunch of old, broken shit.

Just as old, but not as broken shit.

And geez, you should see the state of the stadium! 😉