Day 5 - Our First Roman Festival

Today started with a trip on a train to Marino for the October wine festival. Everything about the train system in Italy is confusing. Directions and descriptions are not what they specialize in. Nor are they very good with schedules. All these things Sarina and I would come to know well by the end of today.

Needless to say, the process of of translating the ticket took some effort. Not because it was in Italian. Between Sarina and I, we could figure out most things on our own from the remnants of our courses in Italian. Between getting your ticket and stepping on the train itself, there are about a half-dozen steps in between. These include the tedious task of finding and deciphering the arrival and departure schedules. Not a huge feat, but when coming from a country that gives you tickets that tell you time and platform numbers, you get to taking simple things like that for granted.

Anyhow, by the time we had decoded the tickets and found our train. People were running down the platform in tens and twenty's, in hopes they would secure at least some kind of standing room on the train. We approached our train, but it was already full. No, full does not come close to describing what it was. There were about 2.5 times the amount of people on the platform as there were square footage on the trains. It degenerated into a free for all with people tackling their way into the doors and scaling the sides of the train to crawl over the open windows. This scene was a contrasting swirl of humor and horror as Sarina and I tried to quickly retool our ideas of how a train should operate.

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By now, you've probably assumed we missed that train. So we waited for the next to arrive. When it pulled up half an hour later, we didn't hesitate to get on while we could. Tho empty now, in an hour it would be swarmed by frivolic Italians. This gave us time to plan things out for the rest of our time here. So, it's not like we were wasting time. After about 45 minutes, the train began to fill quickly.

As we pulled out of the station, a few of the passengers broke out into song. One of them revealed a half-sized acoustic guitar and contributed to the Italian folk songs now being sung by half the train car. It was resembling a train less and more like the prologue to a soccer game [ahem, I mean football]. The music continued as we moved passed old aqua ducts, homes, and an infinite array of olive trees and grape vines. By now, our singers had moved on to American folk songs, like 'Ring of Fire' (by Johnny Cash).

Our train made an emergency stop. A fight had broken out, and on our train car non the less. It was a pretty intense fight that involved three girls and one guy. No one was sure what it was all about, but they were ripping at each others hair, skin and clothing. There were kicks, punches and spitting. All the time, the rest of the train cheered and encouraged them like an Irish bar fight. Eventually they were all taken off the train by police. The passengers poked their heads thru the windows, making the whole side of the train appear to be a life sized version of whack-a-mole. Via a bit of eves dropping, we learned the brawl had begun over someone stepping on the other's foot. I thought that was rather silly. Considering the sardine can nature of the train, you're lucky if you don't accidentally get someones hand up your crotch. In tribute to our gladiator companions, the group of singers and their guitar playing friend broke out into Nirvana's 'Break Me' as we pulled out again towards Mirano.

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As eventful as the journey to the festival was, being there was just as crazy. Thousands of drunk or nearly drunk Italians all competing for what little space this normally quiet town had. The narrow streets were filled to overflowing with everyone within a train ride distance. Everywhere you looked there was wine. It was in bottles, it was in glasses, plastic cups and even emptied water bottles. Anything that could hold wine did. Being in the dense crowd where people were literally climbing over each other, it reminded me of footage from Macy's parades in New York.

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All this drinking would lead up to the two main events: the changing of the city fountain plumbing to white wine (for one hour) and the symbolic reenactment of the historical event of the return in Marino of Marcantonio Colonna with 260 "Marinesi" from the Battle of Lepanto [the last recorded major battle that involved paddle driven ships]. The performance was done with flag bearers. If you've ever seen those girls at high school football games that spin flags during halftime, it's kinda like that. The difference being the costumes and the much higher level of skill and drama that was used here. The performers were all dressed to resemble their characters from history, looking much like a Renaissance fair [but much less dirty and far less marijuana].

After a speech was made from a window above the main fountain, the actors began to course a parade through the streets of Marino. This lasted until they all arrived at the town hall. Luckily, Sarina and I were able to duck into the doorway of a gift shop. Here, we were able to avoid the crowds and see the main flag performances that were happening very ceremoniously below the steps of the town hall. It didn't take long for Sarina to be tired of the overwhelming crowds. Even when it was announced that the customary one hour of wine from the fountains had been turned on, we decided it wasn't worth fighting the masses. It's a novelty, so the wine from the fountains is historically bad anyhow. Being Sarina, and as short as she is, the crowds quickly wore her thin and she was no longer having as much fun. Having had our fill of the performance, Sarina and I made our way back to the train platform.

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Thinking we would catch the 6pm train and avoid the drunken crowd, we sat at the platform and waited. Unfortunately, whether due to the festival or just the nature of Italy, the train was over an hour late. This hour gave Marino's guests time to overflow the train platform, with nearly all of them having designs to board our same train back to Rome. So now, Sarina was fighting to two feelings: one being the fact that she had dressed for warmer temperatures than were actually occurring, and the other was fear that we would be out competed for space on the train when it arrived.

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When the train finally arrived, the mob woke like a field of lemmings. The stirring men and women charged at the train doors in a scene that reminded me of rats trying to escape a sinking ship. Instantly, Sarina and I were slammed into the side of the train with the force of about 600 other people. My first goal was to get Sarina on the train without getting hurt. They crazed swarm could have easily broken her leg by squeezing her against the unforgiving metal steps into the train. I burst out with as strong a lunge as I could and forced three guys off her (along with the rest of the people behind them). With Sarina on the train, I squeezed my own body between the unrelenting mob and the hard metal frame of the train door. With Sarina now pulling at my arm, I crawled up the steps into the train. We luckily were among the first onto the train, so we rushed to find a seat and let the rest of the people figure out were to stand. Having survived our first Italian festival, we were both amazed and exhausted. With this under our belts, we decided I won't be bringing Sarina to a mosh-pit anytime soon.

We finished out our day with a trip over to the Spanish Steps for some dinner and a few night time photos of the Spanish Steps themselves. It goes without saying, we slept very well.

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Day 4 - Stone and Kittys

We started the day with a trip to our favorite general upper store, Panaorama. This time, we took a chance to wander around the first floor where the food was. It is about the size of a Safeway in Santa Rosa, Ca. A big difference is the amount of wine they kept. There was a display of wine at the front of the store the same size as in a Safeway or Cost Plus. Then there was another section of wine just as big in an aisle. And finally, in the back, there was a third wine display easily two times as big as the others. It seemed that a conservative guess would put about 15% of the store as nothing but wine. This included bottles, boxes and even little 8oz size boxes of wine. I'm assuming the small personal size boxes are meant for little brown bag lunches, but who knows. Before we left we grabbed some crackers and a couple cans of cat food [wouldn't you like to know what I had planed for them].

Next stop was the Terne di Diocleziano ["The Baths"]. This is actually another part of the National Roman Museum, with four parts in all [one of which we saw yesterday]. This museum housed some of the oldest things in Rome. There were busts and statues depicting all of Rome's rulers as far back as is possible to see. This place also specialized in sarcophagi that the upper class would had made for their recently dead. Also, it displayed the things that were generally buried along with them, including hair pins, jewelry, food and even their dogs and cats.

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On our way to the next place, we collided with a huge rally that was being held in the Plazza di Rupublica. There were what seemed 500 people or so protesting what seemed to be rights of public education. It was loud and impassioned, making me smile at the anger and hope that was in the air.

We got on the Metro and headed for the Spanish Steps. From there we walked to the Pantheon. We'd seen it several times at night, so a day trip seemed appropriate. As we entered, the doors were congested with an incredible number of people. The inside no longer resembled a place where people would come to pray to the ancient Roman Gods. It had been changed [a very long time ago, of course] to a fully adorned and functioning Catholic church. Even today, services are held regularly. Each direction of the compass seemed to tell another story or honor another Roman figure. For instance, entombed here are the remains of the Renaissance painter Rafael and the King Vittorio Emmanuele II. Sarina and I moved through the ebbing sea of spectators, with cameras held above their heads like buoys on the water. Having both seen all the walls and angles within the Pantheon, as well as feeling a bit claustrophobic with all the people there, we moved on to our next stop.

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We made our way towards Torre Argentina Cat Sanctuary. Positioned in an underground space, the cat sanctuary was pretty much a volunteer run and donation funded cat shelter that cared for over 250 stray and abandoned cats. They make it their responsibility to feed, vaccinate and 'fix' all the homeless kitties in Rome. How you may ask does such a small place afford space for so many felines? The shelter shares an iron fence with a large ruins of what used to be four Roman temples, dating back to around 200BC.

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Here the cats have all the room the could want, protected from the fast paced Italian traffic that swarms just 20 or 30 feet above them. Before leaving, Sarina and I took the cat food we'd bought earlier and dumped it over the railings into a swarm of fast awakened cats. After a few pictures we headed to our last stop.

On our way to Altemps, we bypassed through Plaza Navona. The area was gearing up for a full night of festivities. There were merchants, street performers, artists and musicians. Near the center, a group of men were setting up a large stage with speakers and lights. It appeared to be some kind of musical performance. Just as Sarina and I exited the plaza, we could hear them starting their first song.

Just outside of the plaza, we saw the entrance to Altemps. This place was full of large scale statues and sculptures. Sarina was glad. She had been looking forward to this museum for a while. We bounced around in there for a bit, absorbing all that Altemps had to offer. By the end, we were both ready to call it a day.

We headed back to the hotel for a brief rest. Shortly there after, we took a Metro out to the Colosseum. We found a cafe, had some dinner, and made our way out to take a couple night time photos. We've started to develop a trend where we decide where to have dinner based on what night time shots we want to try. After photographing the Colosseum, we took a quick metro ride to Massimo for one last photo opp. before heading home for a good hard sleep.

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* * * * *
That's all for today. Tomorrow we'll hopefully get to see the wine festival in Marino. Ciao till then.

Also, the hotel internet is continuing to aggravate me. The video clips will be added in time, tho not necessarily in time with the daily posting. I'll be sure to mention on Facebook when new videos are added.

Day 3 - Churches, Museums and Street Performers

[NOTE: The pictures and video for this day will come in chunks over time. Due to complications with the hotel internet, we will be a little slow with the uploads of movies and photos. Be sure to check back. There should be a total of 2 videos and about 4-5 photos when this day is completed.]

With the reports warning of possible rain, we decided today would be a great time to visit some of the indoor spots. So we boarded the Metro to Republica and made our way to Santa Maria degli Angeli.

The church was enormous. Like everything else that is "very old", the builders made sure to communicate their intentions of creating a space so massive, it felt like the heavens were on just the other side of the brilliantly colored stained glass in the ceilings. The entrance is two separate bronze doors that depict the death and rebirth of Christ in some pretty heavy symbolic images. Just inside, you are greeted by a large statue depicting Lucifer. The twisted and blackened angel form is emaciated and grotesque, holding within him a few shards of crystal the size of tennis balls. These crystals perhaps signifying the last fragments of beauty that scars a completely deformed figure.



The main interior is massive, with ceilings that are a good 50-60 feet high [at the very least], but don't quote me...they could be taller. In the three main wings was a gigantic pipe organ that itself was about 3-4 stories tall. There was also a main chapel area for prayer, and other chambers with treasures of their own. These included an exhibit of the origins of the pendulum, a shrine to Santa Maria degli Angeli and the [about] 3 feet tall marble head of a blindfolded Jhon the Baptist once we had our fill of the church, we went to go see Museo Nazional Romeo.

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This is where many of Rome's priceless sculptures from Ancient Rome are kept and preserved. Countless busts, wall fragments, broken fountains and high class objects, along with endless marble and bronze statues. The statues preserved the ancient Roman perspective of everything from women and men, soldiers and athletes, as well as rulers and gods.

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In the lower floors were three special exhibits. One was a large exhibit on the origins of Roman money. Hundreds of coins told the story of how the currency evolved from thick bronze discs the size of sand dollars, to tiny gold pieces, and eventually the common money of the past couple hundred years. The second exhibit we saw was on scepters and their adorned tops. Lots of metal and crystal toppers made up this smaller room.

The last one included the complete mummified remains of a young Italian girl. They think her to be about 5 years old at time of death [using mitochondrial DNA analysis to define her origins and ancestors].

All done with with the Museo Nazional Romano, we decided to poke around the streets. We found our way to the front of the Teatro dell' Opera, and then to another very large church: Santa Maria Maggiore. This church was neat in that it was obviously designed for pilgrims to Rome. Every language you could think of was supported by one or more of the about two-dozen confessionals. Before leaving, we noticed a paper back booklet on one of the benches. It appeared they had provided a service earlier that day, and this was one of the service guides that someone had used. It was full of prayers, passages and songs. So, before leaving, we claimed our little souvenir and headed out for some much needed lunch.

We decided to try a more practical lunch today. Sarina noticed a rather large, open resturante that many of the locals seemed to be using within the train station. When in Rome... I followed Sarina to go check it out and we found a kind of cafeteria style place that was feeding everyone from business people to priests. The food was a great price and it was very satisfying. Before leaving, we picked up an item we found was necessary: a compass. Too often the maps are less clear than simply finding a landmark and pointing yourself in the right direction.

We got back onto the Metro and went out to Piazza Barberini. At this point we were certain that the possibility of rain had vanished, and was replaced instead by more heat and sun. However, one thing we wern't prepared for was a random Metro strike. Apparently these are as random and frequent as car crashes on the Highway 101 back home. This didn't mean the end of the world, but it did mean it would take twice as long to get on a train and the Metro itself was going to close at 9pm instead of the 1:30am we had been counting on.

Once we arrived at Barberini, we hunted down the former mansion of the Barberini family. Here was the site of the present day National Gallery of Ancient Art. once inside, we were delighted with a large collection of very famous and very beautiful paintings from the Renaissance period. Even the walls and ceilings were examples of commissioned artistry. The great hall of this former home of the Barberini family had a ceiling that resembled what you would see in the chapels in the Vatican. Sarina and I learned the hard way tho, you can't take photos or video in this place. They are extremely protective of these works and practically shut out all natural light that could harm them having had our fill of museums, we got back on the Metro and headed to the Spanish Steps. This art of the city keeps all the luxurious shops you can imagine. These include Dior, Prada, leather, crystal, gems, precious metals and of course...THE FERRARI STORE.

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At the request of my friends, Ramiro nd Ashely, we ventured into the Ferrari fan-boy store. There were some fun displays to see [like a engine and a formula 1 racer], so it kind of felt like a mini Ferrari museum with a big shop attached. Before leaving, we dropped some dollars into some toys and made our way to the final stop of the day: Castel Sant' Angelo.

We walked along the river towards the castle. On the way, we came across another little church. And just next door, we found the very big palazzo di Guistizia. The building was massive, taking over a whole city block. Just beyond was a park, and we stopped at a water fountain to give our feet a break. While sitting there, a young boy broke free of his mother and ran to the water fountain. He cupped his hand and sprayed water on the parked car near him. His mother approached from behind with his younger siblings, took out a couple plastic drinking cups, and knocked him on his head. The sound like an empty cup hitting a hard bar top was enough to make Sarina and I laugh; thus curing us of our exhaustion and motivating her and I to Castel Sant' Angelo.

The castle was essentially divided into two parts: inside parts and outside parts. The inside was the place of precious art and painted walls. And with paint comes the inevitable NON FOTO. So, we had to restrict photos and videos to just the outside areas. one of the more important exhibits was a collection of art from several different periods that had been stolen over the past hundred years and had been recovered. These included paintings by the Renaissance masters, pages from ancient bibles, sculptures, ceramics, and even paintings by Picasso and Renoir.

At the top of the castle, we could see the entire city of Rome. Looking down at the foot of the castle, we saw in progress some kind of young girls gymnastics stage exhibition. It all felt very planned in light of Sarina's visit [almost like a welcoming home after generations away in America].

On our way out, we came upon some old wooden doors to the common areas of the castel. These doors only worked to solidify what we had been hearing about what Romans once looked like. In a word: short. The average height was 4-foot 8-inches. That's right! Sarina would have towered over them at a staggering FIVE FEET! With this information under our belts, it was very clear that Sarina was not short. She was simply born in the wrong Age.

From Italy Honeymoon

From Italy Honeymoon

On our way back to the Metro, we decide to take a road that would bounce us off the edge of the Vatican for a look at the arena of people still crowding before the main church steps. Along the road, at another unrelated chapel, bells were ringing and a crowd of smiling Romans, dressed in black formal attire, consumed the walkways. Apparently, we had crossed paths with a wedding that had just finished, with the bride and groom smiling and hugging everyone around them. It was a lovely sight, and made us think back to our own wedding that had just recently occurred.

Finally back at the hotel, we rest for an hour before getting some dinner. Deciding after dinner would be the best time to do some night photography, we packed up the tripod and head out to Trevi Fountain to find food. After dinner and a little gellato treat at the nearby 'Blue Ice' shop, we pace around the neighborhood, waiting for the crowds to dwindle a little bit. In the process, we find ourselves coming across an array of street actors and street artists. One man was folding strips of green husks into origami birds. Then there was a woman, surrounded by onlookers. She had a pallet of spray cans and paper shields she was using to create some quite good looking paintings.

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By now we were at the Pantheon. Without a Metro line to take us home, we plotted a map course that would take us to several choice spots on the way for some night photos. We started at the Pantheon, then went to Trevi Fountain, worked our way through the street vendors [where Sarina bought herself a necklace], hit up the Fontana del Trione in Plazza Barberini, shot down to the doors of Santa Maria degli Angeli, and ended with photos of the Plazza della Republica and the fountain therein.

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Thus ended our day. Time to get some sleep and do some more exploring tomorrow. Ciao till then.

Day 2 - Colosseum, Roman Forum and Palatino

We woke to a cloud filtered sun and the sound of Italy's citizens springing to life. The streets were buzzing with fast conversations and aggressive drivers. From our room, I could here the swirling bustle, and it moved me into their pace.

Sarina was still mostly asleep, so I ventured out into the halls of our hotel [like a good hunter] and searched for some breakfast. Out on a balcony, decorated with a very large umbrella and about half a dozen little tables, our breakfast waited. I grabbed a couple plates and grabbed whatever I thought would fuel us for the day to come.

Sarina was now awake, and happy to find a plate of apple sauce, croissants and Nutella waiting for her. As we had our little morning picknic on the bed, our minds searched for what fun things we could see today. By the time the last croissant was finished, we'd decided to start at the Colosseum and then see what was neighboring it.

First tho, we needed to make an errand to the Vatican to confirm our tickets for the underground Scavi [translation: excavation] Tour.

We got on the Metro and headed off. On our way, a peculiar man boarded at one of the stops. His pants were black leather, his shirt was red silk, and he had a large silver crown for a belt buckle. The punchline didn't arrive until he pealed the bag off his guitar and began to sing out: "...Viva, Las Vegas!..." So, we got a little show as we rumbled along the rails toward Vatican city.

The Vatican was huge and intimidating. Even tho we wanted to hop into a tour and check out the inside, we kept to our directive and searched for the Scavi Offices. After a trip to the visitor desk and conversations with a couple sets of guards, we found it. However, we had come this far just to learn our reservations had been 'misplaced'. Big bummer, but we decided to shake off the disappointment and focus on the other cool things to see in Rome.

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Next stop was the Colosseum. we had just been there the night before. With a taste of it lingering, we made our way to the ticket booth.



The Colosseum was enormous. The scale of it is certainly lost in most movies I've seen. The walls looked like brick Legos creating a reddish mosaic that seemed to trend of the architecture of that time.

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Sarina and I stopped to imagine all the brick covered in polished white marble as it was back in it's days of glory. Below we could see the many chambers that were once covered in a giant wooden ceiling, covered in sand, that would make up the floor of the arena.

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From the second floor we could see the Arco di Constantino and the Foro di Roma. We decided those would be our next stops. on our way out, we happened upon a special exhibit showcasing sculpted portraits relating to Vespasian.

As we walked through the expansive ruins of what used to be the center of royalty, commerce, academia, philosophy and religion, I began to feel humbled. Sure, these ruins resembled brick framed pastures in many cases. However, using the columns, existing structures and drawings of what is believed to be the way it looked at that time; I stood among it all and felt extraordinarily small.

Above the Foro di Roma loomed the ruins of the once magnificent Palatino [palace]. This incredible conglomeration of architectural contributions, spanning generations of emperors hung above like a title wave of brick and marble. Sarina and I made our way through the remains of what was once a palace of marble and guilded adornments that covered over a square mile and stood five floors [including subterranean floors]. Although five floors, each floor was equivalent to about 5-6 of our modern floors; making this palace on the scale of building that are more like 25-30 stories in height. Standing there, looking over railing that peered on to what was the "gym" of the late emperors, I couldn't get over just how indescribable the scale of the palace once was. It felt like they built a thirty story town out of marble, bronze and gold.

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As we left the Palatino, we came across some of the other notable finds in this ruined center of the world. one of which, the House of the Virgin Vassals was particularly amusing. Priestesses chosen at ages 5-10 for their facial symmetry, body types and quality of teeth. They were raised and groomed to serve 30 year tenures guarding the sacred flames of Rome. Flames that if extinguished would [per superstition] mean the fall of Rome. They were the most lovely, most desired and most unavailable of all of Romes women [more so that the wife of the emperor herself]. During these 30 years, they were charged with protection of the flames AND their purity. If one of these Vassal Virgins was to 'misplace' her virginity, she would be buried alive; and her companion would be beaten till dead. Talk about forbidden fruit.

As we left the ruins, our final good-bye was to that of the Temple of Saturn. This temple was known for many things, including the festival of Saturnalia every December 17th. With the introduction of Christianity, this holiday was 'transformed' into what would be later known as Christmas.

Making our way back to the hotel, we caught sight of some things we'll be sure to return to, including the Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele II.

To wrap up the day, we took a metro to Barberini. There we found a bank to change euros and a local hole-in-the-wall resturante' that served pizza, pasta and seafood under ceiling painted in tribute to the frescoes we would soon see in the Vattican chapels.

First Day in Italy

We got on the road to San Francisco at about 5am. Not such a bad thing, except we had stayed up till 3:30am last night. But, it all went smoothly. We got to Sarina's grandparent's house and Linda drove our half awake bodies to the terminal. The airport went fine. We got thru security and payed too much for a couple of bagels.

We made a pit stop at Ohare International, Chicago. We had just enough time to stretch our legs and throw down a quick lunch before we were back in the air for the final 9 hours of our 14 hour trip.

I spent nearly the whole time reading a book. After about 6.5 full hours of reading, I began to feel the repercussions in my muscles.

Upon entering The halfway point down Europe, we were welcomed to a gorgeous sunrise of orange and blue. Regardless of the fact that the sun was rising, my body and my watch wouldn't let me forget that I had been awake for nearly a full 22 hours [with a couple naps in between].

Sarina and I went thru the motions and got to our hotel: Hotel Cherubini. The room is perfect. Close to the train station, close to the metro hub, and just the right size. The room itself is about 4/5 the size of our bedroom in Santa Rosa, so it fit like a glove.

Now, most people when they arrive at a new and fun destination either [a] slug out and catch their body up with a low key day, or [b] they will go out and casually explore the near by stores and restaurants. We did neither.

Our first adventure today was more of a mission; and given the lack of effective directions, it became more of a mission impossible. We were setting things up in our little home away from home, and realized that the power converter we intended to use for our laptop was not even close to being able to provide us with effective power from the Italian sockets.

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So we ventured out into the city looking for electronics stores. However, this was far easier in concept than it was in execution. To cut the story down, let me just say: it took us 4 sets of bad directions and about 5 metro trips to eventually find a store that could [maybe] help us out. Luckily, they had just what we needed, and we were able to bring our computer back on line. This was a huge relief. We had planned to use the laptop for nearly everything: directions, reservations, paying bills, tracking credit cards, not to mention updating this blog site and uploading the pictures and videos. So, with mission complete, we set out for an adventure that didn't include going to the Roman equivalent of Kmart.

We decided to informally introduce ourselves to the more interesting parts of Rome. Target: Piazza Navona [and all points between]. We started at the Spanish Steps [Spagna], intercepted the Pantheon, and then lost ourselves in the many surrounding buildings and piazza that made up the glue between all the interstitial architecture. our ultimate goal was to Piazza Navona.

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However, that proved more confusing than expected. Granted, we got to see much of what the area had to offer, but our path was convoluted to say the least.

Finally, after considerable struggle with our maps, we found our way into Piazza Navona. Our astonishment over the fountains there was shadowed only by our starvation. So, we shopped the over 20 restaurants in the Piazza and sat down to our first real meal in Italy.

From Italy Honeymoon

From Italy Honeymoon

Feeling courageous, we tried to get to the Metro hub at Circo Massimo before they locked the terminal gates. Well...we failed. We got there a little too late. Standing there, having walked nearly the entire latitude of the city, we took advantage and completed our loop.

Even tho it was 11pm in Rome, we pressed on and made a path back to our hotel. our road home was very, very long and complicated. however, Sarina and I found excitement and joy bouncing from one night-lit treasure to the next, like a couple of giddy pin balls with flash bulbs beaming. When we hit the Colosseum, Sarina flexed her camera's muscle and had fun photographing as many angles as she could find. Eventually our fun came to it's end and we drug ourselves back up to our room.

Overall, I think our first day here was fun an memorable. I'm looking forward to what mischief tomorrow will bring. Ciao till then.